Galloping Dick
for a cheerful seclusion in the distance. So it happened that at eight of the clock on that fifth of June I set out from Sutton Valence, astride upon Calypso, and by midday drew up at a little village, a league or so t’other side of Bath. Here was a tolerable ale-house with a large bare room; and me and a red-haired stranger to fill it of ourselves.
If there be one character next to the habit of a prompt arm that best serves our profession, ’tis surely the property of a sharp observation, and so it was upon my companion that my eyes fell now with particular attention. He was a huge, lean-faced man, with tall, rough bones to his cheeks, and a pair of hard, cross-cut eyes—ugly to look on, but something superior in air, and of a certain interest to denote. Nor was his aspect pleasanter than his face, for he wore a nasty scowling look, and had the appearance of a fellow that would leap down your mouth ere you opened it. Now this was the man for my money. He challenged me, and for the love of God I could not put a name upon his business; which, as you may suppose, set me off in a twinkling.
48
