The little nosy guy
with the hair chartered a hack, he was in such a hurry. An' when
they arrive, there sits Bull McGinty, smilin' an' affable, an' he
spills his yarn as easy an' graceful an' slick as a mess o' eels.
There's a island in the Society group, says Bull, which he
discovers on his last trip, an' which ain't in none o' the
British Admiralty notes. It's a regular island, with palms an'
breadfruit an' tamarinds an' mangoes an' such, fine an' fertile,
fifteen miles around the middle, an' plenty o' water. But th'
surprisin' thing about this here island is that it ain't got
nothin' livin' on it except the most beautiful women in all the
South Seas. Accordin' to Bull, there ain't a male man nowhere on
the horizon. Th' men has been fightin' among themselves until
every man Jack has been killed off. Nothin' left but women with
dreamy eyes an' long black hair an' pearly teeth. 'A man,' says
Bull McGinty, 'is at a premium. Over fifteen different girls fell
in love with him before he was ashore ten minutes, an' he had to
pull back to the schooner to escape 'em. At that, says Bull, as
much as a hundred an' twenty-seven of 'em, as near as he could
count, came swimmin' after him and chased the schooner until she
was hull down on the horizon, an' then they give up an' swam back
to home, sobbin' like babies.

"Bull explains that he's so dead stuck on the place he's goin'
back, just as soon as he can get together say a hundred smart
young lads to come in with him on the lay, outfit his schooner,
an' get to sea. Every man that wants to come in on th' deal must
be not less than twenty-one years old and not more than thirty,
an' must be examined by a doctor to see that he ain't afflicted
with no contagious sickness, like consumption, which just raises
fits with them natives, once it gets in amongst 'em. It's Bull's
plan to start a ideal colony, governed on new an' different
lines, an' every man must marry. He can have as many wives as he
can support after each man has had his choice of the herd. The
women are all beautiful, but in order that nobody will have a
kick comin' the choice of wives is to be determined by drawin'
lots. The island is to be fenced off an' each member o' the
expedition is to have so much land.

"In order to do everything shipshape, Bull explains that he has
formed a company to be known as the Brotherhood o' the South
Seas, capitalized for two hundred shares at $500 a share. Bull,
bein' owner o' th' sc