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BILLY TOPSAIL & COMPANY
* * * * *
THE "BILLY TOPSAIL" BOOKS
By NORMAN DUNCAN
THE ADVENTURES OF BILLY TOPSAIL
Illustrated, cloth, $1.50
"There was no need to invent conditions or imagine situations. The
life of _any_ lad of Billy Topsail's years up there is sufficiently
romantic. It is this skill in the portrayal of actual conditions that
lie ready to the hand of the intelligent observer that makes Mr.
Duncan's Newfoundland stories so noteworthy. 'The Adventures of Billy
Topsail' is a wonderful book."--_Brooklyn Eagle._
BILLY TOPSAIL AND COMPANY
Illustrated, cloth, $1.50
Every boy who knows Billy Topsail will welcome this continuation of
his adventuresome life in the North. Like its predecessor, the new
volume is a stirring story for boys, true to life, among the hardy
sons of the sea, clean, pure and stimulating.
* * * * *
[Illustration: BILL O' BURNT BAY AND THE BOYS OF THE _SPOT CASH_ COULD
NOT FATHOM THE MYSTERY OF THE _BLACK EAGLE_.]
BILLY TOPSAIL & COMPANY
A Story for Boys
by
NORMAN DUNCAN
Author of "The Adventures of Billy Topsail,"
"Doctor Luke of The Labrador," "The Mother,"
"Dr. Grenfell's Parish"
Illustrated
[Illustration]
New York--Chicago--Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
London and Edinburgh
Copyright, 1910, by
Fleming H. Revell Company
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue
Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street
To Chauncey Lewis and to "Buster," good friends both, sometimes to
recall to them places and occasions at Mike Marr's: Dead Man's Point,
Rolling Ledge, the Canoe Landing, the swift and wilful waters of the
West Branch, Squaw Mountain, the trail to Dead Stream, the raft on
Horseshoe, the Big Fish, the gracious kindness of the L. L. of E. O.,
(as well as her sandwiches), and the never-to-be-forgotten flapjacks
that "didn't look it" but were indeed "all there."
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. _In Which Jimmie Grimm, Not Being Able to Help It, Is
Born At Buccaneer Cove, Much to His Surprise, and Tog,
the Wolf-Dog, Feels the Lash of a Seal-hide Whip and
Conceives an Enmity_ 15
II. _In Which Jimmie Grimm is Warned Not to Fall Down,
and Tog, Confirmed in Bad Ways, Raids Ghost Tickle,
Commits Murder, Runs With the Wolves, Plots the Death
of Jimmie Grimm and Reaches the End of His Rope_ 24
III. _In Which Little Jimmie Grimm Goes Lame and His
Mother Discovers the Whereabouts of a Cure_ 33
IV. _In Which Jimmie Grimm Surprises a Secret, Jim Grimm
makes a Rash Promise, and a Tourist From the States
Discovers the Marks of Tog's Teeth_ 41
V. _In Which Jimmie Grimm Moves to Ruddy Cove and
Settles on the Slope of the Broken Nose, Where, Falling
in With Billy Topsail and Donald North, He Finds the
Latter a Coward, But Learns the Reason, and Scoffs no
Longer. In Which, Also, Donald North Leaps a Breaker to
Save a Salmon Net, and Acquires a Strut_ 49
VI. _In Which, Much to the Delight of Jimmie Grimm and
Billy Topsail, Donald North, Having Perilous Business
On a Pan of Ice After Night, is Cured of Fear, and Once
More Puffs Out His Chest and Struts Like a Rooster_ 61
VII. _In Which Bagg, Imported From the Gutters of London,
Lands At Ruddy Cove From the Mail-Boat, Makes the
Acquaintance of Jimmie Grimm and Billy Topsail, and
Tells Them 'E Wants to Go 'Ome. In Which, Also, the Way
to Catastrophe Is Pointed_ 69
VIII. _In Which Bagg, Unknown to Ruddy Cove, Starts for
Home, and, After Some Difficulty, Safely Gets There_ 76
