CHAPTER XXVIII


The lookout on the power schooner _Maggie II_ had sighted Diamond
Head before Commodore Adelbert P. Gibney, Captain Phineas P.
Scraggs, and Engineer Bartholomew McGuffey were enabled to
declare, in all sincerity (or at least with as much sincerity as
one might reasonably expect from this band of roving rascals),
that they had entirely recovered from their harrowing experiences
on the desert island of Tuvana-tholo, in the Friendly group.

At the shout of "Land, ho!" Mr. McGuffey yawned, stretched
himself, and sat up in the wicker lounging chair where he had
sprawled for days with Mr. Gibney and Captain Scraggs, under the
awning on top of the house. He flexed his biceps reflectively,
while his companions, stretched at full length in their
respective chairs, watched him lazily.

"As a member o' the _Maggie_ Syndicate an' ownin' an' votin' a
quarter interest," boomed the engineer, "I hereby call a meetin'
o' the said syndicate for the purpose o' transactin' any an' all
business that may properly come before the meetin'."

"Pass the word for Neils Halvorsen," suggested Mr. Gibney. "Bless
his squarehead soul," he added.