The Adventures of Billy Topsail

by Norman Duncan

  CHAPTER IV

  _Recounting the Adventure of the Giant Squid of Chain Tickle, in Which the Punt Gets in the Grip of a Gigantic Tentacle and Billy Topsail Strikes With an Axe_

  ONE day late in September--it was near evening of a gray day--BillyTopsail and Bobby Lot were returning in Bobby's punt from Birds' NestIslands, whither they had gone to hunt a group of seals, reportedto have taken up a temporary residence there. They had a mighty,muzzle-loading, flintlock gun; and they were so delighted with thenoise it made that they had exhausted their scanty provision of powderand lead long before the seals were in sight.

  They had taken the shortest way home. It lay past Chain Hole, a small,landlocked basin, very deep, with a narrow entrance, which was shallowat low tide. The entrance opened into a broad bay, and was called ChainTickle.

  "What's that in the tickle?" Billy exclaimed, as they were rowing past.

  It was a black object, apparently floating quietly on the surface ofthe water. The boys gazed at it for a long time, but could make nothingof it. They were completely puzzled.

  "'Tis a small bit o' wreck, I'm thinkin'," said Bobby. "Leave us rowclose and see."

  "Maybe 'tis a capsized punt."

  When they were within about thirty yards of the object they lay ontheir oars. For some unaccountable reason they did not care to venturenearer. Twilight was then fast approaching. The light was alreadybeginning to fail.

  "'Tis a wonderful queer thing!" Billy muttered, his curiosity gettingthe better of him. "Row ahead, Bobby. We'll go alongside."

  "They's something movin' on it!" Bobby whispered, as he let his oarsfall in the water. "Look! They's two queer, big, round spots on it--bigas plates."

  Billy thought he saw the whole object move. He watched it closely. It_did_ stir! It was some living thing, then. But what? A whale?

  A long, snakelike arm was lifted out of the water. It swayed this wayand that, darted here and there, and fell back with a splash. Themoving spots, now plainly gigantic eyes, glittered.

  "'Tis the devil-fish!" screamed Bobby.

  Another arm was lifted up, then a third and a fourth and a fifth. Themonster began to lash the water--faster and yet more furiously--untilthe tickle was heaving and frothy, and the whole neighbourhood was inan uproar.

  "Pull! Pull!" cried Bobby.

  Billy, too, was in a panic. They turned the head of the punt and pulledwith all their might. The water swirled in the wake of the boat.Perceiving, however, that the squid made no effort to follow, they gotthe better of their fright Then they lay on their oars to watch themonster.

  They wondered why it still lay in the tickle, why it so furiouslylashed the water with its arms and great tail. It was Bobby who solvedthe mystery.

  "'Tis aground," said he.

  That was evidently the situation. The squid had been caught in theshallow tickle when the tide, which ran swiftly at that point, wason the ebb. The boys took courage. Their curiosity still furtheremboldened them. So once more they turned the punt about and pulledcautiously towards the tickle.

  There was less light than before, but still sufficient to disclose thebaleful eyes and writhing arms of the squid when the boat was yet asafe distance away. One by one the arms fell back into the water, as iffrom exhaustion; slowly the beating of the tail subsided. After a timeall sound and motion ceased. The boys waited for some further sign oflife, but none came. The squid was still, as if dead.

  "Sure, he's dead now," said Billy. "Leave us pull close up."

  "Oh, no, b'y! He's but makin' believe."

  But Billy thought otherwise. "I wants that squid," he said, in a doggedway, "and I'm goin' to have him. I'll sell him and get a new punt."

  Bobby protested in vain. Nothing would content Billy Topsail but thepossession of the big squid's body. Bobby pointed out that if the long,powerful arms were once laid on the boat there would be no escape. Herecalled to Billy the harbour story of the horrible death of ZachariahNorth, who, as report said, had been pursued, captured and pulled underwater by a devil-fish in Gander Bay.[3]

  It was all to no purpose, however, for Billy obstinately declared thathe would make sure of the squid before the tide turned. He admitteda slight risk, but he wanted a new punt, and he was willing to risksomething to obtain it.

  THEN LIKE A FLASH IT SHOT TOWARD THE BOAT.]

  He proposed to put Bobby ashore, and approach the squid alone; butBobby would not listen. Two hands might be needed in the boat, he said.What if the squid were alive, after all? What if it laid hold of thepunt? In that event, two hands would surely be needed.

  "I'll go," he said. "But leave us pull slow. And if we sees so much asa wink of his eye we'll pull away."

  They rowed nearer, with great caution. Billy was in the bow of theboat. It was he who had the axe. Bobby, seated amidships, faced thebow. It was he who did the rowing.

