The call for aid was addressed
to Cap'n Amazon Silt.
It was to Cap'n Amazon, the man who had been through all manner of
perils by sea and land, who had suffered stress of storm and shipwreck
himself, whose reputation for courage the Shell Road storekeeper had
builded so long.
Should all this fall in a moment? Should he show the coward's side of
the shield after all his effort toward vicarious heroism? Another
moment of hesitancy and as Cap'n Amazon Silt he would never be able to
hold up his head in the company of Cardhaven folk again.
Cursed by the horror his mother had felt for the cruel sea that had
taken her husband before her very eyes, Cap'n Abe had ever shrunk from
any actual venture upon deep water. But Cap'n Amazon must be true to
his manhood--must uphold by his actions the character the storekeeper
had builded for him.
He buttoned his coat tightly across his chest and pushed through the
group. Men and women alike made way for him, and in his ringing ears
he heard such phrases as:
"_He's_ the man to do it!"
"That's Cap'n Am'zon for ye!"
"There's _one_ Silt ain't afraid of salt water, whatever Cap'n Abe may
be!"
"Will you come, Cap'n Am'zon?" called the skipper of the life-saving
crew.
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