The captain, having scanned the horizon, consulted
the compass, and slightly altered our course. The speed of the
"Terror" increased.
This man, so interesting both to me and to the world, must have been
some years over fifty. He was of middle height, with powerful
shoulders still very erect; a strong head, with thick hair rather
gray than white, smooth shaven cheeks, and a short, crisp beard. His
chest was broad, his jaw prominent, and he had that characteristic
sign of tremendous energy, bushy eyebrows drawn sharply together.
Assuredly he possessed a constitution of iron, splendid health, and
warm red blood beneath his sun burned skin.
Like his companions the captain was dressed in sea-clothes covered by
an oil-skin coat, and with a woolen cap which could be pulled down to
cover his head entirely, when he so desired.
Need I add that the captain of the "Terror" was the other of the two
men, who had watched my house in Long street. Moreover, if I
recognized him, he also must recognize me as chief-inspector Strock,
to whom had been assigned the task of penetrating the Great Eyrie.
I looked at him curiously. On his part, while he did not seek to
avoid my eyes, he showed at least a singular indifference to the fact
that he had a stranger on board.
As I watched him, the idea came to me, a suggestion which I had not
connected with the first view of him in Washington, that I had
already seen this characteristic figure.
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