"Be still, Shadrach," repeated Zoeth.

The hand fell.

Captain Gould sighed.
"All right, Zoeth," he said.

"I'll keep my batch closed long's I can.
Heave ahead, Judge." The letter was a long one, covering several sheets of foolscap.

It began: To Shadrach, Gould and Zoeth Hamilton, my old partners and friends.
DEAR SHAD AND ZOETH: I am writing this to you because I have known you pretty much all my life and you are the only real friends I have got in this world.
"I was his friend, or I tried to be," commented Baxter, interrupting his reading; "but he considered you two, and always spoke of you, as his oldest and nearest friends.