R. M. Ballantyne : Arthur's Classic Novels

R. M. Ballantyne Stories

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Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne
Now, while engaged in the coasting trade, I fell in with many seamen who had travelled to almost every quarter of the globe; and I freely confess that my heart glowed ardently within me as they recounted their wild adventures in foreign lands

Ungava A Tale Of Esquimau Land
The ringing tones died away, and nought was heard save the rustling of the leafy canopy overhead, as the young man, whose shout had thus rudely disturbed the surrounding echoes, leaned on the muzzle of a long rifle, and stood motionless as a statue, his right foot resting on the trunk of a fallen tree, and his head bent slightly to one side, as if listening for a reply.

[T]he happiness and greatness, the rank and station, the pleasure and peace, of an individual have never consisted in his personal wealth, but rather in his excellent character, his high resolve, the breadth of his learning, and his ability to solve difficult problems.
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 23 )

The Dog Crusoe by R. M. Ballantyne
The Mustang Valley settlement advanced prosperously, despite one or two attacks made upon it by the savages, who were, however, firmly repelled. Dick Varley had now become a man, and his pup Crusoe had become a full-grown dog. The 'silver rifle', as Dick's weapon had come to be named, was well known among the hunters and the Redskins of the borderlands, and in Dick's hands its bullets were as deadly as its owner's eye was quick and true.

The Young Furtraders by R. M. Ballantyne
As Charley gave utterance to this unalterable resolution, he rose from the bit of blue ice, and taking Kate by the hand, led her over the frozen river, climbed up the bank on the opposite side -- an operation of some difficulty, owing to the snow, which had been drifted so deeply during a late storm that the usual track was almost obliterated -- and turning into a path that lost itself among the willows, they speedily disappeared.

Hudson's Bay Every-Day Life In The Wilds Of North America
The country, as I said before, is flat and swampy, and the only objects that rise very prominently above the rest, and catch the wandering eye, are a lofty "out-look" of wood, painted black, from which to look out for the arrival of the ship; and a flag-staff, from which on Sundays the snowy folds of St George's flag flutter in the breeze.

World of Ice
John Buzzby stood on the pier of the seaport town of Grayton watching the active operations of the crew of a whaling ship which was on the point of starting for the ice-bound seas of the frozen regions, and making sundry remarks to a stout, fair-haired boy of fifteen

The Young Trawler
On a certain breezy morning in October -- not many years ago -- a wilderness of foam rioted wildly over those dangerous sands which lie off the port of Yarmouth, where the Evening Star, fishing smack, was getting ready for sea.

Black Ivory
That would not have been a pleasant announcement to the captain of the 'Aurora' at any time, but its unpleasantness was vastly increased by the fact that it greeted him near the termination of what had been, up to that point of time, an exceedingly prosperous voyage.

The Battle and the Breeze
Bill Bowls was the most amiable, gentle, kindly, and modest fellow that ever trod the deck of a man-of-war. He was also one of the most lion-hearted men in the Navy.

Battles with the Sea
No intervals of peace mark the course of this war. Cessations of hostilities there are for brief periods, but no treaties of peace. "War to the knife" is its character. Quarter is neither given nor sought. Our foe is unfeeling, unrelenting. He wastes no time in diplomatic preliminaries

Chasing the Sun
But those who knew Fred Temple well used to say that there was a great deal more in him than appeared at first sight. Sometimes a sudden flush of the brow, or a gleam of his eyes, told of hidden fires within.

Up in the Clouds
Man has envied the birds since the world began. Who has not watched, with something more than admiration, the easy gyrations of the sea-mew, and listened, with something more than delight, to the song of the soaring lark?

The Battery and the Boiler
The gale in which little Robin Wright was thus launched upon the sea of Time blew the sails of that emigrant ship -- the Seahorse -- to ribbons.

