ed to the Hands of Billy Topsail and a Tap on the

as the songs of the coast are preserved in the heads of the skippers that sail it. And so you may lay with confidence a bit west of north from the Cape Norman light-and rais

tt's P'int y

ck bears

r'west you

tone Head

s narrow, n

ter's on the s

e harbour

homs you

ed about, like offspring, and all clinging to the cliffs with the grip of a colony of mussels. They encircle the quie

as the first blast from the north, in a single night of the fall of the year, had blanketed the land with snow, and tucked it in, with enduring frost, for the winter to come. With these warm winds, the ice in Schooner Bay would move t

ave, in a season of its own willful choosing, for good and all. When Doctor Luke made off across the bay, leaving Teddy Brisk to follow, by means of Timothy Light's kom

ar the field loose from th

white coats in gusts and a melting drizzle; and, following on these untimely showers, a day or two of sunshine and soft breezes set the roofs smoking, the icicles dissolving, the eaves running little str

of the waves, vast fragments of the field were shaking themselves free and floating off; and the whole wide body of ice, from Rattle Brook, at the

hift of the weather there came a day when all that was water was frozen stiff overnight, and the wind fell

said Skipper Thomas th

look of it," the

um-you're too f

nows that, sir-a man as old as you. A

coddle that we

sk's moth

e!" sa

occurred to S

dice!" he

stared in doubt at old Skipper Tho

ed as that, sir," said

s bachelor cottage of turf and rough-hewn timber by the turn to Sunday-School Hill. And a woebegone old fellow he was: a sight to stir pity and laughter-with his bottles and plasters

n' she've begun t' pull too. Ecod! but she's drawin'! Mm-m-m! There's power for you! An' if she don't pull the pain out o' the toes o' my two feet"-Skipper Timothy's feet were s

himself t' home, an' feel free o' the place, the while he should entertain and profit himsel

along o' you?" Skip

was of a musical turn and given frequently to a vigorous recital o

undaries; he had been known to mistake his liver for his heart in the indulgence of a habit of pessimistic diagnosis. And whether he was right in this instance or not, and whatever the strain involved in his vocal

he trust his dogs? Oh, aye; he would trust his team free an' willin'. An' might Billy Topsail drive the team? Oh, aye; young Billy Topsail might

Skipper Timothy advised. "A child can overco

lly Topsail should drive Teddy