at the cottages the livelong day.
No boats ran out to the fishing-grounds; no men were on the flakes;
the salmon nets and lobster-traps were not hauled. Billy prepared a
spirited defense with the guns, which he charged heavily with powder,
omitting the bullets. This done, he awaited the attack, meaning to
let his wits or his arms deal with the situation, according to
developments.

The responsibility was heavy, the duty anxious; and Billy could not
forget what Archie had said about the firm of Topsail, Armstrong,
Grimm & Company.

"I 'low there was nothing for it but t' leave me in charge," he
thought, as he paced the deck that night. "But 'twill be a job now to
save her if they come."

Billy fancied, from time to time, that he heard the splash of oars;
but the night was dark, and although he peered long and listened
intently, he could discover no boat in the shadows. And when the day
came, with the comparative security of light, he was inclined to think
that his fancy had been tricking him.

"But it might have been the punts slippin' in from the harbours above
and below," he thought, suddenly. "I wonder if 'twas."

He spent most of that day lying on a coil of rope on the deck of the
cabin--dozing and delighting himself with long day-dreams. When the
night fell, it fell dark and foggy. An easterly wind overcast the sky
and blew a thick mist from the open sea. Lights twinkled in the
cottages ashore, somewhat blurred by the mist; but elsewhere it was
dark; the nearer rocks were outlined by their deeper black.

"'Twill be now," Billy thought, "or 'twill be never. Skipper Bill will
sure be back with the _Grand Lake_ to-morrow."

Some time after midnight, while Billy was pacing the deck to keep
himself warm and awake, he was hailed from the shore.

"'Tis from the point at the narrows," he thought. "Sure, 'tis Skipper
Bill come back."

Again he heard the hail--his own name, coming from that point at the
narrows.

"Billy, b'y! Billy!"

"Aye, sir! Who are you?"

"Skipper Bill, b'y!" came the answer. "Fetch the quarter-boat. We're
aground and leakin'."

"Aye, aye, sir!"

"Quick, lad! I wants t' get aboard."

Billy leaped from the rail to the quarter-boat. He was ready to cast
off when he heard a splash in the darkness behind him. That splash
gave him pause. Were the wreckers trying to decoy him from the ship?
They had a legal right to salve an abandoned vessel. He clambered
aboard, determined, until he had