Black Ivory
One of the men made some remark to another, who, from his Oriental dress, was easily recognised by Harold as one of the Arab traders of the coast. His men appeared to be half-castes.

Blue Lights
There is a dividing ridge in the great northern wilderness of America, whereon lies a lakelet of not more than twenty yards in diameter. It is of crystal clearness and profound depth, and on the still evenings of the Indian summer its surface forms a perfect mirror, which might serve as a toilet-glass for a Redskin princess.

The Cannibal Islands
More than a hundred years ago, there lived a man who dwelt in a mud cottage in the county of York; his name was Cook. He was a poor, honest laborer -- a farm servant. This man was the father of that James Cook who lived to be a captain in the British Navy

Fighting the Whales
There are few things in this world that have filled me with so much astonishment as the fact that man can kill a whale! That a fish, more than sixty feet long, and thirty feet round the body; with the bulk of three hundred fat oxen rolled into one

The Lively Poll
His fleet of nearly two hundred fishing-smacks lay bobbing about one fine autumn evening on the North Sea. The vessels cruised round each other, out and in, hither and thither, in all positions, now on this tack

Silver Lake
Robin's parlour was also his dining-room, and his drawing-room, besides being his bedroom and his kitchen. In fact, it was the only room in his wooden hut, except a small apartment, opening off it, which was a workshop and lumber-room.

Jeff Benson
The son Jeffrey was a free-and-easy, hearty, good-natured lad, with an overgrown and handsome person, an enthusiastic spirit, a strong will, and a thorough belief in his own ability to achieve anything to which he chose to set his mind.

The Crew of the Water Wagtail
Undoubtedly Paul Burns would have scorned to draw back, for he was a "hero of romance;" an enthusiast of the deepest dye, with an inquiring mind, a sanguine disposition, and a fervent belief in all things great and good and grand.

Away in the Wilderness
The man wore the leathern coat and leggings of a North American hunter, or trapper, or backwoodsman; and well did he deserve all these titles, for Jasper Derry was known to his friends as the best hunter, the most successful trapper, and the boldest man in the backwoods.

Charlie to the Rescue
From a very early period of life little Charlie manifested an intense desire, purpose, and capacity for what may be called his life-work of rescuing human beings from trouble and danger.

The Eagle Cliff
From the earliest records of history we learn that man has ever been envious of the birds, and of all other winged creatures. He has longed and striven to fly. He has also signally failed to do so.

The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands
It was a chill November evening, when this light arose, in the year -- well, it matters not what year. We have good reasons, reader, for shrouding this point in mystery. It may have been recently; it may have been "long, long ago.

The Garret and the Garden
Fun, mischief, intelligence, precocity sat enthroned on the countenance of that small boy, and suffering wrinkled his young brow.

The Gorilla Hunters
I was ruminating, as I frequently do, on the pleasant memories of bygone days, especially the happy days that I spent long ago among the coral islands of the Pacific, when a tap at the door aroused me.

Hunting the Lions
Go abroad among the barbarians of the earth, to China, for instance, and ask who is yonder thick-set, broad-chested man, with the hearty expression of face, and the splendid eastern uniform, and you will be told that he is Too Foo, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial forces in that department.

Hunted and Harried
On a brilliant summer morning in the last quarter of the seventeenth century a small troop of horsemen crossed the ford of the river Cairn, in Dumfriesshire, not far from the spot where stands the little church of Irongray, and, gaining the road on the western bank of the stream

The Iron Horse
Talk of earthquakes! not all the earthquakes that have rumbled in Ecuador or toppled over the spires and dwellings of Peru could compare, in the matter of dogged pertinacity, with that earthquake which diurnally and hourly shocked little Gertie's dwelling

The Island Queen
The only objects within the circle of the horizon that presented the appearance of solidity were an albatross sailing in the air, and a little boat floating on the sea.

