We will profit
by this pause in the discourse to give the reader some idea of
the appearance of the men, each of whom is destined to enact no
insignificant part in our legend.
It would not have been easy to find a more noble specimen of
vigorous manhood than was offered in the person of him who called
himself Hurry Harry. His real name was Henry March but the
frontiersmen having caught the practice of giving sobriquets from
the Indians, the appellation of Hurry was far oftener applied to
him than his proper designation, and not unfrequently he was termed
Hurry Skurry, a nickname he had obtained from a dashing, reckless
offhand manner, and a physical restlessness that kept him
so constantly on the move, as to cause him to be known along the
whole line of scattered habitations that lay between the province
and the Canadas. The stature of Hurry Harry exceeded six feet four,
and being unusually well proportioned, his strength fully realized
the idea created by his gigantic frame. The face did no discredit
to the rest of the man, for it was both good-humored and handsome.
His air was free, and though his manner necessarily partook of the
rudeness of a border life, the grandeur that pervaded so noble a
physique prevented it from becoming altogether vulgar.
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