“Hold on, Jim,” expostulated Berwick. “It’s all your own fault. You brought it on yourself. But, I say, Juarez, where did you come from?”
“Just came on from home,” said Juarez. “Thought I’d give you a surprise.”
“You did all right,” laughed Berwick. “It seems to have been a surprise party all around.”
“Ho!” cried Jo, “that ain’t all, we’ve got a bigger surprise yet.”
“What is that?”
“What do you say to a trip to the South Seas and a search for a treasure island?”
“For a what?”
“What are you talking about?” demanded Jim, who had been slowly recovering his good humor.
“A trip to the South Seas,” reiterated Jo.
“I say,” interposed Berwick, “I thought you said, Jim, that the first thing you were going to do was to get dinner. I begin to feel a hollowness in my interior that needs attention. Suppose we postpone explanations until we have had something to eat.”