Billy Topsail, M.D.: A Tale of Adventure With Doctor Luke of the Labrador
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I 15
In which it is hinted that Teddy Brisk would make a nice little morsel o' dog meat, and Billy Topsail begins an adventure that eventually causes his hair to stand on end and is likely to make the reader's do the same.
CHAPTER II 24
In which Timothy Light's team of ten potential outlaws is considered, and there is a significant description of the career of a blood-guilty, ruined young dog, which is in the way of making desperate trouble for somebody.
CHAPTER III 33
In which Timothy Light's famished dogs are committed to the hands of Billy Topsail and a tap on the snout is recommended in the probable case of danger.
CHAPTER IV 40
In which the komatik is foundered, the dogs draw their own conclusions from the misfortune and prepare to take advantage, Cracker attempts a theft and gets a clip on the snout, and Billy Topsail and Teddy Brisk confront a situation of peril with composure, not knowing the ultimate disaster that impends.
CHAPTER V 50
In which the wind goes to work, the ice behaves in an alarming way, Billy Topsail regrets, for obvious reasons, having to do with the dogs, that he had not brought an axe, and Teddy Brisk protests that his mother knew precisely what she was talking about.
CHAPTER VI 56
In which the sudden death of Cracker is contemplated as a thing to be desired, Billy Topsail's whip disappears, a mutiny is declared and the dogs howl in the darkness.
CHAPTER VII 64
In which a blazing club plays a salutary part, Teddy Brisk declares the ways of his mother, and Billy Topsail looks forward to a battle that no man could win.
CHAPTER VIII 70
In which Teddy Brisk escapes from the wolfskin bag and determines to use his crutch and Billy Topsail comes to the conclusion that "it looks bad."
CHAPTER IX 76
In which attack is threatened and Billy Topsail strips stark naked in the wind in pursuit of a desperate expedient and with small chance of success.
CHAPTER X 82
In which Teddy Brisk confronts the pack alone and Cracker leads the assault.
CHAPTER XI 87
In which Teddy Brisk gives the strains of a Tight Cove ballad to the north wind, Billy Topsail wins the reward of daring, Cracker finds himself in the way of the evil-doer, and Teddy Brisk's boast makes Doctor Luke laugh.
CHAPTER XII 92
In which Billy Topsail's agreeable qualities win a warm welcome with Doctor Luke at Our Harbour, there is an explosion at Ragged Run, Tommy West drops through the ice and vanishes, and Doctor Luke is in a way never to be warned of the desperate need of his services.
CHAPTER XIII 100
In which Doctor Luke undertakes a feat of daring and endurance and Billy Topsail thinks himself the luckiest lad in the world.
CHAPTER XIV 104
In which Billy Topsail and Doctor Luke take to the ice in the night and Doctor Luke tells Billy Topsail something interesting about Skinflint Sam and Bad-Weather Tom West of Ragged Run.
CHAPTER XV 112
In which Bad-Weather Tom West's curious financial predicament is explained.
CHAPTER XVI 118
In which Doctor Luke and Billy Topsail proceed to accomplish what a cat would never attempt and Doctor Luke looks for a broken back whilst Billy Topsail shouts, "Can you make it?" and hears no answer.
CHAPTER XVII 126
In which rubber ice is encountered and Billy Topsail is asked a pointed question.
CHAPTER XVIII 134
In which discretion urges Doctor Luke to lie still in a pool of water.
CHAPTER XIX 140
In which Doctor Luke and Billy Topsail hesitate in fear on the brink of Tickle-my-Ribs.
CHAPTER XX 149
In which Skinflint Sam of Ragged Run finds himself in a desperate predicament and Bad-Weather Tom West at last has what Skinflint Sam wants.
CHAPTER XXI 158
In which a Croesus of Ragged Run drives a hard bargain in a gale of wind.
CHAPTER XXII 167
In which Doctor Luke and Billy Topsail go north, and at Candlestick Cove, returning, Doctor Luke finds himself just a bit peckish.
CHAPTER XXIII 174
In which, while Doctor Luke and Billy Topsail rest unsuspecting at Candlestick Cove, Tom Lute, the father of the Little Fiddler of Amen Island, sharpens an axe in the wood-shed, and the reader is left to draw his own conclusions respecting the sinister business.
