woman and knew that when a man is struggling, in Chinese parlance, to "save his face," it is a foolish thing to let him know he is not accomplishing the feat, she asked him no embarrassing questions.

Resolved, That the woman who cares for a home has a harder time than the man who manages an office.

Resolved, That women who engage in domestic service should receive as high wages as those who do office work.

5

15

20

BILLY TOPSAIL

NORMAN DUNCAN

What befell old Tom Topsail and his crew came in the course of the day's work. Fishermen and seal hunters, such as the folk of Ruddy Cove, may not wait for favorable weather: when the fish are running, they must fish; when the seals are on the drift-ice offshore in the spring, they must hunt.

So on that lowering day, when the seals were sighted
by the watch on Lookout Head, it was a mere matter of
course that the men of the place should set out to the hunt.
"I s'pose," Tom Topsail drawled, "that we'd best get
under way."

Bill Watt, his mate, scanned the sky in the northeast.
It was heavy, cold, and leaden-fluffy gray towards the
zenith, and black where the clouds met the barren hills.
"I s'pose," said he, catching Topsail's drawl, "that
'twill snow afore long."

"Oh, ay," was the slow reply, "I s'pose 'twill."
Again Bill Watt faced the sullen sky. He felt that the
supreme danger threatened-snow with wind.

"I s'pose," he said, "that 'twill blow, too."

"Oh, ay," Topsail replied indifferently, "snow 'n' blow. We'll know what 'twill do when it begins," he added. "Billy, b'y!" he shouted.

In response Billy Topsail came bounding down the 25 rocky path from the cottage. He was stout for his age, with broad shoulders, long thick arms, and large hands.

120

There was a boy's flush of expectation on his face and the flash of a boy's delight in his eyes. He was willing for adventure.

"Bill an' me'll take the rodney," Topsail drawled. "I s'pose you might's well fetch the punt, an' we'll send 5 you back with the first haul.”

"Hooray!" cried Billy; and with that he waved his cap and sped back up the hill.

"Fetch your gaff, lad!" Topsail called after him. "Make haste! There's Joshua Rideout with his sail up. 10 'Tis time we was off."

"Looks more'n ever like snow," Bill Watt observed while they waited. "I'm thinkin' 'twill snow."

"Oh, maybe 'twon't," said Topsail, optimistic in a lazy way.

15

The ice floe was two miles or more off the coast; thence it stretched to the horizon-a vast, rough, blinding white field, formed of detached fragments. Some of the "pans" were acres in size; others were not big enough to bear the weight of a man; all were floating free, rising and falling 20 with the ground swell.

The wind was light, the sea quiet, the sky thinly overcast. Had it not been for the threat of heavy weather in the northeast, it would have been an ideal day for the hunt. The punt and the rodney, the latter far in the lead, 25 ran quietly out from the harbor with their little sails all spread. From the punt Billy Topsail could soon see the small, scattered pack of seals-black dots against the white of the ice.

When the rodney made the field the punts of the harbor 30 fleet had disappeared in the winding lanes of open water that led through the floe. Tom Topsail was late. The nearer seals were all marked by the hunters who had