Novel for teenagers, set in the South Seas. A young boy, Charlie Selden, is taken by his uncle to the South Pacific on a pearl-hunting trip: encounters with sharks and pirates ensue. Includes a preface by Nordhoff, and illustrations by Anton Otto Fischer (1882-1962).
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Charlie Selden, a young Californian, leaves his father's ranch in California to sail to the South Seas with his "rainbow-chasing" Uncle Harry on a quest for a certain bed of gold-lipped oysters valuable for their mother-of-pearl. His thrilling adventures with man-eating sharks and present-day pirates are told in this book with a wealth of detail about pearl diving, fishing and other phases of life afloat and ashore in the South Sea Islands.
"It is long since I have read a book which seems to me so well suited to a youngster with a taste for strange lands and simple, vigorous adventure. Here, at last, is a storyteller of the South Seas who refuses to trail after Stevenson. I like the story for it is simple and entirely credible; I like the clear, direct, intelligent narrative style. And, mind you, what the youngster picks up from this book will not be scrappy information distilled from guidebooks or the warmed-over memories of catechized tourists, but a picture of South Sea island life as an athletic, sport-loving and observant young man sees it an lives it today." —Henry Boston in the New York Herald Tribune.
"There are thrills galore, including an encounter with pirates. Hemmed in by swift-moving action is a wealth of information about the queer fish of the southern seas, about native boats and houses, and, of course, about divers and pearls. This book makes delightful reading for men and boys." —Cleveland Plain Dealer
With four illustrations by Anton Otto Fischer
—from the dust jacket
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