IX. _In Which Jimmie Grimm and Billy Topsail, Being Added
Up and Called a Man, Are Shipped For St. John's, With
Bill o' Burnt Bay, Where They Fall In With Archie
Armstrong, Sir Archibald's Son, and Bill o' Burnt Bay
Declines to Insure the "First Venture"_ 88
X. _In Which the Cook Smells Smoke, and the "First
Venture" In a Gale of Wind Off the Chunks, Comes Into
Still Graver Peril, Which Billy Topsail Discovers_ 97
XI. _In Which the "First Venture" All Ablaze Forward, Is
Headed For the Rocks and Breakers of the Chunks, While
Bill o' Burnt Bay and His Crew Wait for the Explosion
of the Powder in Her Hold. In Which, Also, a Rope Is
Put to Good Use_ 102
XII. _In Which Old David Grey, Once of the Hudson Bay
Company, Begins the Tale of How Donald McLeod, the
Factor at Fort Refuge, Scorned a Compromise With His
Honour, Though His Arms Were Pinioned Behind Him and a
Dozen Tomahawks Were Flourished About His Head._ 112
XIII. _In Which There Are Too Many Knocks At the Gate, a
Stratagem Is Successful, Red Feather Draws a Tomahawk,
and an Indian Girl Appears On the Scene_ 119
XIV. _In Which Jimmie Grimm and Master Bagg Are Overtaken
by the Black Fog in the Open Sea and Lose the Way Home
While a Gale is Brewing_ 130
XV. _In Which it Appears to Jimmie Grimm and Master Bagg
That Sixty Seconds Sometimes Make More Than a
Minute_ 136
XVI. _In Which Archie Armstrong Joins a Piratical
Expedition and Sails Crested Seas to Cut Out the
Schooner "Heavenly Home"_ 143
XVII. _In Which Bill o' Burnt Bay Finds Himself in Jail and
Archie Armstrong Discovers That Reality is Not as
Diverting as Romance_ 151
XVIII. _In Which Archie Inspects an Opera Bouffe Dungeon
Jail, Where He Makes the Acquaintance of Dust, Dry Rot
and Deschamps. In Which, Also, Skipper Bill o' Burnt
Bay Is Advised to Howl Until His Throat Cracks_ 159
XIX. _In Which Archie Armstrong Goes Deeper In and Thinks
He Has Got Beyond His Depth. Bill o' Burnt Bay Takes
Deschamps By the Throat and the Issue Is Doubtful For a
Time_ 165
XX. _In Which David Grey's Friend, the Son of the Factor
at Fort Red Wing, Yarns of the Professor With the
Broken Leg, a Stretch of Rotten River Ice and the Tug
of a White Rushing Current_ 172
XXI. _In Which a Bearer of Tidings Finds Himself In Peril
of His Life On a Ledge of Ice Above a Roaring Rapid_ 179
XXII. _In Which Billy Topsail Gets an Idea and, to the
Amazement of Jimmie Grimm, Archie Armstrong Promptly
Goes Him One Better_ 189
XXIII. _In Which Sir Archibald Armstrong Is Almost Floored
By a Business Proposition, But Presently Revives, and
Seems to be About to Rise to the Occasion_ 194
XXIV. _In Which the Honour of Archie Armstrong Becomes
Involved, the First of September Becomes a Date of
Utmost Importance, He Collides With Tom Tulk, and a
Note is Made in the Book of the Future_ 203
XXV. _In Which Notorious Tom Tulk o' Twillingate and the
Skipper of the "Black Eagle" Put Their Heads Together
Over a Glass of Rum in the Cabin of a French Shore
Trader_ 212
XXVI. _In Which the Enterprise of Archie Armstrong Evolves
Senor Fakerino, the Greatest Magician In Captivity. In
Which, also, the Foolish are Importuned Not to be
Fooled, Candy is Promised to Kids, Bill o' Burnt Bay is
Persuaded to Tussle With "The Lost Pirate," and the
"Spot Cash" Sets Sail_ 220
XXVII. _In Which the Amazing Operations of the "Black Eagle"
Promise to Ruin the Firm of Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm &
Company, and Archie Armstrong Loses His Temper and
Makes a Fool of Himself_ 229
