layin' out a couple o' thousand acres o' young
trees up in the delta lands o' the Sacramento. I've sold 'em the
lot, after first buyin' it from the owners o' the schooner for a
hundred dollars. Every time these orchard fellers dig a hole to
plant a young fruit tree they aims to heave a codfish in the
bottom o' the hole first, for fertilizer. There was upwards o'
two hundred thousand codfish in that schooner an' I've sold 'em
for five cents each, delivered at Dunnigan's Landin'. I figger on
cleanin' up about seven thousand net on the deal. I thought me
an' Neils was stuck at first, but I got my imagination workin'----"

Captain Scraggs sank limply into McGuffey's arms and the two
stared at the doughty commodore.

"Hit in the face with a fortune an' didn't know it," gasped poor
McGuffey. "Gib, I'm sure glad you got out whole on that deal."

"Thanks to a lack o' imagination in you an' Scraggsy I'm about
two hundred an' fifty dollars ahead o' my estimate now, on
account o' the free tow o' that barge. Me an' Neils certainly
makes a nice little split on account o' this here codfish deal."

"Gib," chattered Scraggs, "what's the matter with reorganizin'
the syndicate?"

"Be a good feller, Adelbert," pleaded McGuffey.

Mr. Gibney was never so vulnerable as when one he really loved
called him by his Christian name. He drew an arm across the
shoulders of McGuffey and Scraggs, while Neils Halvorsen stood
by, his yellow fangs flashing with pleasure under his walrus
moustache.

"So you two boys're finally willin' to admit that I'm the
white-haired boy, eh?"

"Gib, you got an imagination an' a half."

"One hundred an' fifty per cent. efficient," McGuffey declared.

Neils Halvorsen said nothing, but grinned like the head of an
old fiddle. Mr. Gibney appeared to swell visibly, after the
manner of a turkey gobbler.

"Thanks, Scraggsy--an' you, too, Bart. So you're willin' to admit
that though that there seeress might have helped some the game
would have been deader than it is if it hadn't been for my
imagination?"

Captain Scraggs nodded and Mr. McGuffey slapped the commodore on
the back affectionately. "Aye bane buy drink in the Bowhead
saloon," The Squarehead announced.

"Scraggsy! Mac! Your fins! We'll reorganize the syndicate, an'
the minute me an' Neils finds ourselves with a bill o' sale for a
one quarter interest in the _Victor_, based on the actual cost
price, we'll tow this here barge----"

"An' split the pr