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

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

"Billy's a good boy," said the skipper.

Little Donald North--who had all along been a thoroughly serviceable
but inconspicuous member of the crew--began to shed unwilling tears.

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

"_There she is!_" Skipper Bill roared.

It was true. There she was. Far off at sea--away beyond Grief Head at
the entrance to Hook-and-Line--the smoke of a steamer surely appeared,
a black cloud in the misty, glowering day. It was the _Grand Lake_.
There was no other steamer on the coast. Cap'n Hand--Archie's friend,
Cap'n Hand, with whom he had sailed on the sealing voyage of the
stout old _Dictator_--was in command. She would soon make harbour.
Archie's load vanished; from despair he was lifted suddenly into a
wild hilarity which nothing would satisfy but a roaring wrestle with
Skipper Bill. The _Grand Lake_ would presently be in; she would
proceed full steam to Jolly Harbour, she would pass a line to the
_Spot Cash_, she would jerk the little schooner from her rocky berth
on Blow-Me-Down, and presently that selfsame wilful little craft would
be legging it for St. John's.

But was it the _Grand Lake_?

"Lads," the skipper declared, when the steamer was in view, "it sure
is the _Grand Lake_."

They watched her.

"Queer!" Skipper Bill muttered, at last.

"What's queer?" asked Archie.

"She should be turnin' in," the skipper replied. "What's Cap'n Hand
thinkin' about?"

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

The boys were bewildered. The steamer should by this time have had her
nose turned towards Hook-and-Line. To round Grief Head she was keeping
amazingly far out to sea.

"Wonderful queer!" said the anxious skipper.

The _Grand Lake_ steamed past Hook-and-Line and disappeared in the
mist. Evidently she was in haste. Presently there was not so much as a
trail of smoke to be descried at sea.

CHAPTER XXXIII

_In Which Billy Topsail, Besieged by Wreckers, Sleeps on
Duty and Thereafter Finds Exercise For His Wits. In Which,
also, a Lighted Candle is Suspended Over a Keg of Powder
and Precipitates a Critical Moment While Billy Topsail
Turns Pale With Anxiety_

At Jolly Harbour, meantime, where Billy Topsail kept watch, except
for the flutter of an apron or skirt when the women went to the well
for water, there was no sign of life