Quickly, Junius Son! I have one thing of great importance to show you this day.

How Junius misses hearing those words from his Grandfather Jackabo each day when he comes home from school. But Jackabo, who lovingly raised Junius since he was a baby, has finally gone back to the tiny Caribbean island of his youth. Now each day Junius rushes home to see if a letter has arrived; each day he stares at Snake Island, a tiny dot on the globe his grandfather left behind, and longs to be with him again.

Thousands of miles away on Snake Island, Jackabo has returned to the dilapidated old Rawlings Estate, owned by his childhood companion, distant relative and old enemy, Burtie Rawlings. Neither the passage of time nor distance has altered their uneasy relationship. Nevertheless, after Burtie suddenly vanishes, Jackabo is worried and becomes increasingly disoriented. When his next letter arrives — filled with alarmingly incoherent references to missing guns, pirates and Burtie being kidnapped — Junius and his father set off to rescue Jackabo.

Harper & Row, Publishers
Jacket art © 1985 by Pat Cummings
Jacket © 1985 by Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.