ll, handsome man in the prime of life. He
was clothed in what may be styled a mixed European and native costume,
and a gun on which he rested both hands seemed to indicate him a hunter.
He carried no other weapon, except a long knife in his girdle. The
mixed character of his garb extended also to his blood, for his skin,
though dark and bronzed from exposure, was much lighter than that of
most natives of the island, and his features were distinctly European.
Quiet gravity was the chief characteristic of his countenance, and there
was also an expression of profound sadness or pathos, which was probably
caused by the music.

When Hockins finished his tune the three friends were almost petrified
with astonishment--not unmingled with alarm--as they beheld this man
walk coolly into the cave, rest his gun on the side of it, and sit
gravely down on the opposite side of the fire.

The first impulse of our three friends, of course, was to spring up, but
the action of the man was so prompt, and, withal, so peaceful, that they
were constrained to sit still.

"Don't be alarmed. I come as a friend. May I sit by your fire?"

He spoke in good English, though with a decidedly foreign accent.

"You are welcome, since you come as a friend," said Mark, "though I must
add that you have taken us by surprise."

"Well now, stranger," said Hockins, putting his musical instrument in
his pocket, "how are we to know that you _are_ a friend--except by the
cut o' your jib, which, I admit, looks honest enough, and your actions,
which, we can't deny, are peaceable like?"

The seaman put this question with a half-perplexed, half-amused air.
The stranger received it without the slightest change in his grave
aspect.

"You have no other means of knowing," he replied, "except by my `jib'
and my actions."

"Dat's a fact, anyhow," murmured Ebony.

"Who _are_ you, and where do you come from?" asked Mark.

"I am an outlaw, and I come from the forest."

"That's plain-speakin', an' no mistake," said Hockins, with a laugh,
"an' deserves as plain a return. We can't say exactly that _we_ are
outlaws, but we are out-an'-outers, an' we're going through the forest
to--to--Anty-all-alive-O! or some such name--the capital, you know--"

"Antananarivo," suggested the outlaw.

"That's it! That's the name--I couldn't recall," said Mark, quickly.
"We are going there, if we can only find the way."

"I know the way," returned the outlaw, "and my reason