Chapter I: Front Matter

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THE ADVENTURES OF BILLY TOPSAIL

* * * * *

_THE WORKS OF_

NORMAN DUNCAN

_Second Edition_

The Mother

A Novelette of New York Life. 12mo, cloth, $1.25, de
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"Another book quite unlike 'Dr. Luke' in environment,
but very like it in its intuitive understandings of the
natures of the lowly and obscure . . . holds the reader
spellbound."--_Nashville American._

_Twenty-fifth Thousand_

Doctor Luke of the Labrador

12mo, cloth, $1.50.

"Norman Duncan has fulfilled all that was expected
of him in this story; it established him beyond
question as one of the strong masters of the present
day."--_Brooklyn Eagle._

_Fourth Edition_

Dr. Grenfell's Parish

Illustrated. Cloth, $1.00 net.

"He tells vividly and picturesquely many of the things
done by Dr. Grenfell and his associates. They have
a distinct literary tone. It is splendid, heroic
work that Dr. Grenfell and his fellows are doing as
missionaries of humanity and civilization in a field
that is painfully near home."--_N. Y. Sun._

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
_Publishers_

* * * * *

THE ADVENTURES OF BILLY TOPSAIL

by

NORMAN DUNCAN

Author of "Doctor Luke of The Labrador," "The Mother," "Dr. Grenfell's Parish"

Illustrated

New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh

Copyright, 1906, by Fleming H. Revell Company

New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue Toronto: 27 Richmond Street, W. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street

_J. K._

_To the editors of the "Youth's Companion" the author's
thanks are due for the permission to reprint much of
the contents of this book._

_To the Boy who Reads the Book_

YOU must not be surprised because the adventures of Billy Topsail and a few of his friends fill this book. If _all_ the adventures of these real boys were written the record would fill many books. This is not hard to explain. The British Colony of Newfoundland lies to the north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and to the east of the Canadian Labrador. It is so situated that the inhabitants may not escape adventures. On the map, it looks bleak and far away and inhospitable--a lonely island, outlying in the stormy water of the Atlantic. Indeed, it is all that. The interior is a vast wilderness--a waste place. The folk are fishermen all. They live on the coast, in little harbours, remote, widely scattered, not connected by roads; communication is only by way of the sea. They are hospitable, fearless, tender, simple, willing for toil; and, surely, little else can be said of a people. Long, long ago, their forbears first strayed up that forbidding shore in chase of the fish; and the succeeding generations, though such men as we are, have there lived their lives, apart from the world's comforts and delights as we know them. The land is barren; sustenance is from the sea, which is moody and cold and gray: thus life in that far place has many perils and deprivations and toilsome duties. The boys of the outports are like English-speaking boys the world over. They are merry or not, brave or not, kind or not, as boys go; but it may be that they are somewhat merrier and braver and kinder than boys to whom self-reliance and physical courage are less needful. At any rate, they have adventures, every one of them; and that is not surprising--for the conditions of life are such that every Newfoundland lad intimately knows hardship and peril at an age when the boys of the cities still grasp a hand when they cross the street.

N. D.

New York, _September, 1906_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I 11

In which young Billy Topsail of Ruddy Cove puts out to his first
adventure with his dog in the bow of the punt.

CHAPTER II 19

Concerning the behaviour of Billy Topsail and his dog in the
water when the _Never Give Up_ went to the bottom, and
closing with an apology and a wag of the tail.

CHAPTER III 26

Describing the haunts and habits of devil-fish and informing
the reader of Billy Topsail's determination to make a
capture at all hazards.

CHAPTER IV 34

Recounting the adventure of the giant squid of Chain Tickle,
in which the punt gets in the grip of a gigantic tentacle
and Billy Topsail strikes with an axe.

CHAPTER V 44

On the face of the cliff: Wherein Billy Topsail gets lost
in a perilous place and sits down to recover his
composure.

CHAPTER VI 52

In which Billy Topsail loses his nerve. Wherein, also, the
wings of gulls seem to brush past.

CHAPTER VII 59

In which Billy Topsail hears the fur trader's story of a
jigger and a cake of ice in the wind.

CHAPTER VIII 69

In the offshore gale: In which Billy Topsail goes seal
hunting and is swept to sea with the floe.

CHAPTER IX 78

In which old Tom Topsail burns his punt and Billy wanders in
the night and three lives hang on a change of wind.

