"Mebbe--I know no more.
"We found him arterwards. Thar' wa'n't no mark nor stain on him. You
think I talk dry-eyed. Go you and look at him. Somehow it don't leave
ary breath for cryin'. It's like as ef he knowed. It's more than
quietness, seemin' to say, for all he loved his life and fou't so hard
out thar', ter lose his own at last--givin' or losin', he never missed o'
naught! he never missed o' naught!
"I can't tell what's the thought comes nighest to ye when we look at him.
I hain't got high enough for that, but I can tell ye what's the
furderest--weepin' and sorrowin'. Since I seen him and my little Bessie
fell asleep, please God I die a half so trustful or so brave, I make no
fear o' death!"
The Captain sighed a long, ecstatic sigh and rose, the after-glow still
shining on his face. In passing through the room, he pressed something
softly into my hand.
"We found it in the breast-pocket of his coat, teacher," he said. "The
coat lay in the bottom o' the boat, and was soaked with brine. It had
your name on't."
When I unfolded it, it was the little star-fish the Cradlebow had showed
me, days before, still folded close in its delicate vine wreath.
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