Again Steve hesitated, and Rick knew the agent was very much in his own position. There were no reasons to believe it would do any harm. Yet...
"Let her go," Steve said finally. "Only ask her and Barby not to get into any public parades. You know."
"I know," Rick affirmed. "All right, Steve. When is Marks coming?"
"We're not certain yet. Ask your father. Marks is having some trouble with the computations."
"Okay, Steve. See you soon." He hung up and turned to the others. "He says all right, but please don't get into any public parades. In other words, Barby, don't cover too much territory."
Scotty spoke up. "We'd better tell Duke and Jerry to leave it out of the paper."
Duke Barrows was editor and Jerry Webster the reporter for the Whiteside paper. Both were good friends. "They'll play ball," Rick agreed. "Well, young ladies, when is the big safari?"
Barby consulted her watch. "Right now. We'll dress and you can fly us over."
"Then right now means in an hour. Okay. We'll be ready."
Upstairs, Rick and Scotty washed up and changed into what Scotty called "shore-going clothes" that were only slightly less informal than their dungarees and T shirts. As they finished and sat down to wait for the girls, Rick picked up one of the radio units on the workbench. All were finished, although untested. A few final decorative touches remained for Barby's plastic headset, including setting in some rhinestones for her. It would look like any other plastic bauble when he finished.