less courage,
and singularly open and fearless in the expression of his feelings. I had
on more than one occasion got him out of scrapes into which this had led
him; and I know not whether it was from this cause, or a certain
congeniality of sentiment between us, that he had always shown a
partiality for my society. We had battled out many a long watch together,
beguiling the weary hours with chat, song, and story, mingled with a good
many imprecations upon the hard destiny it seemed our common fortune to
encounter.

[Illustration: I FOUND HIM RIPE FOR THE ENTERPRISE, AND A VERY FEW
WORDS SUFFICED FOR A MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN US]

Toby, like myself, had evidently moved in a different sphere of life, and
his conversation at times betrayed this, although he was anxious to
conceal it. He was one of that class of rovers you sometimes meet at sea,
who never reveal their origin, never allude to home, and go rambling over
the world as if pursued by some mysterious fate they cannot possibly
elude.

There was much even in the appearance of Toby calculated to draw me
towards him, for while the greater part of the crew were as coarse in
person as in mind, Toby was endowed with a remarkably prepossessing
exterior. Arrayed in his blue frock and duck trousers, he was as smart a
looking sailor as ever stepped upon a deck; he was singularly small and
slightly made, with great flexibility of limb. His naturally dark
complexion had been deepened by exposure to the tropical sun, and a mass
of jetty locks clustered about his temples, and threw a darker shade into
his large black eyes. He was a strange wayward being, moody, fitful, and
melancholy--at times almost morose. He had a quick and fiery temper too,
which, when thoroughly roused, transported him into a state bordering on
delirium.

It is strange the power that a mind of deep passion has over feebler
natures. I have seen a brawny fellow, with no lack of ordinary courage,
fairly quail before this slender stripling, when in one of his furious
fits. But these paroxysms seldom occurred, and in them my big-hearted
shipmate vented the bile which more calm-tempered individuals get rid of
by a continual pettishness at trivial annoyances.

No one ever saw Toby laugh--I mean in the hearty abandonment of
broad-mouthed mirth. He did smile sometimes, it is true; and there was a
good deal of dry, sarcastic humour about him, which told the more from the
imperturbable gravity of his