...the Captain at the Edge of the Sea...

The Captain was wakened as he dreamed of amethyst purple.  They were infused upon the backs of giant turtles that rode just beneath the waves of blue.  Their glossy eyes were staring at him in admiration as he rode the lead and pushed to the fore.  He used the angular straight of the amethyst to hang on for dear life.  It was exhilarating...

...

Barker stared at him, four inches from his nose.  He lay there wanting him to move so he could stand.  The Stella Maris was listing to starboard, but had otherwise stopped.   The crew mulled about the decks, feeling sorry for their Captain.  A few spoke it outright.  One crewman, Sam, had clenched fists as he stared upward and beyond the jib.

An impassable line of mountain stretched before him Nor' to South.  It was dark crag, without life.  It rose above, beyond sight.   The mountain wound off into the mist of early morning, but it was assured that it stretched for leagues in either direction.

The Captain could not see his star.  But it was there, beyond the impasse.  It was to be perilous.  "Captain, what say you?  This is surely the edge of the world and nothing beyond.  The stone is what binds the oceans together.  There is nothing beyond but the colorless ether.  The edge of Hades and we are skirting Acheron."  He spit in defiance of it!

The Captain clapped the Foreman on the shoulder and smiled.  His creased face lit by mad thought.  "Perhaps this is why men do what they do."  He paced the deck and tightened his clothing, pulled up his boot.  "We do what we do to see endlessly ahead...we do what we do because we hear the music.  I've seen my star."

"Unreachable!"  "Unattainable!"

"Aye, tis so,  tis so.  I'll not quarrel your words, my friends."  He pointed at the cliff's face.  "This is nothing for me.  This is a pebble on the road.  We would not say 'unreachable' for a pebble, or 'unattainable' for a wheel's rut.  My heart is pure.  My soul stubborn."  The men laughed at this.  "Take the Stella to Contre Larrop and part for a time, live on the wages we've earned.  I shall meet you on Christmas day, two years from now."

His attendant brought his gear.  He took a sextant, a pistol, a log book, clothes and other kit necessary.  "Sir, what will you do if you encounter giants?  What of demons?"

"Fie!  I have faith.  The Lord abides.  The star I seek is of sublime riches, the highest climes."

With this the Captain shoved from the Maris and into the water.  He swam a short ways to the stone, clambered up and was away before they knew it.  If Christmas Day two years hence he says, then, in two years they shall meet him!