“He won’t,” interrupted Tommy; “he can’t.  We’ll take precious good care of that.  Listen here:  I’ve got the whole thing mapped out in my mind.  The Betty’s at Leigh, where I laid her up yesterday.  I had a seven-horse-power Kelvin engine put in her last year, so we can get up, whatever the wind is—­I know the tide will be about right.  Well, my idea is that we three go down to Leigh tomorrow morning and take her up to this place Cunnock Creek, or somewhere near.  Then if it’s all serene you can land and have a look round; if there seems to be any one about we can just push off again.  Joyce and I won’t show up at all, anyway:  we’ll stop on board and let you do the scouting.”

“Yes, yes,” exclaimed Joyce, her eyes shining eagerly.  “Let’s go.  It can’t do any harm, and you might find out all sorts of useful things.”

“Besides,” added Tommy, “it would be the deuce of a day, and it’s a long time since any of us had a good day, eh, Joyce?”

“Three years,” said Joyce quietly.

That decided me.  “Right you are,” I said.  “You’re—­you’re something like pals, you two.”

We clinched the arrangement with a grip, and then Joyce, jumping up from the table, crossed the room to a small writing-desk.  “I’ve got a time-table somewhere here,” she said, “so we can look out the train right away.”

“It’s all right,” said Tommy.  “I know ’em backwards.  We’ll catch the nine-five from Fenchurch Street.  It’s low water at eight-thirty, so that will get us in about the right time.  We can leave the Betty at Tilbury or Gravesend afterwards, and come back by train from there.  We’ll be home for dinner or supper or something.”

Joyce nodded.  “That will just do,” she said.  “I am going out again with George in the evening.  Oh, I haven’t told either of you about last night—­have I?”

I shook my head.  “No,” I said, “but in any case I wish you’d drop that part of it, Joyce dear.  I hate to think of you dining with George:  it offends my sense of decency.”

She took an envelope out of the desk and came back to her place at the table.  “I mean to drop it quite soon,” she said calmly, “but I must go tomorrow.  George is on the point of being rather interesting.”  She paused a moment.  “He told me last night that he was expecting to get a cheque for twelve thousand pounds.”

“Twelve thousand pounds!” I echoed in astonishment.

“Where the Devil’s he going to get it from?” demanded Tommy.

“That,” said Joyce, “is exactly what I mean to find out.  You see George is at present under the impression that if he can convince me he is speaking the truth I am coming away with him for a yachting cruise in the Mediterranean.  Well, tomorrow I am going to be convinced—­and it will have to be done very thoroughly.”

Tommy gave a long whistle.  “I wonder what dog’s trick he’s up to now.  He can’t be getting the money straight:  I know they’ve done nothing there the last year.”