CHAPTER X 86

How Billy Topsail's friend Bobby Lot joined fortunes with
Eli Zitt and whether or not he proved worthy of the
partnership.

CHAPTER XI 93

Bobby Lot learns to swim and Eli Zitt shows amazing courage
and self-possession and strength.

CHAPTER XII 104

Containing the surprising adventure of Eli Zitt's little
partner on the way back from Fortune Harbour, in which
a Newfoundland dog displays a saving intelligence.

CHAPTER XIII 116

In which Billy Topsail sets sail for the Labrador, the
_Rescue_ strikes an iceberg, and Billy is commanded to
pump for his life.

CHAPTER XIV 123

Faithfully narrating the amazing experiences of a
Newfoundland schooner and describing Billy Topsail's
conduct in a sinking boat.

CHAPTER XV 131

In which the Ruddy Cove doctor tells Billy Topsail and
a stranger how he came to learn that the longest way
'round is sometimes the shortest way home.

CHAPTER XVI 142

Describing how Billy Topsail set out for Ruddy Cove with
Her Majesty's Mail and met with catastrophe.

CHAPTER XVII 151

Billy Topsail wrings out his clothes and finds himself
cut off from shore by thirty yards of heaving ice.

CHAPTER XVIII 159

In which Billy Topsail joins the whaler _Viking_ and a
school is sighted.

CHAPTER XIX 164

In which the chase is kept up and the captain promises
himself a kill.

CHAPTER XX 172

The mate of the fin-back whale rises for the last time,
with a blood-red sunset beyond, and Billy Topsail
says, "Too bad!"

CHAPTER XXI 176

In which Billy Topsail goes fishing in earnest. Concerning,
also, Feather's Folly of the Devil's Teeth, Mary
Robinson, and the wreck of the _Fish Killer_.

CHAPTER XXII 184

The crew of the _Fish Killer_ finds refuge on an iceberg
and discovers greater safety elsewhere, after which
the cook is mistaken for a fool, but puts the crew
to shame.

CHAPTER XXIII 196

In which the clerk of the trader _Tax_ yarns of a madman
in the cabin.

CHAPTER XXIV 208

In which a pirate's cave grows interesting, and two young
members of the Ethnological and Antiquarian Club of
St. John's, undertake an adventure under the guidance
of Billy Topsail.

CHAPTER XXV 216

In which there is a landslide at Little Tickle Basin and
something of great interest and peculiar value is
discovered in the cave.

CHAPTER XXVI 223

In which Billy Topsail determines to go to the ice in the
spring of the year, and young Archibald Armstrong of
St. John's is permitted to set out upon an adventure
which promises to be perilous and profitable.

CHAPTER XXVII 231

While Billy Topsail is about his own business Archie
Armstrong stands on the bridge of the _Dictator_ and
Captain Hand orders "Full speed ahead!" on the stroke
of twelve.

CHAPTER XXVIII 238

In which Archie Armstrong falls in with Bill o' Burnt Bay
and Billy Topsail of Ruddy Cove, and makes a speech.

CHAPTER XXIX 246

Billy Topsail is shipped upon conditions, and the
_Dictator_, in a rising gale, is caught in a field of
drift ice, with a growler to leeward.

CHAPTER XXX 255

In which Archie Armstrong and Billy Topsail have an exciting
encounter with a big dog hood, and, at the sound of
alarm, leave the issue in doubt, while the ice goes
abroad and the enemy goes swimming.

CHAPTER XXXI 264

The _Dictator_ charges an ice pan and loses a main topmast.

CHAPTER XXXII 272

In which seals are sighted and Archie Armstrong has a
narrow chance in the crow's-nest.

CHAPTER XXXIII 279

The ice runs red, and, in storm and dusk, Tim Tuttle
brews a pot o' trouble for Captain Hand, while Billy
Topsail observes the operation.

CHAPTER XXXIV 287

In which Tim Tuttle's shaft flies straight for the mark.
The crews of the _Dictator_ and _Lucky Star_ declare
war, and Captain Hand is threatened with the shame of
dishonour, while young Billy Topsail, who has the
solution of the difficulty, is in the hold of the ship.

CHAPTER XXXV 296

In which the issue is determined.

CHAPTER XXXVI 302

It appears that the courage and strength of the son of a
colonial knight are to be tried. The hunters are caught
in a great storm.

CHAPTER XXXVII 308

In which the men are lost, the _Dictator_ is nipped and
Captain Hand sobs, "Poor Sir Archibald!"