ything seemed too
small for him--the table, even the chair which he had now regained, the
tiny egg-shell cup which he was still grasping.

Looking closer--his head in full profile against the glow of the
electric light--I caught the straight line of the ruddy, seamed neck--a
bull's neck in strength, a Greek athlete's in refinement of
line--sweeping up into the close-cropped, iron-gray hair. Then came the
round of the head; the massive forehead, strong, straight nose; thin,
compressed lips, moulded thin and kept compressed by a life of
determined effort; square-cut chin and the iron jaw that held the lips
and chin in place.

When he rose to his feet again I had another surprise. To my
astonishment he was not a Colossus at all--not in pounds and inches. On
the contrary, he was but little above the average size. What had
impressed me had not been his bulk, but his reserve force. Tigers
stretched out in cages produce this effect; so do powerful machines
that dig, crunch, or pound--dormant until their life-steam sets them
going.

The gale increased in violence. We got now the lift of the steamer's
bow, staggering under tons of water, and the whir of the screw in
mid-air. The captain glanced at the barometer, drew his body to its
full height, reached for his storm-coat, slipped it on, and was about
to swing back the door opening on the deck, when the chirp of a canary
rang through the room. At the sound he turned quickly and walked back
to where the cage hung.

"Ho, little man!" he cried in the same tone of voice in which he would
have addressed a child; "woke you up, did we? Sorry, old fellow; tuck
your head down again and take another nap."

The bird stretched out its bill, fluttered its wings, pecked at the
captain's outstretched finger, and burst into song.

"Yours, captain?" I had not noticed the bird before.

"Yes; had him for years."

Instantly the absurdity of the companionship broke upon me. What
possible comfort, I thought, could a man like the captain take in so
tiny a creature? It was the lion and the mouse over again--the eagle
and the tom-tit--the bear and the rabbit. He must have noticed my
surprise and amusement, for he added with a smile:

"Must have something. Gets pretty lonesome sometimes when you have no
wife nor children, and there are none anywheres for me." He had
withdrawn his fingers now, and was buttoning his coat close about his
broad chest, his eyes still on the bird that was splitting