Jarwin and Cuffy
and there was plenty of life -- animal as well as vegetable -- to be seen on land and sea, and in the warm, hazy atmosphere. But there were no indications of man's presence in that beautiful scene.

The Lifeboat
The neighbourhood around that street was emphatically dirty and noisy. There were powerful smells of tallow and tar in the atmosphere, suggestive of shipping and commerce. Narrow lanes opened off the main street affording access to wharves and warehouses

The Lighthouse
A breeze had been expected, but, in defiance of expectation, it had not come, so the boatmen were obliged to use their oars. They used them well, however, insomuch that the land ere long appeared like a blue line on the horizon,

The Madman and the Pirate
A beautiful island lying like a gem on the breast of the great Pacific -- a coral reef surrounding, and a calm lagoon within, on the glass-like surface of which rests a most piratical-looking schooner.

Martin Rattler
Martin Rattler was a very bad boy. At least his aunt, Mrs Dorothy Grumbit, said so; and certainly she ought to have known, if anybody should, for Martin lived with her, and was, as she herself expressed it, "the bane of her existence

My Doggie and I
My doggie is unquestionably the most charming, and, in every way, delightful doggie that ever was born. My sister has a baby, about which she raves in somewhat similar terms, but of course that is ridiculous

The Norsemen in the West
Having gained the top of the ridge they peeped over and beheld a hamlet nestled at the foot of a frowning cliff; and at the head of a smiling inlet.

Over the Rocky Mountains
When a youth returns to his native land, after a long absence which commenced with his running away to sea, he may perhaps experience some anxieties on nearing the old home

The Pioneers
men have been labouring with more or less energy and success to ascertain the form and character of the earth; a grand, glorious labour it has been; resulting in blessings innumerable to mankind

The Prairie Chief
The only ornament which he allowed himself was the white wing of a ptarmigan. Hence his name. This symbol of purity was bound to his forehead by a band of red cloth wrought with the quills of the porcupine.

Post Haste
The tumble-down cottage was near the sea, not far from a little bay named Howlin Cove. Though little it was a tremendous bay, with mighty cliffs landward, and jutting ledges on either side, and forbidding rocks at the entrance

The Red Eric
As the black straw hat made no reply, the captain looked up at the ceiling, but not meeting with any response from that quarter, he looked out at the window and encountered the gaze of a seaman flattening his nose on a pane of glass, and looking in.

The Story of the Rock
"Just look at 'im, John," she replied, pointing to the small culprit, who stood looking guilty and drenched with muddy water from hands to shoulders and toes to nose. "Look at 'im: see what mischief he's always gittin' into."

In the Track of the Troops
Time, however, while it did not abate my thirst for knowledge, developed my constructive powers. I became a mechanician and an inventor.

Twice Bought
It matters not," returned Tom, angrily. "I have made up my mind to get back from that big thief Gashford what he has stolen from me, for it is certain that he cheated at play, though I could not prove it at the time.

Away in the Wilderness
Having gained the top of the hillock, Jasper placed the butt of his long gun on the ground, and, crossing his hands over the muzzle, stood there for some time so motionless

The Crew of the Water Wagtail
There were forty of them, all told, including the cook and the cabin-boy. We do not include Paul Burns or Oliver Trench, because the former was naturalist to the expedition -- a sort of semi-scientific freelance; and the latter, besides being the master's, or skipper's, son

The Big Otter
This leading of the way through the trackless wilderness in snow averaging four feet deep is harder work than one might suppose. It could not be done at all without the aid of snow-shoes

Other Ballantyne Books

Novels of James Oliver Curwood

Baree, Son of Kazan by James Oliver Curwood
We traveled together for many thousands of miles through the northland -- on trails to the Barren Lands, to Hudson's Bay and to the Arctic. Kazan -- the bad dog, the half-wolf, the killer

The Golden Snare by James Oliver Curwood
Bram Johnson was an unusual man, even for the northland. He was, above all other things, a creature of environment -- and necessity, and of that something else which made of him at times a man with a soul, and at others a brute with the heart of a devil.

