The Adventures of Billy Topsail

by Norman Duncan

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.

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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!"
Chapter XXXVIII	[317]
And last: In which wind and snow and cold have their way and death lands on the floe. Billy Topsail gives himself to a gust of wind, and Archie Armstrong finds peril and hardship stern teachers. Concerning, also, a new sloop, a fore-an'-after and a tailor's lay figure.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

	FACING PAGE
His Clothes were Frozen Stiff, and He had to Beat Them on the Ice to Soften Them	[Title]
Billy Raised His Hand as if to Strike Him	[20]
Then Like a Flash it Shot Towards the Boat	[38]
"Jumped Like a Stag for the Second Pan"	[62]
Billy Staggered into the Circle of Light	[82]
"She's Lost," He Thought. "Lost with all Hands"	[126]
"My Little Lad's Wonderful Sick. Come Quick!"	[132]
"It is a Dead W'ale!"	[174]
He was Near the End of the Sixteenth Verse	[245]
Then He Advanced Upon the Boy	[261]
"Lash Your Tows, B'ys," said Bill. "Leave the Rest Go"	[305]
"We're Saved!" said Bill	[326]

The publishers acknowledge the courtesy of The Youth's Companion and Outing for the use of various illustrations appearing originally in these periodicals.