CHAPTER XXIV 184
In which Bob Likely, the mail-man, interrupts Doctor Luke's departure, in the nick of time, with an astonishing bit of news, and the ice of Ships' Run begins to move to sea in a way to alarm the stout hearted.
CHAPTER XXV 190
In which a stretch of slush is to be crossed and Billy Topsail takes the law in his own hands.
CHAPTER XXVI 196
In which it seems that an axe and Terry Lute's finger are surely to come into injurious contact, and Terry Lute is caught and carried bawling to the block, while his mother holds the pot of tar.
CHAPTER XXVII 204
In which Doctor Luke's flesh creeps, Billy Topsail acts like a bob-cat, and the Little Fiddler of Amen Island tells a secret.
CHAPTER XXVIII 212
In which Sir Archibald Armstrong's son and heir is presented for the reader's inspection, highly complimented and recommended by the author, and the thrilling adventure, which Archie and Billy are presently to begin, has its inception on the departure of Archie from St. John's aboard the _Rough and Tumble_.
CHAPTER XXIX 221
In which the crew of the _Rough and Tumble_ is harshly punished, and Archie Armstrong, having pulled the wool over the eyes of Cap'n Saul, goes over the side to the floe, where he falls in with a timid lad, in whose company, with Billy Topsail along, he is some day to encounter his most perilous adventure.
CHAPTER XXX 226
In which a little song-maker of Jolly Harbour enlists the affection of the reader.
CHAPTER XXXI 232
In which a gale of wind almost lays hands on the crew of the _Rough and Tumble_, Toby Farr is confronted with the suggestion of dead men, piled forward like cord-wood, and Archie Armstrong joins Bill o' Burnt Bay and old Jonathan in a roar of laughter.
CHAPTER XXXII 240
In which Archie Armstrong and Billy Topsail say good-bye to Toby Farr for the present, and, bound down to Our Harbour with Doctor Luke, enter into an arrangement, fr
om which issues the discovery of a mysterious letter and sixty seconds of cold thrill.
CHAPTER XXXIII 251
In which the letter is opened, Billy and Archie are confronted by a cryptogram, and, having exercised their wits, conclude that somebody is in desperate trouble.
CHAPTER XXXIV 257
In which Archie and Billy resolve upon a deed of their own doing, and are challenged by Ha-ha Shallow of Rattle Water.
CHAPTER XXXV 265
In which Billy Topsail takes his life in his hands and Ha-ha Shallow lays hold of it with the object of snatching it away.
CHAPTER XXXVI 271
In which Ha-ha Shallow is foiled, Archie Armstrong displays swift cunning, of which he is well aware, and Billy Topsail, much to his surprise, and not greatly to his distaste, is kissed by a lady of Poor Luck Barrens.
CHAPTER XXXVII 279
In which Archie Armstrong rejoins the _Rough and Tumble_, with Billy Topsail for shipmate, and they seem likely to be left on the floe, while Toby Farr, with the gale blowing cold as death and dark falling, promises to make a song about the ghosts of dead men, but is entreated not to do so.
CHAPTER XXXVIII 287
In which the wind blows a tempest, our heroes are lost on the floe, Jonathan Farr is encased in snow and frozen spindrift, Toby strangely disappears, and an heroic fight for life is begun, wrapped in bitter dark.
CHAPTER XXXIX 293
In which one hundred and seventy-three men of the _Rough and Tumble_ are plunged in the gravest peril of the coast, wandering like lost beasts, and some drop dead, and some are drowned, and some kill themselves to be done with the torture they can bear no longer.
CHAPTER XL 298
In which Toby Farr falls in the water, and, being soaked to the skin, will freeze solid in half an hour, in the frosty dusk of the approaching night, unless a shift of dry clothes is found, a necessity which sends Jonathan Farr and Billy Topsail hunting for dead men.
CHAPTER XLI 305
In which a dead man is made to order for little Toby Farr.
CHAPTER XLII 311
In which the tale comes to a good end: Archie and Billy make ready for dinner, Toby Farr is taken for good and all by Sir Archibald, and Billy Topsail, having been declared wrong by Archie's father, takes the path that leads to a new shingle, after which the author asks a small favour of the reader.
_To Elspeth's Canadian Cousins Russ and Dode, Tom and Kenn, Rich and Logan, Mort and Fos, Georgie, and all the girls of the connection who will deign to read the tale, Mar and Buff, Frankie, Bettie and Jean when the time comes, with a wink and a challenge to Kathie Sweet._