Black Donald, from his great stature, might have been a giant walked out of the age of fable into the middle of the nineteenth century. From his stature alone, he might have been chosen leader of this band of desperadoes. He stood six feet eight inches in his boots, and was stout and muscular in proportion. He had a well-formed, stately head, fine aquiline features, dark complexion, strong, steady, dark eyes, and an abundance of long curling black hair and beard that would have driven to despair a Broadway beau, broken the heart of a Washington belle, or made his own fortune in any city of America as a French count or a German baron! He had decidedly "the air noble and distinguished."
While he threw his broad brim in one direction and his broad coat in another, and gave way to peals of laughter, Headlong Hal said:
"Cap'n, I don't know what you think of it, but I think it just as churlish to laugh alone as to get drunk in solitude."
"Oh, you shall laugh! You shall all laugh! Wait until I tell you! But first, answer me: Does not my broad-skirted gray coat and broad-brimmed gray hat make me look about twelve inches shorter and broader?"
"That's so, cap'n!"
"And when I bury my black beard and chin deep down in this drab neck-cloth, and pull the broad brim low over my black hair and eyes, I look as mild and respectable as William Penn?"
"Yea, verily, friend Donald," said Hal.
"Well, in this meek guise I went peddling to-day!"
"Aye, cap'n, we knew it; and you'll go once too often!"
"I have gone just once too often!"