"Theee ar-my and naaa-avee forever— Three cheers for the red — white — and blue!"
"Sh-h!" howled Morgan as the three of them clasped hands in a dramatic gesture. "All right! Have it your way. If you must do it, I suppose I can be as mad as anybody else. Lead on; I'll follow… The point is, where do you propose to hide?… Yes, thanks, Mrs. Perrigord, I will have some champagne."
Peggy slapped her hands together. "I've got it! I've got it! I know where you'll hide so they won't put you in that nasty brig. You'll hide with the marionettes."
"With the marionettes?"
"Of course, silly! Listen! The marionettes have a cabin of I heir own, haven't they? Adjoining Uncle Jules's, isn't It? And the stewards are all afraid to go in there, aren't they? And you have three uniforms like the marionettes, haven't you, and false whiskers? And food can be passed In to you from Uncle Jules's cabin, can't it? And if they did look in they'd only see marionettes lying in the berth. Hurling, it's wonderful and it'll work, too…"
"I'm glad to hear that," said Morgan. "Without wishing to be a spoil-sport, it would damp my ardour considerably If I had to hang on a hook all day and then found it didn't work. Besides, I think enough strain has already been put on Captain Whistler's reason without having a marionette sneeze in his face when he looked into the cabin. You're mad, Peggy. Besides, how can we get away with it? We're wasting time. The highbrows will be roaring down on this cabin in a minute, asking if Uncle Jules is ready to begin performing, and then we're discovered. This cabin is probably surrounded at the moment, and we can't even get to our hideaway. I also think it probable that a searching-party would feel considerable curiosity concerning three full-panoplied Moorish warriors seen strolling arm in arm down C deck."
Peggy pointed her finger at him.
"No, we're not caught, either! Because you three will climb into those clothes this minute, and we'll put on the whole performance ourselves. They won't know you in disguise, and you can help wheel the marionettes back to the cabin and stay there."
There was a silence. Then Morgan got up, with his head In his hands, and danced helplessly.
"Baby, the idea is a knockout!" breathed Warren. "But how are we going to work it? I can stand in front of the stage with a battle-axe right enough; but what about the rest of it? I can't even work those marionettes, to say nothing of what they say… "