XXVIII. _In Which the "Spot Cash" is Caught By a Gale In the
Night and Skipper Bill Gives Her Up For Lost_ 239
XXVIX. _In Which Opportunity is Afforded the Skipper of the
"Black Eagle" to Practice Villainy in the Fog and He
Quiets His Scruples. In Which, also, the Pony Islands
and the Tenth of the Month Come Into Significant
Conjunction_ 247
XXX. _In Which the Fog Thins and the Crew of the "Spot
Cash" Fall Foul of a Dark Plot_ 256
XXXI. _In Which the "Spot Cash" is Picked up by
Blow-Me-Down Rock In Jolly Harbour, Wreckers Threaten
Extinction and the Honour of the Firm Passes into the
Keeping of Billy Topsail_ 266
XXXII. _In Which the "Grand Lake" Conducts Herself In a Most
Peculiar Fashion to the Chagrin of the Crew of the
"Spot Cash"_ 275
XXXIII. _In Which Billy Topsail, Besieged by Wreckers, Sleeps
on Duty and Thereafter Finds Exercise For His Wits. In
Which, also, a Lighted Candle is Suspended Over a Keg
of Powder and Precipitates a Critical Moment While
Billy Topsail Turns Pale With Anxiety_ 281
XXXIV. _In Which Skipper Bill, as a Desperate Expedient,
Contemplates the Use of His Teeth, and Archie
Armstrong, to Save His Honour, Sets Sail in a Basket,
But Seems to Have Come a Cropper_ 291
XXXV. _In Which Many Things Happen: Old Tom Topsail
Declares Himself the Bully to Do It, Mrs. Skipper
William Bounds Down the Path With a Boiled Lobster, the
Mixed Accommodation Sways, Rattles, Roars, Puffs and
Quits on a Grade in the Wilderness, Tom Topsail Loses
His Way in the Fog and Archie Armstrong Gets Despairing
Ear of a Whistle_ 301
XXXVI. _And Last: In Which Archie Armstrong Hangs His Head
in His Father's Office, the Pale Little Clerk Takes a
Desperate Chance, Bill o' Burnt Bay Loses His Breath,
and there is a Grand Dinner in Celebration of the Final
Issue, at Which the Amazement of the Crew of the "Spot
Cash" is Equalled by Nothing in the World Except Their
Delight_ 311
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
Bill O' Burnt Bay and the Boys of the _Spot Cash_ Could
not Fathom the Mystery of the _Black Eagle_. _Title_
Tog Thawed Into Limp and Servile Amiability. 20
Instinctively, He Covered His Throat With His Arms when
Tog Fell Upon Him. 28
Plucking up His Courage, Donald Leaped for the Rock. 58
She Was Beating Laboriously into a Violent Head Wind. 96
Buffalo Horn Looked Steadily into Mcleod's Eyes. 125
"--We Want to Charter the _On Time_ and Trade the Ports
of the French Shore." 198
Senor Fakerino created Applause by Extracting Half
Dollars From Vacancy. 230
BILLY TOPSAIL & COMPANY
CHAPTER I
_In Which Jimmie Grimm, Not Being Able to Help It, Is Born
At Buccaneer Cove, Much to His Surprise, and Tog, the
Wolf-Dog, Feels the Lash of a Seal-hide Whip and Conceives
an Enmity_
Young Jimmie Grimm began life at Buccaneer Cove of the Labrador. It
was a poor place to begin, of course; but Jimmie had had nothing to do
with that. It was by Tog, with the eager help of two hungry gray
wolves, that he was taught to take care of the life into which, much
to his surprise, he had been ushered. Tog was a dog with a bad name;
and everybody knows that a dog with a bad name should be hanged
forthwith. It should have happened to Tog. At best he was a wolfish
beast. His father was a wolf; and in the end Tog was as lean and
savage and cunningly treacherous as any wolf of the gray forest packs.
When he had done with Jimmie Grimm--and when Jimmie Grimm's father had
done with Tog--Jimmie Grimm had learned a lesson that he never could
recall without a gasp and a quick little shudder.
