His
features were frank and fearless--moderately intelligent, and well
marked--the _tout ensemble_ showing an active vitality, strong, and
usually just feelings, and a good-natured freedom of character, which
enlisted confidence, and seemed likely to acknowledge few restraints of
a merely conventional kind. Nor, in any of these particulars, did the
outward falsely interpret the inward man. With the possession of a
giant's powers, he was seldom so far borne forward by his impulses,
whether of pride or of passion, as to permit of their wanton or improper
use. His eye, too, had a not unpleasing twinkle, promising more of
good-fellowship and a heart at ease than may ever consort with the
jaundiced or distempered spirit. His garb indicated, in part, and was
well adapted to the pursuits of the hunter and the labors of the
woodman. We couple these employments together, for, in the wildernesses
of North America, the dense forests, and broad prairies, they are
utterly inseparable. In a belt, made of buckskin, which encircled his
middle, was stuck, in a sheath of the same material, a small axe, such
as, among the Indians, was well known to the early settlers as a deadly
implement of war.
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