Billy Topsail & Company Part 35

With that the fisherman turned his punt about and made off for the sh.o.r.e.

"Aye, aye, Billy!" he called, good-naturedly. "I'll give you no call to strike me."

"He'll come back with others," the skipper remarked, gloomily. "'Tis a bad lookout."

"We'll try to haul her off with the punt," suggested Archie.

"With the punt!" the skipper laughed. "'Twould be as easy to haul Blow-Me-Down out by the roots. But if we can keep the wreckers off, by trick or by force, we'll not lose her. The _Grand Lake_ pa.s.sed up the coast on Monday. She'll be steamin' into Hook-and-Line again on Thursday. As she doesn't call at Jolly Harbour we'll have t' go fetch her. We can run over in the punt an' fetch her. 'Tis a matter o'

gettin' there and back before the schooner's torn t' pieces."

At dawn of the next day Skipper Bill determined to set out for Hook-and-Line to intercept the steamer. In the meantime there had been no sign of life ash.o.r.e. Doubtless, the crew of the _Spot Cash_ thought, the news of the wreck was on its way to neighbouring settlements. The wind had blown itself out; but the sea was still running high, and five hands (three of them boys) were needed to row the heavy schooner's punt through the lop and distance. Muscle was needed for the punt; nothing but wit could save the schooner. Who should stay behind?

"Let Archie stay behind," said Billy Topsail.

"No," Skipper Bill replied; "he'll be needed t' bargain with the captain o' the _Grand Lake_."

There was a moment of silence.

"Billy," said the skipper, "you'll stay."

Billy nodded shortly.

"Now, Billy Topsail," Skipper Bill went on, "I fear you've never read the chapter on' Wreck an' Salvage' in the 'Consolidated Statutes o'

Newfoundland.' So I'm going t' tell you some things you don't know.

Now, listen careful! By law, b'y," tapping the boy on the breast with a thick, tarry finger, "if they's n.o.body aboard a stranded vessel--if she's abandoned, as they say in court--the men who find her can have her and all that's in her. That's pretty near the law o' the land--near enough for you, anyway. Contrary, by law, b'y," with another impressive tap, "if they is one o' the crew aboard, he's a right to shoot down any man who comes over the side against his will.

That's _exactly_ the law. Do you follow?"

"But I've no mind for shootin' at so good-natured a man," said Billy, recalling the fisherman's broad grin.

"An' I hope you won't have to," said the skipper. "But they's no harm in aiming an empty gun anywhere you've a mind to. So far as I know, they's no harm in firin' away a blast or two o' powder if you forget t' put in the shot."

Billy laughed.

"Billy, boy," said Archie, tremulously, "it's up to you to save the firm of Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm & Company."

"All right, Archie," said Billy.

"I _know_ it's all right," Archie declared.

"They's just two things to remember," said the skipper, from the bow of the punt, before casting off. "The first is to stay aboard; the second is to let n.o.body else come aboard if you can help it. 'Tis all very simple."

"All right, skipper," said Billy.

"Topsail--Armstrong--Grimm--_and_--Company," were the last words Billy Topsail heard; and they came from Archie Armstrong.

CHAPTER x.x.xII

_In Which the "Grand Lake" Conducts Herself In a Most Peculiar Fashion to the Chagrin of the Crew of the "Spot Cash"_

Skipper Bill and the punt of the stranded _Spot Cash_ made the harbour at Hook-and-Line in good season to intercept the _Grand Lake_. She was due--she would surely steam in--that very day, said the men of Hook-and-Line. And it seemed to Archie Armstrong that everything now depended on the _Grand Lake_. It would be hopeless--Skipper Bill had said so and the boys needed no telling--it would be hopeless to attempt to get the _Spot Cash_ off Blow-Me-Down Rock in an unfriendly harbour without the steamer's help.

"'Tis fair hard t' believe that the Jolly Harbour folk would give us no aid," said Jimmie Grimm.

Skipper Bill laughed. "You've no knowledge o' Jolly Harbour," said he.

"'Tis a big expense these robbers are putting us to," Archie growled.

"Robbers?" Bill drawled. "Well, they're a decent, G.o.d-fearin' folk, with their own ideas about a wreck."

Archie sniffed.

"I've no doubt," the skipper returned, "that they're thankin' G.o.d for the windfall of a tradin' schooner at family worship in Jolly Harbour at this very minute."

This view expressed small faith in the wits of Billy Topsail.

"Oh, Billy Topsail will stand un off," Jimmie Grimm stoutly declared.

"I'm doubtin' it," said the frank skipper.

"Wh-wh-_what_!" Archie exclaimed in horror.

"I'm just doubtin' it," the skipper repeated.

This was a horrifying confession; and Archie Armstrong knew that Skipper Bill was not only wise in the ways of the French Sh.o.r.e but was neither a man to take a hopeless view nor one needlessly to excite anxiety. When Bill o' Burnt Bay admitted his fear that Billy Topsail had neither the strength nor the wit to save the _Spot Cash_ from the G.o.d-fearing folk of Jolly Harbour, he meant more than he said. The affairs of Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm & Company seemed to be in a bad way. It was now more than a mere matter of liquidating an obligation on the first of September; the problem was of liquidating it at all.

"Wisht the _Grand Lake_ would 'urry up," said Bagg.

"I'd like t' save some splinters o' the schooner, anyway," the skipper chuckled, in a ghastly way, "even if we _do_ lose the cargo."

It occurred all at once to Archie Armstrong that Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm & Company were not only in obligation for the debt to Armstrong & Company but were responsible for a chartered craft which was not insured.

"A thousand dollars--a cold thousand dollars--_and_ the _Spot Cash_!"

he exclaimed, aghast.

"Wisht she'd 'urry up," Bagg repeated.

Archie, pacing the wharf, his hands deep in his pockets, his face haggard and white, recalled that his father had once told him that many a man had been ruined by having too large a credit. And Archie had had credit--much credit. A mere boy with a thousand dollars of credit! With a thousand dollars of credit in merchandise and coin and the unquestioned credit of chartering a schooner! He realized that it had been much--too much. Somehow or other, as he feverishly paced the wharf at Hook-and-Line, the trading venture seemed infinitely larger and more precarious than it had in his father's office on the rainy day when the lad had so blithely proposed it. He understood, now, why it was that other boys could not stalk confidently into the offices of Armstrong & Company and be outfitted for a trading voyage.

His father's faith--his father's indulgent fatherhood--had provided the all-too-large credit for his ruin.

"Wisht she'd 'urry up," Bagg sighed.

"Just now," Archie declared, looking Skipper Bill in the eye, "it's up to Billy Topsail."