A single man was seated in the sheets, and she yawed about as she ran, as though he were of two minds whether to beach her or no.

At last, determined it may be by our presence, he made straight for us, and her keel grated upon the shingle at our very feet.

He dropped his sail, sprang out, and pulled her bows up on the beach.
"Great Britain, I believe ?" said he, turning briskly round and facing us.
He was a man somewhat above middle height, but exceedingly thin.
His eyes were piercing and set close together, a long sharp nose jutted out from between them, and beneath them was a bristle of brown moustache as wiry and stiff as a cat's whiskers.

He was well dressed in a suit of brown with brass buttons, and he wore high boots which were all roughened and dulled by the sea water.

His face and hands were so dark that he might have been a Spaniard, but as he raised his hat to us we saw that the upper part of his brow was quite white and that it was from without that he had his swarthiness.