MAY I BORROW MY FAVORITE NEPHEW FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS STOP URGENT.

It was signed, “Charles Keene,” and had been sent from Willemstad, Curaçao, in the Netherlands Antilles.

Biff Brewster, the favorite nephew referred to in the cablegram, looked at his parents hopefully.

“Well, Martha, what do you think?” Thomas Brewster asked Biff’s mother, as the three of them stood in Mr. Brewster’s study.

“Oh dear! I really don’t know what to say.” A frown spread over Mrs. Brewster’s pleasant, friendly face, drawing her arched eyebrows closer together. “It seems to me that Biff is away from home so much of the time.”

“I know, dear. But you must admit that we have encouraged these trips. I still feel that travel is as important to a boy’s education as his formal schooling,” Tom Brewster replied to his wife’s mild protest.

“And Uncle Charlie says it will only be for a couple of weeks,” Biff put in. “My spring vacation starts next week. I wouldn’t be missing much school—only a day or two at the most.”

Biff looked from his mother’s face to his father’s. He wanted so much to go. In his mind’s eye, he was already seeing the sparkling waters of the Caribbean Sea, dotted with palm-studded islands, long white beaches, and coral reefs.

The Windward Islands, the Leeward Islands, Martinique, Aruba, Barbados, Guadeloupe, St. Kitts—all these colorful, romantic, exciting names raced through the boy’s head.

“How’s your Spanish these days, son?” Tom Brewster asked.

“It’s okay, Dad. I’m scoring well in it at school, and of course I picked up a lot more Spanish when we were in Mexico.”

Biff was beginning to feel easier. His father’s question was an indication that one-half of his parents was considering favorably Uncle Charlie’s cabled request.

“How ’bout it, Mom?” Biff pressed the opening his father had given him. “You know Uncle Charlie and I always get along swell. We’re a good team.”

Charles Keene was Mrs. Brewster’s brother.

“Charlie’s so reckless, though,” Mrs. Brewster continued in a voice registering protest. “If I remember correctly, you and he barely made it out of China before getting into serious trouble.”

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