" ... Elizabeth handed the black a piece of silver as a
remuneration for his loss, which had some effect in again unbending his
muscles, and then expressed to her companion her readiness to return
homeward.
[Footnote 69: Another name of Leather-Stocking.]
* * * * *
From "The Pilot."
=_283._= LONG TOM COFFIN.
The seaman who was addressed by this dire appellation arose slowly from
the place where he was stationed as cockswain of the boat, and seemed to
ascend high in air by the gradual evolution of numberless folds in his
body. When erect, he stood nearly six feet and as many inches in his
shoes, though, when elevated in his most perpendicular attitude, there
was a forward inclination about his head and shoulders, that appeared to
be the consequence of habitual confinement in limited lodgings.... One
of his hands grasped, with a sort of instinct, the staff of a bright
harpoon, the lower end of which he placed firmly on the rock, as, in
obedience to the order of his commander, he left the place, where,
considering his vast dimensions, he had been established in an
incredibly small space.
... The hardy old seaman, thus addressed, turned his grave visage on his
commander, and replied with a becoming gravity,--
"Give me a plenty of sea-room, and good canvas, where there is no
occasion for pilots at all, sir.
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