Produced by David E. Brown and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from scans of public domain works at The National Library of Australia.) COPPERTOP _Affectionately inscribed to my little friend CELIA HALL Without whom there would have been no COPPERTOP_ [Illustration: COPPERTOP.] COPPERTOP The Queer Adventures of a Quaint Child BY HAROLD GAZE AUTHOR OF “The Mite Merry Stories,” “War in Faerieland,” “Omar in Faerieland,” etc. ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR Melbourne Publishing Company CROMWELL BUILDINGS MELBOURNE MELBOURNE PUBLISHING COMPANY CROMWELL BUILDINGS MELBOURNE CONTENTS. Chapter Page I. In the Old Four-Posted Bed 9 II. Off on an Adventure 19 III. They Make an Enemy 21 IV. In the Middle of a Thunderstorm 25 V. They Meet Their First Bear 30 VI. Under the Snow 36 VII. The Castle of the South Wind 40 VIII. Towards the Great West Land 46 IX. In the Tropics 57 X. Shipwrecked 62 XI. Waomba-Mother of the West Land 65 XII. Lost in a Forest 69 XIII. In the Arms of the Mist Maidens 77 XIV. Inside a Crocodile 82 XV. The Clerk of the Weather Lays a Trap 90 XVI. Discovered by the East Wind 97 XVII. The Strangest Ride that Ever Was 105 XVIII. The East Wind and the White Elephant 110 XIX. The East Wind in a Rage 115 XX. In the Den of the Spinster Spider 119 XXI. Coppertop and the Old Mother-Bird 128 XXII. Tibbs and Kiddiwee to the Rescue 133 XXIII. The December Day is Almost Theirs 140 XXIV. Biddy-be-sure, the Irish Witch 145 XXV. Coppertop Kisses the Blarney Stone 148 ILLUSTRATIONS. =Colored.= Coppertop Frontispiece “Come along,” cried Tibbs To face page 16 The Albatross and the Sea-Maidens ” ” 48 “Look again, little one,” said Waomba ” ” 80 Tibbs and Kiddiwee escape from the Crocodile ” ” 96 “Foolish ones,” said Amon Ra ” ” 112 Miss Smiler sits on the White Elephant ” ” 128 =Black and White.= Page “If a Book of Travels can’t move about a bit, who can?” 16 The Clerk of the Weather 22