OH, SHOOT! 



a silver spoon-hook in his mouth, as it were, 

 will understand the adroit indirectness with 

 which I led up to the mention of a wholly fic- 

 titious business opportunity in the upper gulf 

 that needed investigation. Slowly, through 

 the months, I built up its importance, until, at 

 last, I reluctantly decided to tear myself away 

 from my work and look into it, just to have it 

 off my mind. 



Salisbury, too, had his difficulties, for he 

 had gone into the navy, and navies like 

 wives have put the kibosh on many a glorious 

 and unnecessary vacation. The day came, 

 however, when we could proceed with the de- 

 lightful vexations of preparing for the trip. 

 During the interim we had clothed that 

 imaginary commercial enterprise in such re- 

 alistic garb that we believed in it what is 

 more, we had convinced several other tired 

 business men of its reality, and they, too, had 

 decided that the Gulf of California had gone 

 along without them as far as possible and 

 could no longer succeed alone. Gravely we 

 negotiated with yacht brokers for a charter; 

 secretly we chattered about the wild men of 

 Tiburon, and bought unlimited quantities of 

 guns, ammunition, rods, reels, harpoons, cast 



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