the midday sun
But perhaps the most noticeable feature in his face was his eye -- for he had but one -- and the spot where the other is seen in the species was merely a red , closed patch of tightly-drawn skin , with a few hairs sticking out like iron tacks . His single eye , however , was a jet black , round , piercing organ , which seemed to do duty for half a dozen ordinary glims , and danced with a sharp , malevolent scrutiny , as if the owner was always in search of something and never found it , and every body and every thing appeared to slink out of its light wherever it glanced around . His age might have been any where from forty to sixty . As he stepped on deck , clear of the cuddy cabin hatch , his sinister optic played about in its socket -- now scanning the long brass gun , the half-furled sails , the crew , the ropes , or taking a steady , unwinking glance at the midday sun , and then shining off to the shore , and sweeping in the `` Centipede , '' the little pool of blue water , and the mouth of the inlet . Feeling apparently satisfied with the present aspect of affairs , he slowly pulled out a machero from his waistcoat pocket , plucked a cigarette from the case , and then proceeded deliberately to strike a light . Even while performing this simple operation , his uneasy orb , like unto a black bull 's - eye , traversed about in its habitual way ; and when he raised the spark of fire with his brown , thin hand , and the claws of fingers loaded with rings , he seemed to be looking into his own mouth . Nodding to a fellow who stood near , with a crimson sash around his waist , he inclined his eye toward the shore , blew out a thin wreath of smoke from his lungs -- all the while his vigilant organ shining like a burning spark of lambent jet through the smoke -- and merely said , `` The boat ! ''