Seagoing shell dweller

Usage examples of barnacle.

Up and up the dreadful threat would fly, booming and echoing through all the narrow, dark and twisty flues, until it found out Barnacle, exactly as Mister Roberts had divined, squatting in some sooty nook and, if there was room enough to move his arms, a-picking of his nose.

His proper name was Absalom Brown, but his owner, Mister Roberts, called him Barnacle on account of his amazing powers of holding on.

Vases, dishes, ornaments, cups and plates, jugs, a silver teapot and a china bust of the queen flew through the air as if 13 of their own accord, and crashed and banged against walls and furnishings while the little black figure of Barnacle hopped and darted hither and thither, frantically seeking a way out.

With a scream of joy Barnacle darted under his outstretched arm, rushed across the room and hurled himself at the drawn curtains.

Wood snapped, glass exploded and Barnacle, speckled with splinters, billowed through yellow velvet and out into the late afternoon!

Wonderingly he contemplated the prospect of a Barnacle improved, a comfortable Barnacle, owning, among other things, a smaller, more ignorant Barnacle, who would fetch his food and beer.

The wall had sprouted an enormous pair of arms, and Barnacle found himself seized in a grip there was no escaping.

For answer, Barnacle twisted his head until it nearly came off at the neck and did what he always did.

The brandy came, and Mister Gosling, with a reproachful look at Barnacle, poured it over his bleeding arm.

He just sat there, with his hands on his knees, like he was wondering whether or not to give Barnacle a clout round the ear.

Although the night was warm, Barnacle, like Adam before him, felt his nakedness and shivered.

Barnacle had naturally tried to bite the hand that scrubbed him, he had meanly interposed the brush, so Barnacle had broken a tooth.

Mister Gosling firmly, as if, by washing alone, and without a paper or a penny changing hands, Barnacle had passed into his ownership.

Somewhere, in the blackness of time past, Barnacle must have had a mother.

But still, it was plain that the big man expected an answer, so Barnacle did his best.