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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.”

Biff had no answer to this statement. It was all too true. He and Uncle Charlie had been flown out of China—they had slipped across the border illegally—to Rangoon in Burma and then on to the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, with Chinese Red agents breathing down their necks.

“Any idea what your brother is doing in the Caribbean?” Mr. Brewster asked his wife.

Biff’s mother shook her head. “Not any more than you have, Tom. Have you heard from your uncle, Biff?”

“Only one letter since we got chased out of China,” the boy replied. “That came about a month after I got back home. All he said was that things were too hot for him to operate in the Orient for a while.”

“He is still with the firm of Explorations Unlimited, isn’t he?” Mr. Brewster asked.

“Oh, yes. Uncle Charlie said the company was negotiating a contract that would have him operating in this hemisphere. He didn’t say what kind of operation it was, though.”