As his physical man was uncommon, so he had uncommon mental endowments.  He was the only ‘soundser’ I ever knew who understood farming.  He had inherited a farmstead of some twenty-five or thirty acres, and this he soon had blooming as the rose.  When occasion required, he wrought on it, day and night.  He divided it, with truest judgment, into proper fields, experimented successfully with various kinds of novel manures (most of which he obtained from the sea), grew stock, planted, in rotation, and, with only here and there a sympathizer, gave in his full adherence to the theory of root culture.  And he was a mechanic.  He could build house or barn to the last beam, and ship or boat to the last joint; nay, he once devised the model of a self-righting life-boat, which I have often heard shipmasters, and even real shipwrights, descant upon in the highest terms of praise.  Moreover, I can affirm that he was a navigator.  It is true that the science of seamanship, as set forth in books, he had never mastered.  But he knew right well what winds of a certain force and direction foretold, what waves of a certain height and aspect meant; and this knowledge, combined with a squint, now and then, at his pocket compass, sufficed to enable him to take a vessel with safety anywhere along our coast.

But while my old pal showed high abilities in other arts, as a ‘soundser’ and wrecker he was not to be matched.  He brought to the first of these pursuits a clearness of observation which would have met the approbation of many an acknowledged man of science.  He knew every sort of food which bird and fish fed upon, where it was to be found, and the circumstances favorable to its production.  He knew why the game resorted to certain spots yesterday, and avoided them to-day; what circumstances—­and they are very many—­impelled it to joyousness or quietude; and what were most of its minor instincts.  And all this was done thoroughly, withal.  There was no haphazard or uncertainty in any of his conclusions.  Taking thought of sundry conditions, he could tell at any time when such a thing was applicable; how many sheepsheads one could catch in the sounds; whether the honk of the wild goose, flying overhead, announced that he was on his way to a fresh-water pool or a bar of gravel; whether the black ducks were cooling their thirsty gizzards in a woodland pond, sitting scattered about the marshes, or huddling together on the bosom of the sea.  In a word, his mind had gathered unto itself every law, of the least importance, affecting the existence of such wild creatures about us as cost any pains to bring to hand; and thus he was literally master over them, and held their lives subject to his will.  That this power was really surprising, will hardly be disputed; and since we, his associates, could in no way possess ourselves of the like, it passed among us for something almost miraculous.