Sue pressed him, "Why not marry Harmony, Joe?"
In the blunt manner in which he so often made his curious revelations, Joe blurted out, "Because I am in much demand among all the females. It is—very pleasant."
Bailey's eyes widened. He ordered, "Bend over, Joe."
Joe obliged so we could all examine his back. There were two brown stains on his shoulder blades as there should be, but Bailey was not satisfied. He poked a finger into them and examined the skin under the hair. "Mango pitch!" he announced. "Stained clean down to the skin. Did you do that, Joe?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I knew you would force me to go into the ship with the others if I didn't have the stain."
Benson looked up, shocked. "Then you—you knew what we were trying to do?"
"Yes. You and Samrogers spoke of it outside the hut one day. You thought I was asleep. Some of your words puzzled me, so I stayed away from the ship. Then I found out what they meant."
"But you helped us get the others to go into the ship!"