"Meetin's adjourned," he announced, "pendin' the issue o' the papers to-morrow mornin'. Scraggsy, you oughter j'ine the Band o' Hope. You're ugly when you got a drink in you." Neils Halvorsen interfered to beg a cigar of Mr. Gibney and the affair passed over. At six o'clock the following morning the members of the syndicate were awakened by a prodigious pounding at their respective doors. Answering the summons, they found Mr. Gibney in undress uniform and the morning paper clutched in his hand. "Meetin' o' the _Maggie_ Syndicate in my room," he bawled. "I've found our fortune." The meeting came to order without the formality of dressing, and the commodore, spreading the paper on his knee, read aloud: _For Sale Cheap_ The stern-wheel steamer _Victor_, well found, staunch and newly painted. Boilers and engines in excellent shape. Vessel must be sold to close out an estate. Address John Coakley, Jackson Street wharf. "How d'ye know she's a fortune, Gib?" McGuffey demanded. "Lemme look at her engines before you get excited." "I ain't sayin' she is," Mr. Gibney retorted testily. "Lemme finish readin'!" He continued: REPORTS PASSING DERELICT The steam schooner _Arethusa_, Grays Harbour to Oakland Long wharf, reports passing a derelict schooner twenty miles off Point Reyes at six o'clock last night. The derelict was down by the head, and her rail just showed above the water. It was impossible to learn her identity. The presence of this derelict in the steamer lanes to North Pacific ports is a distinct menace to navigation, and it is probable that a revenue cutter will be dispatched to-day to search for the derelict and either tow her into port or destroy her. "Gentlemen o' the syndicate, them's the only two items in the shippin' page that looks likely. The question is, in which lies our fortune?" Neils Halvorsen spoke up, giving it as his opinion that the fortune-telling lady probably knew her business and that their fortune really lay at sea. The derelict was at sea. How else, then, could the prophecy be interpreted? "Well, this steamer _Victor_ ain't exactly travelling overland," McGuffey suggested. He had a secret hankering to mess around some real engines again, and gave it as his opinion that fortune was more likely to lurk in a solid stern-wheel steamer with good engines and boilers than in a battered hulk at sea. Captain Scraggs agreed with him most heartily and a tie vote resulted, Mr. Gibney inclining toward the derelict. "What're we goin' to do about it, Gib?" Captain Scraggs demanded.