Terry brought out the sheaf of bills the girl had left in the shop of the vanished Jimenez. He held them out to the girl. She put her hands behind her back and shook her head. "We put you to trouble," she said pleasantly, "and we haven't been frank with you. That's to make up for it." "I won't accept it," said Terry stiffly. "I insist." "We won't have it back," said Davis. "And we insist!" Terry felt idiotic. There was enough of a breeze to make it impractical simply to put the batch of bank notes down. They'd blow away. The girl looked at him regretfully. "I'm truly sorry," she said. "I planned the way we went after you. You are exactly the person we're sure to need. We decided to try to get you to join us. We couldn't explain. So we asked what you were like. And you're not the sort of person who can be hired to do what he's told and no questions asked. Captain Horta said you were a gentleman. So since we couldn't ask you to volunteer blindly--though I think you would volunteer if you knew what we're about to do--we tried to make you come for the adventure of it. It didn't work. I'm sorry." Terry had the singular conviction that she told the exact truth. And she was a very pretty girl, but she wasn't using her looks to persuade him. She spoke as one person to another. He unwillingly found himself mollified. "Look!" he said vexedly. "I was leaving Manila. I need to be away for a while. I am coming back. I can do any crazy thing I want for some weeks, or even a couple of months. But I don't like to be pushed around! I don't like--" The girl smiled suddenly. "All right, I'll keep the money." 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." _Two_