Found in books - 9

In an old copy of Treasure Island...

!!

Books I've actually finished lately: 81

Avast!

I am grateful to today's Times2 crossword for the (safely verified) knowledge that 'avast!' was not just some crazy shit that pirates used to say - or Captain Haddock when he got battered [does that joke work in French?] - but is in fact a legitimate nautical term, the equivalent of 'halt!'

From the Dutch, houd vast/hold fast. A complicated language, the Dutch.