  The squid was quiet. There was not a sign of life about it. Billyestimated the length of its body, from the beak to the point of thetail, as twenty feet, the circumference as "the size of a hogshead."Its tentacular arms, he determined, must be at least thirty-five feetlong; and when the boat came within that distance he shuddered.

  "Is you sure he's dead?" Bobby whispered, weakly.

  "I don't know!" Billy answered, in a gasp. "I thinks so."

  Bobby dropped the oars and stepped to the bow of the punt. The boatlost way and came to a stop within twenty feet of the squid. Stillthere was no sign of life.

  The boys stared at the great, still body, lying quiet in the gatheringdusk and haze. Neither seemed to feel the slight trembling of the boatthat might have warned them. Not a word was spoken until Billy, in awhisper, directed Bobby to pull the boat a few feet nearer.

  "But we're movin' already," he added, in a puzzled way.

  The boat was very slowly approaching the squid. The motion was hardlyperceptible, but it was real.

  "'Tis queer!" said Bobby.

  He turned to take up the oars. What he saw lying over the port gunwaleof the boat made him gasp, grip Billy's wrist and utter a scream ofterror!

  "We're cotched!"

  The squid had fastened one of its tentacles to the punt. The other waspoised above the stern, ready to fall and fix its suckers. The onwardmovement of the punt was explained.

  Billy knew the danger, but he was not so terrified as to be incapableof action. He was about to spring to the stem to strike off thetentacle that already lay over the gunwale; but as he looked down tochoose his step he saw that one of the eight powerful arms was slowlycreeping over the starboard bow.

  He struck at that arm with all his might, missed, wrenched the axe fromthe gunwale, and struck true. The mutilated arm was withdrawn. Billyleaped to the stern, vaguely conscious in passing that another arm wascreeping from the water. He severed the first tentacle with one blow.When he turned to strike the second it had disappeared; so, too, hadthe second arm. The boat seemed to be free, but it was still withingrasp.

  In the meantime the squid had awakened to furious activity. It waslashing the water with arms and tail, angrily snapping its great beakand ejecting streams of black water from its siphon-tube. The water wasviolently agitated and covered with a black froth.

  In this the creature manifested fear and distress. Had it not beenaground it would have backed swiftly into the deep water of the basin.But, as if finding itself at bay, it lifted its uninjured tentacle highabove the boat. Billy made ready to strike.

  By this time Bobby had mastered his terror. While Billy stood withuplifted axe, his eyes fixed on the waving tentacle overhead, Billyheaved mightily on the oars. The boat slowly drew away from that highlydangerous neighbourhood. In a moment it was beyond reach of the arms,but still, apparently, within reach of the tentacle. The tentacle waswithdrawn a short distance; then like a flash it shot towards the boat,writhing as it came.

  Billy struck blindly--and struck nothing. The tentacle had fallenshort. The boat was out of danger!

  * * * *
*

  But still Billy Topsail was determined to have the body of the squid.Notwithstanding Bobby's pleading and protestation, he would not abandonhis purpose. He was only the more grimly bent on achieving it. Bobbywould not hear of again approaching nearer than the boat then floated,nor did Billy think it advisable. But it occurred to Bobby that theymight land, and approach the squid from behind. If they could draw nearenough, he said, they could cast the grapnel on the squid's back, andmoor it to a tree ashore.

  "Sure," he said, excitedly, "you can pick up a squid from behind, andit can't touch you with its arms! It won't be able to see us, and itwon't be able to reach us."

  So they landed. Billy carried the grapnel, which was attached to twelvefathoms of line. It had six prongs, and each prong was barbed.

  A low cliff at the edge of the tickle favoured the plan. The squid laybelow, and some twenty feet out from the rock. It was merely a questionof whether or not Billy was strong enough to throw the grapnel so far.They tied the end of the line to a stout shrub. Billy cast the grapnel,and it was a strong, true cast. The iron fell fair on the squid's back.It was a capture.

  "That means a new punt for me," said Billy, quietly. "The tide'll notcarry _that_ devil-fish away."

  "And now," Bobby pleaded, "leave us make haste home, for 'tis growin'wonderful dark--and--and there might be another somewhere."

  So that is how one of the largest specimens of _Architeuthisprinceps_--enumerated in Prof. John Adam Wright's latest monograph onthe cephalopods of North America as the "Chain Tickle specimen"--wascaptured. And that is how Billy Topsail fairly won a new punt; for whenDoctor Marvey, the curator of the Public Museum at St. John's--who isdeeply interested in the study of the giant squids--came to Ruddy Coveto make photographs and take measurements, in response to a messagefrom Billy's father, he rewarded the lad.

  FOOTNOTE:

  [3] Stories of this kind, of which there are many, are doubted by theauthorities, who have found it impossible to authenticate a singleinstance of unprovoked attack.