t the moment
of the blow, the stern had been thrown into the air, and the man (having
his hands free, and for all he was encumbered with a frieze overcoat
that came below his knees) had leaped up and caught hold of the brig's
bowsprit. It showed he had luck and much agility and unusual strength,
that he should have thus saved himself from such a pass. And yet, when
the captain brought him into the round-house, and I set eyes on him for
the first time, he looked as cool as I did.
He was smallish in stature, but well set and as nimble as a goat; his
face was of a good open expression, but sun-burnt very dark, and heavily
freckled and pitted with the small-pox; his eyes were unusually light,
and had a kind of dancing madness in them, that was both engaging and
alarming; and when he took off his great-coat, he laid a pair of fine
silver-mounted pistols on the table, and I saw that he was belted with a
great sword. His manners, besides, were elegant, and he pledged the
captain handsomely. Altogether I thought of him, at the first sight,
that here was a man I would rather call my friend than my enemy.
The captain, too, was taking his observations, but rather of the man's
clothes than his person. And to be sure, as soon as he had taken off the
great-coat, he showed forth mighty fine for the round-house of a
merchant brig: having a hat with feathers, a red waistcoat, breeches of
black plush, and a blue coat with silver buttons and handsome silver
lace; costly clothes, though somewhat spoiled with the fog and being
slept in.
"I'm vexed, sir, about the boat," says the captain.
"There are some pretty men gone to the bottom," said the stranger, "that
I would rather see on the dry land again than half a score of boats."
"Friends of yours?" said Hoseason.
"You have none such friends in your country," was the reply. "They would
have died for me like dogs."
"Well, sir," said the captain, still watching him, "there are more men
in the world than boats to put them in."
"And that's true too," cried the other, "and ye seem to be a gentleman
of great penetration."
"I have been in France, sir," says the captain, so that it was plain he
meant more by the words than showed upon the face of them.
"Well, sir," says the other, "and so has many a pretty man, for the
matter of that."
"No doubt, sir," says the captain, "and fine coats."
"Oho!" says the stranger, "is that how the wind sets?" And he laid his
hand quickly on
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