Chapter I: Front Matter

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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.

* * * * *

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

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
Señor 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

Señor Fakerino created Applause by Extracting Half Dollars From Vacancy. 230

BILLY TOPSAIL & COMPANY