The Confidence Man

I do not understand this extract

This extract is from The Confidence Man written by Herman Melville: "Stared at, but unsaluted, with the air of one neither courting nor shunning regard, but evenly pursuing the path of duty, lead it through solitudes or cities, he held on his way along the lower deck until he chanced to come to a placard nigh the captain's office." I do not understand what "lead it through solitudes or cities" means. I think he meant "even if the path would lead through solitudes or cities" However, I somewhat doubt "it" is a pronoun here meaning "path", as if it was the case, "lead" should be "leads" instead. Can someone enlighten me? I am not a native English speaker; therefore, it would be appreciated if you could answer the next question also: I would like to use the formulation "lead it" in another sentences, can you give me examples?

Posted By wholegrain at Wed 18 Jun 2008, 5:09 PM in The Confidence Man || 2 Replies