"I jus' don't like t' think o' Tog," he told Billy Topsail and Archie
Armstrong, long afterwards.
"You weren't _afraid_ of him, were you?" Archie Armstrong demanded, a
bit scornfully.
"_Was_ I?" Jimmie snorted. "Huh!"
The business with Tog happened before old Jim Grimm moved south to
Ruddy Cove of the Newfoundland coast, disgusted with the fishing of
Buccaneer. It was before Jimmie Grimm had fallen in with Billy Topsail
and Donald North, before he had ever clapped eyes on Bagg, the London
gutter-snipe, or had bashfully pawed the gloved hand of Archie
Armstrong, Sir Archibald's son. It was before Donald North cured
himself of fear and the _First Venture_ had broken into a blaze in a
gale of wind off the Chunks. It was before Billy Topsail, a lad of
wits, had held a candle over the powder barrel, when the wreckers
boarded the _Spot Cash_. It was before Bill o' Burnt Bay had been
rescued from a Miquelon jail and the _Heavenly Home_ was cut out of
St. Pierre Harbour in the foggy night.
It was also before the _Spot Cash_ had fallen foul of the plot to
scuttle the _Black Eagle_. It was before the big gale and all the
adventures of that northward trading voyage. In short, it was before
Jim Grimm moved up from the Labrador to Ruddy Cove for better
fishing.
* * * * *
Tog had a bad name. On the Labrador coast all dogs have bad names;
nor, if the truth must be told, does the reputation do them any
injustice. If evil communications corrupt good manners, the desperate
character of Tog's deeds, no less than the tragic manner of his end,
may be accounted for. At any rate, long before his abrupt departure
from the wilderness trails and snow-covered rock of Buccaneer Cove, he
had earned the worst reputation of all the pack.
It began in the beginning. When Tog was eight weeks old his end was
foreseen. He was then little more than a soft, fluffy, black-and-white
ball, awkwardly perambulating on four absurdly bowed legs. Martha, Jim
Grimm's wife, one day cast the lean scraps of the midday meal to the
pack. What came to pass so amazed old Jim Grimm that he dropped his
splitting-knife and stared agape.
"An' would you look at that little beast!" he gasped. "That one's a
wonder for badness!"
The snarling, scrambling heap of dogs, apparently inextricably
entangled, had all at once been reduced to order. Instead of a
confusion of taut legs and teeth and bristling hair, there was a
precise half-circle of gaunt beasts, squatted at a respectful distance
from Tog's mother, hopelessly licking their chops, while, with hair on
end and fangs exposed and dripping, she kept them off.
"It ain't Jinny," Jim remarked. "You can't blame she. It's that little
pup with the black eye."
You couldn't blame Jenny. Last of all would it occur to Martha Grimm,
with a child of her own to rear, to call her in the wrong. With a
litter of five hearty pups to provide for, Jenny was animated by a
holy maternal instinct. But Tog, which was the one with the black eye,
was not to be justified. He was imitating his mother's tactics with
diabolical success. A half-circle of whimpering puppies, keeping a
respectful distance, watched in grieved surprise, while, with hair on
end and tiny fangs occasionally exposed, he devoured the scraps of the
midday meal.
"A wonder for badness!" Jim Grimm repeated.
"'Give a dog a bad name,'" quoted Martha, quick, like the woman she
was, to resent snap-judgment of the young, "'an'----'"
"'Hang un,'" Jim concluded. "Well," he added, "I wouldn't be s'prised
if it _did_ come t' that."
It did.
* * * * *
In Tog's eyes there was never the light of love and humour--no amiable
jollity. He would come fawning, industriously wagging his hinder
parts, like puppies of more favoured degree; but all the while his
black eyes were alert, hard, infinitely suspicious and avaricious. Not
once, I am sure, did affection or gratitude lend them beauty. A
beautiful pup he was, nevertheless--fat and white, awkwardly big, his
body promising splendid strength. Even when he made war on the
fleas--and he waged it unceasingly--the vigour and skill of attack,
the originality of method, gave him a certain distinction. But his
eyes were never well disposed; the pup was neither trustful nor to be
trusted.
