intelligent man; he had not the crabbed expression of those grave
individuals who never laugh on principle, and cover their
emptiness with a mask of seriousness. He looked far from that.
His careless, good-humored air, and easy, unceremonious manners,
showed plainly that he knew how to take men and things on their
bright side. But though he had not yet opened his mouth,
he gave one the impression of being a great talker, and moreover,
one of those absent folks who neither see though they are looking,
nor hear though they are listening. He wore a traveling cap,
and strong, low, yellow boots with leather gaiters.
His pantaloons and jacket were of brown velvet, and their
innumerable pockets were stuffed with note-books, memorandum-books,
account-books, pocket-books, and a thousand other things equally
cumbersome and useless, not to mention a telescope in addition,
which he carried in a shoulder-belt.

The stranger's excitement was a strong contrast to the Major's placidity.
He walked round McNabbs, looking at him and questioning him with his
eyes without eliciting one remark from the imperturbable Scotchman,
or awakening his curiosity in the least, to know where he came from,
and where he was going, and how he had got on board the DUNCAN.

Finding all his efforts baffled by the Major's indifference,
the mysterious passenger seized his telescope, drew it out
to its fullest extent, about four feet, and began gazing at
the horizon, standing motionless with his legs wide apart.
His examination lasted some few minutes, and then he lowered
the glass, set it up on deck, and leaned on it as if it had been
a walking-stick. Of course, his weight shut up the instrument
immediately by pushing the different parts one into the other,