Nomads Of The North A Story Of Romance And Adventure Under The Open Stars
It was late in the month of March, at the dying-out of the Eagle Moon, that Neewa the black bear cub got his first real look at the world. Noozak, his mother, was an old bear, and like an old person she was filled with rheumatics and the desire to sleep late.

God's Country -- And the Woman by James Oliver Curwood
At the top end of the world a man becomes a multiple being -- if he is white. Two years along the rim of the Arctic had taught Philip the science by which a man may become acquainted with himself, and in moments like the present, when both his mental and physical spirits overflowed, he even went so far as to attempt poor Radisson's "La Belle Marie" in the Frenchman's heavy basso, something between a dog's sullen growl and the low rumble of distant thunder.

Flower Of The North A Modern Romance
For a moment the two men stood in silence, listening to the sullen beat of surf beyond the black edge of forest. Then Philip led the way back into the cabin.

The Courage of Captain Plum by James Oliver Curwood
For it was a weird object, this spying head; its face dead-white against the dense green of the verdure, with shocks of long white hair hanging down on each side,

The Wolf Hunters by James Oliver Curwood
A huge white owl flitted out of this rim of blackness, then back again, and its first quavering hoot came softly, as though the mystic hour of silence had not yet passed for the night-folk.

The Alaskan by James Oliver Curwood
If it were day you could hear the birds singing. This is what we call the Inside Passage. I have always called it the water-wonderland of the world, and yet, if you will observe

The Grizzly King by James Oliver Curwood
The two grizzly cubs we dug out on the Athabasca are dead. And Thor still lives, for his range is in a country where no hunters go—and when at last the opportunity came we did not kill him.

The Danger Trail by James Oliver Curwood
He descended the ridge, walked rapidly over the hard crust of the snow across the Saskatchewan, and assured himself that he felt considerably easier when the lights of Prince Albert gleamed a few hundred yards ahead of him.

Kazan by James Oliver Curwood
It was a room filled with hideous things. There were great human faces on the wall, but they did not move or speak, but stared at him in a way he had never seen people look before.

The Flaming Forest by James Oliver Curwood
An hour ago, under the marvelous canopy of the blue northern sky, David Carrigan, Sergeant in His Most Excellent Majesty's Royal Northwest Mounted Police, had hummed softly to himself, and had thanked God that he was alive. He had blessed McVane, superintendent of "N" Division at Athabasca Landing, for detailing him to the mission on which he was bent.

The Valley Of Silent Men by James Oliver Curwood
there remained no shadow of a doubt. He knew that he was dying. He had implicit faith in Cardigan, his surgeon friend, and Cardigan had told him that what was left of his life would be measured out in hours -- perhaps in minutes or seconds. It was an unusual case. There was one chance in fifty that he might live two or three days

 That Old Call for Unity

There is only one direction that we can go
That will be pleasing and full
All else leads to chaos and failure
Now is the moment to fix our focussed eyes.

We put efforts of great perspiration
into smaller goals of little lasting value.
Now is the point to turn each face to Unity
A centre of overcoming our own prejudices
Of finding the heart of the common between us.

Pain is on the road, but what is new about that?
It is the looking into ourselves and seeing
Our inadequacies, then trusting in God that
He will help us at every turn
and support us when we slip for He will.

He will help us to bring up strong children
Educating them and freeing them from a cycle
of violence by us curbing them when any sign
appears of improper behaviour.
Never a reward for improper behaviour!

Rewards when the good was done and punishment
with wise and pointed remarks to show
We will not accept anything but the best.
Encourage them to keep trying in good humour
Make the child happy, show him learning is
the true pleasure and not nonsense and ignorance.

Point the children to unity and co-operation
Then the battle is half won.

Pages Updated On: 1-March--MMVII
Copyright © MMV -- MMVII
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