as between two honest men.

The movements of the eyes express the perpetual and unconscious
courtesy of the parties. It is said, that a rogue does not look
you in the face, neither does an honest man look at you as if he
had his reputation to establish. I have seen some who did not
know when to turn aside their eyes in meeting yours. A truly
confident and magnanimous spirit is wiser than to contend for the
mastery in such encounters. Serpents alone conquer by the
steadiness of their gaze. My friend looks me in the face and
sees me, that is all.

The best relations were at once established between us and this
man, and though few words were spoken, he could not conceal a
visible interest in us and our excursion. He was a lover of the
higher mathematics, as we found, and in the midst of some vast
sunny problem, when we overtook him and whispered our conjectures.
By this man we were presented with the freedom of the Merrimack.
We now felt as if we were fairly launched on the ocean-stream of
our voyage, and were pleased to find that our boat would float on
Merrimack water. We began again busily to put in practice those
old arts of rowing, steering, and paddling. It seemed a strange
phenomenon to us that the two rivers should mingle their waters
so readily, since we had never associated them in our thoughts.

As we glided over the broad bosom of the Merrimack, between
Chelmsford and Dracut, at noon, here a quarter of a mile wide,
the rattling of our oars was echoed over the water to those
villages, and their slight sounds to us. Their harbors lay as
smooth and fairy-like as the Lido, or Syracuse, or Rhodes, in our