d fix. A dog's a dog--almost human as you
might say. But I wasn't aimin' puttin' myself in a shark's mouth for a
whole kennel full o' dogs.

"Mind you, not minutes but only seconds had passed since the dog shot
outboard. The ship was not movin' fast. She heeled over again' and
her spars and flappin' canvas was almost over my head as I glanced up.

"And then I seen a sight--I did, for a fact. I cal'late you never give
a thought to how high the teetering top of a mast on such a vessel as
the _Sally S. Stern_ is, from the ocean level. Never did, eh?

"Well," as the enthralled Louise shook her head, "they're taller than a
lot of these tall buildings you see in the city. 'Skyscrapers' they
call 'em. That's what the old Sally's topmasts looked like gazin' up
at 'em out of the sea. They looked like they brushed the wind-driven
clouds chasin' overhead.

"And out o' that web of riggin' and small spars, and slattin' canvas,
and other gear, I seen a man's body hurled into the air. It was
Snowball, the man. Bill his right name was.

"Flung himself, he did, clean out o' the ship and as she heeled back to
starboard he shot down, feet first, straight as a die, and made a hole
in the sea not ha'f a cable's length from me and nearer the dog than I
was. And as he came down I seen his open knife flashing in his hand.

"Yes, my dear, that was a mem'rable leap. Talk about these fellers
jumpin' off that there Brooklyn Bridge! 'Tain't much higher.

"The mate brought the _Sally S. Stern_ up into the wind, the second's
crew got the boat over, and they picked me up in a jiffy. Then I stood
up and yelled for 'em to pull on, for I could see the man, the dog, and
the shark almost in a bunch together.

"But," concluded Cap'n Amazon, "a nigger ain't often much afraid of a
shark. When we got to 'em there was a patch of bloody water and foam;
but it wasn't the blood of neither of the Snowballs that was spilled.
They come out of it without a scratch."

"Oh, Cap'n Amazon, what a really wonderful life you have led!" Louise
said earnestly.

Cap'n Amazon's eye brightened, and he looked vastly pleased. Whenever
he made a serious impression with one of his tales of personal
achievement or peril, he was as frankly delighted as a child.

"Yes, ain't I?" he observed. "I don't for the life of me see how Abe's
stood it ashore all these years. An' him keepin' a shop!" and he
sniffed scornfully.

Before Louise could make rejoinder, o