MELVILLE AT HOME. 473 



that his hair, which grew long upon his neck, was a little thinner. 

 His rather tall and heavy figure looked pliant as ever, and hia 

 gray eyes, surmounted by a high forehead, which looked all the 

 higher because of a little baldness, beamed with their old, affec- 

 tionate lustre. 



1 Welcome, Noros! ' cried a score of voices, as the athletic figure 

 of a young man, with a bronzed face, blue eyes, and a light brown 

 moustache, clambered with a sailor's agility through the port in 

 the steamer's side down upon the rail of the tug, there to have his 

 hands grasped and to be hugged about as enthusiastically as Mel- 

 ville had been greeted. Noros is the most youthful of any of the 

 returned explorers. He does not look to be more than twenty- 

 five years, and he is as shy as a girl. He looks like a New Yorker. 

 He has rosy cheeks, a frank face, is fleshy, and appears none the 

 worse for his terrible experiences, although, as he explained, he 

 carries with him rheumatic pains which he fears will not easily be 

 shaken off. 



Nindermann was the next to make his appearance amid 

 another burst of cheers and affectionate greetings. He is a short 

 man, with a thick-set frame, and looks like what he is a sturdy 

 Swede. He has a long black moustache, reaching down to the 

 corners of his chin, and his face and hands are tanned to the color 

 of leather. 



Then Melville came again on the tug and renewed his welcomes 

 until he was conducted to the pilot-house, where Nindermann and 

 Noros had gone before him, and where the ladies were awaiting 

 them. They were left alone there for a time with those belonging 

 to them, and the joy of such a meeting may easily be imagined. 



The tall form of Commander Berry issued from the side of 

 the Pai'thia, and that completed the party intended for the tug. 

 Commander Berry's parting from those on the steamship was of 

 the most affectionate kind, several of the lady passengers kissing 

 him, and the men on the deck cheering him lustily when he 

 descended to the tug. His welcome there was as sincere and 

 demonstrative as his parting had been. 



Meanwhile the steamship and tug were moving at a good rate' 

 of speed toward Quarantine. The navy officers had not been 

 wasting their spare moments. Bottles of champagne were opened 

 in the pilot-house, wherewith the family and friends of Melville 



