
about my own age, for whom I had all along entertained a great regard; and Toby,
such was the name by which he went among us, for his real name he would never
tell us, was every way worthy of it. He was active, ready, and obliging, of
dauntless 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.
    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 toward
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 trowsers, 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
