After a moment of silence Tom said, “Say, if Hawaii is all the doctor says it is, Ralph, we ought to have some fun. Imagine driving the machine along a precipice and visiting fire-pits with outlandish names. What was it he called it?”
“Halemaumau,” Ralph answered. “It is a jaw-breaker, isn’t it, but I’ve heard Dad talk so much about Hawaiian wonders that I’ve got the name down pat. You see Halemaumau means ‘House of Everlasting Fire,’ and it’s the name of the fire-pit of the crater, Kilauea. There, don’t you think I’ve mastered the subject and learned my lesson well?”
“You have, indeed, my son,” Dick said, assuming his best grandfatherly air. “If you continue on the road you have begun you will make a success of your life.”
“Say, fellows,” Tom broke in. “Stop your nonsense and look at what you’re coming to. I’m beginning to think that Dr. Hamilton didn’t exaggerate, after all. Just look at that line of beach with the cliffs behind it, forming a dark background for the white of the buildings. And what are those funny, bobbing things in the water? I suppose they must be boats of some sort, but they don’t look like anything I ever saw.”
“I guess they must be the boats of the native money divers.”
“Money divers!” Tom exclaimed. “Where do they get the money?”
“We give it to them,” said Dick. “I remember reading about how passengers throw their perfectly good money into the water just for the fun of seeing those little grafters pick it up. A waste of good money I call it.”
“Gee, I’m going into the business,” Tom affirmed. “Just give me a diving costume and I bet you couldn’t tell me from the natives.”
“You needn’t count on annexing any of my hard-earned cash, because you won’t get it. I’d be more likely to throw a dynamite bomb in just as you were getting ready to dive,” Dick said.
“I know you would, you old skinflint. The only thing is that you would be just as likely as I to get blown up. I guess you left that out of your calculations, didn’t you?”