Guy Mannering.

88 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
halloo'd twice, and with increasing impatience, -Meg,
Meg oMerrilies!-Gipsy- hag-tousand deyvils!"
"I am coming, I am coming, Captain," answered
Meg; and in a moment or two the impatient commander
whom she addressed made his appearance from the
broken part of the ruins.
He was apparently a seafaring man, rather under the
middle size, and with a countenance bronzed by a thousand conflicts with the north-east wind. His frame was
prodigiously muscular, strong, and thick-set; so that it
seemed as if a man of much greater height would have
been an inadequate mlatch in any close, personal conflict.
He was hard-favoured, and, which was worse, his face
bore nothing of the insouciance, the careless frolicsome
jollity and vacant curiosity of a sailor on shore. These
qualities, perhaps, as much as any others, contribute to
the high popularity of our seamen, and the general good
inclination which our society expresses towards them.
Their gallantry, courage, and hardihood, are qualities
which excite reverence, and perhaps rather humble pacific
landsmen in their presence; and neither respect, nor a
sense of humiliation, are feelings easily combined with a
familiar fondness towards thlose who inspire them. But the
boyish frolics, the exulting high spirits, the unreflecting
mirth of a sailor, when enjoying himself on shore, temper
the more formidable points of his character. There was
nothing like these in this man's face; on the contrary,
a surly and even savage scowl appeared to darken features
which would have been harsh and unpleasant under any
expression or modification. "Where are you, Mother
Deyvilson? " he said, with somewhat of a foreign accent,
though speaking perfectly good English. "Donner and
blitzen! we have been staying this half hour.-Come,