Jack looked at Madge and smiled as he saw her quickly nod.
“I’ll be glad to come,” he accepted. “I’m on my vacation and have more time than I know how to use.”
“Here’s to a glorious cruise!” Enid cried. “Now that everything is settled, let’s all stagger off to bed.”
Stagger they did, and nearly slept the clock around. When Madge awoke it was to find herself famous, for the newspapers, securing the story from the police, had given her credit for the important part she had played in Mr. Burnett’s rescue.
She was destined to have a more substantial reward for her services. Mr. Burnett recovered the jade pin from the jeweler, and after conferring with the police, insisted that Madge accept it as a slight compensation for all that she had done.
“Slight compensation!” she protested. “Why, it must be worth a great deal—Mr. Dewitt told me that. I’d be afraid to keep it. When those men get out of jail they might make trouble.”
“You need not fear on that score,” Mr. Burnett assured her. “The kidnappers have relinquished all claims to both the pin and the drum. They have long sentences to serve. By the time they are set free, the Zudi sect will no longer exist.”
Madge continued to offer objections but in the end she was induced to accept the pin.
In a very few days, Mr. Burnett had recovered his strength and announced that he was ready to leave Cheltham Bay. One fine morning The Flora sailed majestically out of the harbor on a two weeks’ cruise. Rex and Jack learned a great deal about sailing from Mr. Burnett but that was by no means their major interest.
“It’s been a glorious vacation,” Madge told Enid one day as they sat together on the sunny deck. “I can’t believe it will all be over in a few days.”