the
voyagers who have circumnavigated the Ecliptic; who rounded the Polar
Star as Cape Horn. Then shall the Stagirite and Kant be forgotten,
and another folio than theirs be turned over for wisdom; even the
folio now spread with horoscopes as yet undeciphered, the heaven of
heavens on high.

Now, in old Jarl's lingo there was never an idiom. Your aboriginal
tar is too much of a cosmopolitan for that. Long companionship with
seamen of all tribes: Manilla-men, Anglo-Saxons, Cholos, Lascars, and
Danes, wear away in good time all mother-tongue stammerings. You sink
your clan; down goes your nation; you speak a world's language,
jovially jabbering in the Lingua-Franca of the forecastle.

True to his calling, the Skyeman was very illiterate; witless of
Salamanca, Heidelberg, or Brazen-Nose; in Delhi, had never turned
over the books of the Brahmins. For geography, in which sailors
should be adepts, since they are forever turning over and over the
great globe of globes, poor Jarl was deplorably lacking. According to
his view of the matter, this terraqueous world had been formed in the
manner of a tart; the land being a mere marginal crust, within which
rolled the watery world proper. Such seemed my good Viking's theory
of cosmography. As for other worlds, he weened not of them; yet full
as much as Chrysostom.

Ah, Jarl! an honest, earnest Wight; so true and simple, that the
secret operations of thy soul were more inscrutable than the subtle
workings of Spinoza's.

Thus much be said of the Skyeman; for he was exceedingly taciturn,
and but seldom will speak for himself.

Now, higher sympathies apart, for Jarl I had a wonderful liking; for
he loved me; from the first had cleaved to me.

It is sometimes the case, that an old mariner like him will conceive
a very strong attachment for some young sailor, his shipmate; an
attachment so devoted, as to be wholly inexplicable, unless
originating in that heart-loneliness which overtakes most seamen as
they grow aged; impelling them to fasten upon some chance object of
regard. But however it was, my Viking, thy unbidden affection was the
noblest homage ever paid me. And frankly, I am more inclined to think
well of myself, as in some way deserving thy devotion, than from the
rounded compliments of more cultivated minds.

Now, at sea, and in the fellowship of sailors, all men appear as they
are. No school like a ship for studying human nature. The contact of
one man with another is