Jules Verne 
Godfrey Morgan: A Californian Mystery 

Spencer Island, located 460 miles off the California coast is being auctioned. The island is uninhabited and there are only two bidders, William W. Kolderup, a very wealthy San Franciscan, and his arch-rival J. R. Taskinar, a resident of Stockton, California. Kolderup wins the auction, buying Spencer Island for four million dollars. J. R. Taskinar mutters, ‘I will be avenged!’ before retiring to his hotel.