was so disposed of as to present nothing but angles, whichever way he was viewed.  Even his thumbs and fingers were nearer square than round; and his very neck, which was bare, though a black silk kerchief was tied loosely round the throat, had a sort of pentagon look about it, that defied all symmetry or grace.  His stature was just six feet and an inch, when he straightened himself; as he did from time to time, seemingly with a desire to relieve a very inveterate stoop in his shoulders; though it was an inch or two less in the position he most affected.  His hair was dark, and his skin had got several coats of confirmed brown on it, by exposure, though originally rather fair; while the features were good, the forehead being broad and full, and the mouth positively handsome.  This singular countenance was illuminated by two keen, restless, whitish eyes, that resembled, not spots on the sun, but rather suns on a spot.

Ithuel had gone through all the ordinary vicissitudes of an American life, beneath those pursuits which are commonly thought to be confined to the class of gentlemen.  He had been farmer’s boy, printer’s devil, schoolmaster, stage-driver, and tin-pedlar, before he ever saw the sea.  In the way of what he called “chores,” too, he had practised all the known devices of rustic domestic economy; having assisted even in the washing and house-cleaning, besides having passed the evenings of an entire winter in making brooms.

Ithuel had reached his thirtieth year before he dreamed of going to sea.  An accident, then, put preferment in this form before his eyes, and he engaged as the mate of a small coaster, for his very first voyage.  Fortunately, the master never found out his deficiencies, for Ithuel had a self-possessed, confident way with him, that prevented discovery, until they were outside of the port from which they sailed, when the former was knocked overboard by the main boom, and drowned.  Most men, so circumstanced, would have returned, but Bolt never laid his hand to the plough and looked back.  Besides, one course was quite easy to him as another.  Whatever he undertook he usually completed, in some fashion or other, though it were often much better had it never been attempted.  Fortunately it was summer, the wind was fair, and the crew wanted little ordering; and as it was quite a matter of course to steer in the right direction, until the schooner was carried safely into her proper port, she arrived safely; her people swearing that the new mate was the easiest and cleverest officer they had ever sailed with.  And well they might, for Ithuel took care not to issue an order until he had heard it suggested in terms by one of the hands; and then he never failed to repeat it, word for word, as if it were a suggestion of his own.  As for the reputation of “cleverest” officer, which he so easily obtained, it will be understood, of course, that the term was used in the provincial signification that is so common in the part of the