The girl smiled more widely and said, "Mr. Holt, we are off on a cruise. We'll put in at various ports from time to time. We think you would fit into our party. We invite you to come on this cruise as our guest. You can be helpful or not, as you please. And we will not try to pay you for anything!"
Davis nodded. Terry frowned. Then he spoke painfully.
"I have a gift for making a fool of myself," he said ruefully. "When it's put that way, fine! I'll come along. But I reserve the right to make guesses."
"That's good!" said Davis warmly. "If you do find out what we won't tell you, you'll see why we didn't."
He waved to Nick and the tender operator. The parcels came onto the Esperance's deck. His baggage followed. He picked up one of the new cardboard parcels and examined its markings.
"This," he said more ruefully still, "has me stymied. I'd have sworn you couldn't get one of these special tubes nearer than Schenectady, New York. But you found one in Manila in minutes! How did you do it?"
The girl laughed.
"Terribly simple!" she said. "We'll tell you. But not until we're under way, or you might be so disgusted with the simplicity of it that you'd want to go ashore again."