s carried away by
the "Express" in a whirlwind of dust.

"A very warm evening, sir," said a passenger seated at his right;
puffing, while he spoke, from a short German pipe, a volume of smoke in
Philip's face.

"Very warm. Be so good as to smoke into the face of the gentleman on the
other side of you," returned Philip, petulantly.

"Ho, ho!" replied the passenger, with a loud, powerful laugh-the laugh
of a strong man. "You don't take to the pipe yet; you will by and by,
when you have known the cares and anxieties that I have gone through.
A pipe!--it is a great soother!--a pleasant comforter! Blue devils fly
before its honest breath! It ripens the brain--it opens the heart; and
the man who smokes thinks like a sage and acts like a Samaritan!"

Roused from his reverie by this quaint and unexpected declamation,
Philip turned his quick glance at his neighbour. He saw a man of great
bulk and immense physical power--broad-shouldered--deep-chested--not
corpulent, but taking the same girth from bone and muscle that a
corpulent man does from flesh. He wore a blue coat--frogged, braided,
and buttoned to the throat. A broad-brimmed straw hat, set on one side,
gave a jaunty appearance to a countenance which, notwithstanding its
jovial complexion and smiling mouth, had, in repose, a bold and decided
character. It was a face well suited to the frame, inasmuch as it
betokened a mind capable of wielding and mastering the brute physical
force of body;--light eyes of piercing intelligence; rough, but resolute
and striking features, and a jaw of iron. There was thought, there was
power, there was passion in the shaggy brow, the deep-ploughed lines,
the dilated, nostril and the restless play of the lips. Philip looked
hard and grave, and the man returned his look.

"What do you think of me, young gentleman?" asked the passenger, as he
replaced the pipe in his mouth. "I am a fine-looking man, am I not?"

"You seem a strange one."

"Strange!--Ay, I puzzle you, as I have done, and shall do, many. You
cannot read me as easily as I can read you. Come, shall I guess at your
character and circumstances? You are a gentleman, or something like it,
by birth;--that the tone of your voice tells me. You are poor, devilish
poor;--that the hole in your coat assures me. You are proud, fiery,
discontented, and unhappy;--all that I see in your face. It was because
I saw those signs that I spoke to you. I volunteer no acquaintance with
the happy."