And Mrs. Courtney added: “Did you think we three chaperones could be so heartless as to be present when you take your last sad farewell of these four sweethearts?”
The young people laughed at the remark, and then Mrs. Ashby warned them to be sure and be back on the yacht by two o’clock.
“Good gracious! two o’clock, mother? You know how slow the service is in Panama and we won’t have more than the silver and a napkin served us by that time,” exclaimed Ruth.
“Better make it three, at any rate,” begged Ray.
“Very well; we will return to the White Crest when we finish our shopping and explain why you are absent from lunch on the yacht,” promised Mrs. Fabian.
“At the same time, tell Dalky that as long as he is saving the cost of four big lunches, he might give us an extra hour’s time on shore,” said Eleanor.
“We’ll do the best we can for you,” said Mrs. Courtney; “now run along and enjoy yourselves.”
Ray had been escorted by Bill the previous evening to a quaint old Spanish coffee-house in Panama, and here he conducted the four girls in order to give them a treat—not only a treat of Spanish cooking but also a treat of old-time life in that old-time city. The service was of the simplest, but the cooking was of the finest.
As the five young persons had plenty of time in which to enjoy themselves they managed to pass an hour and a half at the table. Then Nancy, glancing at her wrist-watch, remarked: “It is now two o’clock. Don’t you think we ought to be going back to the yacht?” Thus reminded, Ray called for the bill and the girls prepared to leave.
A few blocks from the old coffee-house they saw Jack talking anxiously to a Panama policeman. He had a slip of paper in his hand and was checking off certain items which were written on this paper.