By the Great Horn Spoon!

By The Great Horn Spoon!

First edition
Author	Sid Fleischman
Illustrator	Eric von Schmidt
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Children's novel
Publisher	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date	1963
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	193

By The Great Horn Spoon! is a children's novel by Sid Fleischman, published in 1963. The story takes place in the California Gold Rush. A twelve-year-old boy named Jack, who has lived with his Aunt Arabella since her parents died, heads to California to search for gold after Aunt Arabella loses all her money. He is accompanied by Aunt Arabella's butler, Praiseworthy. As the novel opens, they are stowaways on a ship, The Lady Wilma. They are put to work in the ship's coal bunkers, but they later uncover the villain on the ship who stole their money for tickets. After they become legitimate passengers, they share a cabin with people such as Dr. Buckbee, the horse doctor with the peg leg, and Mountain Jim, a huge man who helps Jack save a pig from the cook. When they reach San Francisco, they head for the gold mines and encounter a number of friendly miners - such as Quartz Jackson, Buffalo John, Jimmie-From-Town, and Pitch-pine Billy Pierce. Along the way they encounter Cut-Eye Higgins, the villain who stole their money earlier.

This book was turned into a movie called The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967) by Disney, which changed the name of the butler character (Praiseworthy), as well as many other components of the storyline and plot.

The book starts off with Praiseworthy and Jack stowing away. They eventually confront the Captain Swain, who makes them work their passage in the coal bunkers. The captain also tells them that he is in a race against a ship called the Sea Raven for a new clipper ship when he is warming up his beard from visiting the ship's deck. Jack also becomes a friend with a pig, whom he names "Good Luck". Praiseworthy and Jack use a dust-covered Good Luck to find who stole their money for the passage. They discover that an imposter named Cut-Eye Higgins stole their money. Captain Swain makes Cut-Eye Higgins work in the coal bunkers instead, and Praiseworthy and Jack find their money. They also meet their roommates: Mountain Jim, Dr. Buckbee, and Azariah Jones.

A few days later, the Lady Wilma is forced to tow a stranded square-rigger. The square-rigger's crew tells them that the Sea Raven had already gone ahead. The cook begins hunting for Good Luck to cook him, but Praiseworthy, Jack, and Mountain Jim fool him. At night, Jack stores Good Luck in a stern boat. After a stop in Rio de Janeiro, where the ship refills on coal and supplies. After leaving, Dr. Buckbee finds out that his map leading to a gold mine is gone, and Cut-Eye Higgins and the stern boat where Good Luck is in are also gone. As genius detectives, the passengers find out that Cut-Eye Higgins stole Dr. Buckbee's map and escaped in the stern boat, which also happened to be where Good Luck was. Eventually, the Lady Wilma arrives at Cape Horn and manages to make it through after a long period of weeks and days. Praiseworthy finds out that they actually cut through the Straight of Magellan, and that the Sea Raven is behind them. While they keep sailing, Jack and Praiseworthy strike a deal with Monsieur Gaunt and Azariah Jones. Azariah's potatoes were spoiling, and Gaunt's grapes were drying up. Jack tells them that Azariah's potatoes were very juicy, and that by sticking Gaunt's grapes in them the grapes would survive. So, Monsieur Gaunt buys Azariah's potatoes. Both Gaunt and Azariah promise to buy the pair the last pick and shovel they can find. However, the Sea Raven soon passes the Lady Wilma again.