With only now and then the cordelle, and still more rarely the oars, they moved all day across the lands and waters that were once the fastnesses of the Baratarian pirates.

the temper of iron or steel

Isabella […] had been misled, as most inexperienced observers are in similar cases, by the tranquillity of Eliot’s manner; she respected and liked him exceedingly; but she thought him unexcitable, and incapable of passion.

He stood there smoking a rolled quirley cigarette held in his left hand, looking back, intently, at the spot where the portly judge had just disappeared down the Pullman aisle.