His frame was small, his limbs slight, and they did not
afford promise of much activity. His face was not ill favored, though a
quick, restless black eye, keen and searching, had in it a lurking
malignity, like that of a snake, which impressed the spectator with
suspicion at the first casual glance. His nose, long and sharp, was
almost totally fleshless; the skin being drawn so tightly over the
bones, as to provoke the fear that any violent effort would cause them
to force their way through the frail integument. An untrimmed beard, run
wild; and a pair of whiskers so huge, as to refuse all accordance with
the thin diminutive cheeks which wore them; thin lips, and a sharp
chin;--completed the outline of a very unprepossessing face, which a
broad high forehead did not tend very much to improve or dignify.
Though the air of the stranger was insolent, and his manner rude, our
young traveller was unwilling to decide unfavorably. At all events, his
policy and mood equally inclined him to avoid any proceeding which
should precipitate or compel violence.
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