"If he lives t' the age o' three," said Jim Grimm, with a pessimistic
wag of the head, "'twill be more by luck than good conduct."
"Ah, dad," said Jimmie Grimm, "you jus' leave un t' me!"
"Well, Jimmie," drawled Jim Grimm, "it might teach you more about dogs
than you know. I don't mind if I _do_ leave un t' you--for a while."
"Hut!" Jimmie boasted. "_I'll_ master un."
"May _be_," said Jim Grimm.
It was Jimmie Grimm who first put Tog in the traces. This was in the
early days of Tog's first winter--and of Jimmie's seventh. The dog was
a lusty youngster then; better nourished than the other dogs of Jim
Grimm's pack, no more because of greater strength and daring than a
marvellous versatility in thievery. In a bored sort of way, being at
the moment lazy with food stolen from Sam Butt's stage, Tog submitted.
He yawned, stretched his long legs, and gave inopportune attention to
a persistent flea near the small of his back. When, however, the butt
of Jimmie's whip fell smartly on his flank, he was surprised into an
appreciation of the fact that a serious attempt was being made to
curtail his freedom; and he was at once alive with resentful protest.
[Illustration: _Courtesy of "The Outing Magazine"_
TOG THAWED INTO LIMP AND SERVILE AMIABILITY.]
"Hi, Tog!" Jimmie complained. "Bide still!"
Tog slipped from Jimmie's grasp and bounded off. He turned with a
snarl.
"Here, Tog!" cried Jimmie.
Tog came--stepping warily over the snow. His head was low, his
king-hairs bristling, his upper lip lifted.
"Ha, Tog, b'y!" said Jimmie, ingratiatingly.
Tog thawed into limp and servile amiability. The long, wiry white hair
of his neck fell flat; he wagged his bushy white tail; he pawed the
snow and playfully tossed his long, pointed nose as he crept near. But
had Jimmie Grimm been more observant, more knowing, he would have
perceived that the light in the lanky pup's eyes had not mellowed.
"Good dog!" crooned Jimmie, stretching out an affectionate hand.
Vanished, then, in a flash, every symptom of Tog's righteousness. His
long teeth closed on Jimmie's small hand with a snap. Jimmie struck
instantly--and struck hard. The butt of the whip caught Tog on the
nose. He dropped the hand and leaped away with a yelp.
"Now, me b'y," thought Jimmie Grimm, staring into the quivering dog's
eyes, not daring to glance at his own dripping hand, "I'll master
_you_!"
But it was no longer a question of mastery. The issue was life or
death. Tog was now of an age to conceive murder. Moreover, he was of a
size to justify an attempt upon Jimmie. And murder was in his heart.
He crouched, quivering, his wolfish eyes fixed upon the boy's blazing
blue ones. For a moment neither antagonist ventured attack. Both
waited.
It was Jimmie who lost patience. He swung his long dog whip. The lash
cracked in Tog's face. With a low growl, the dog rushed, and before
the boy could evade the attack, the dog had him by the leg. Down came
the butt of the whip. Tog released his hold and leaped out of reach.
He pawed about, snarling, shaking his bruised head.
This advantage the boy sought to pursue. He advanced--alert, cool,
ready to strike. Tog retreated. Jimmie rushed upon him. At a bound,
Tog passed, turned, and came again. Before Jimmie had well faced him,
Tog had leaped for his throat. Down went the boy, overborne by the
dog's weight, and by the impact, which he was not prepared to
withstand. But Tog was yet a puppy, unpracticed in fight; he had
missed the grip. And a heavy stick, in the hands of Jimmie's father,
falling mercilessly upon him, put him in yelping retreat.
"I 'low, Jimmie," drawled Jim Grimm, while he helped the boy to his
feet, "that that dog _is_ teachin' you more 'n you knowed."
"I 'low, dad," replied the breathless Jimmie, "that he teached me
nothin' more than I forgot."
"I wouldn't forget again," said Jim.
Jimmie did not deign to reply.