Billy Topsail & Company Part 41

"Skipper of the _Spot Cash_ to see you, sir."

"WHAT!" shouted Archie.

Judd had fled.

"Skipper--of--the--_Spot--Cash_!" Archie muttered stupidly.

Indeed, yes. The hearty, grinning, triumphant skipper of the _Spot Cash_! And more, too, following sheepishly in his wake: no less than the full complement of other members of the trading firm of Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm & Company, even to Donald North, who was winking with surprise, and Bagg, the cook, ex-gutter-snipe from London, who could not wink at all from sheer amazement. And then--first thing of all--Archie Armstrong and his father shook hands in quite another way.

Whereupon this same Archie Armstrong (while Sir Archibald fairly bellowed with delighted laughter) fell upon Bill o' Burnt Bay, and upon the crew of the _Spot Cash_, right down to Bagg (who had least to lose), and beat the very breath out of their bodies in an hilarious expression of joy.

"d.i.c.kerin'," Bill o' Burnt Bay explained, by and by.

"d.i.c.kering?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Archie.

"Jus' simon-pure d.i.c.kerin'," Bill o' Burnt Bay insisted, a bit indignantly.

And then it all came out--how that the Jolly Harbour wreckers had come aboard to reason; how that Bill o' Burnt Bay, with a gun in one hand, was disposed to reason, and _did_ reason, and continued to reason, until the Jolly Harbour folk began to laugh, and were in the end persuaded to take a reasonable amount of merchandise from the depleted shelves (the whole of it) in return for their help in floating the schooner. It came out, too, how Billy Topsail had held the candle over the powder-keg. It came out, moreover, how the crew of the _Spot Cash_ had set sail from Jolly Harbour with a fair wind, how the wind had providentially continued to blow fair and strong, how the _Spot Cash_ had made the land-fall of St. John's before night of the day before, and how the crew had with their own arms towed her into harbour and had not fifteen minutes ago moored her at Sir Archibald's wharf. And loaded, sir--loaded, sir, with as fine a lot o' salt-cod as ever came out o' White Bay an' off the French Sh.o.r.e! To all of which both Sir Archibald and Archie listened with wide open eyes--the eyes of the boy (it may be whispered in strictest confidence) glistening with tears of proud delight in his friends.

There was a celebration. Of _course_, there was a celebration! To be sure! This occurred when the load of the _Spot Cash_ had been weighed out, and a discharge of obligation duly handed to the firm of Topsail, Armstrong, Grimm & Company, and the balance paid over in hard cash. Skipper Bill was promptly made a member of the firm to his own great profit; and he was amazed and delighted beyond everything but a wild gasp--and so was Billy Topsail--and so was Jimmie Grimm--and so was Donald North--and so was Bagg--so were they all amazed, every one, when they were told that fish had gone to three-eighty, and each found himself the possessor, in his own right, free of all inc.u.mbrance, of one hundred and thirty-seven dollars and sixty-three cents. But this amazement was hardly equal to that which overcame them when they sat down to dinner with Archie and Sir Archibald and Lady Armstrong in the evening. Perhaps it was the shining plate--perhaps it was Lady Armstrong's sweet beauty--perhaps it was Sir Archibald's jokes--perhaps it was Archie Armstrong's Eton jacket and perfectly immaculate appearance--perhaps it was the presence of his jolly tutor--perhaps it was the glitter and snowy whiteness and glorious bounty of the table spread before them--but there was nothing in the whole wide world to equal the astonishment of the crew of the _Spot Cash_--nothing to approach it, indeed--except their fine delight.

THE END