The argument died down and the crew-cuts devoted themselves to eating, so one of them could get through and relieve him.
Afterward, Davis settled down below to a delicate short-wave tuning process to get music from an improbable distance. Deirdre served Tony his meal and talked with him while he ate it. Terry went abovedecks and paced back and forth as the _Esperance_ sailed on through the night.
He couldn't make out anything at all about the crew or the purpose behind the _Esperance's_ chosen task and purpose. He felt dubious about the whole business. Like most technically-minded men, he could become absorbed in a problem, especially if it was a device difficult to design or a design that somehow didn't work. Such things fascinated him. But the _Esperance's_ crew was not concerned with a problem like that. There was no pattern in their talk or behavior to match the way a technical mind would go about finding a solution. The problem was bafflingly vague, yet there _was_ one.
_La Rubia_ was an element in it. Possibly Davis' wistful mention of a partial map of the bottom of the Luzon Deep fitted in somewhere. Davis had spoken of _orejas de ellos_ with some familiarity, but certainly no Navy ship would cooperate in the investigation of a fisherman's superstition in which even fishermen didn't believe any longer. The Philippine fishing fleet was modern and efficient. Fishermen used submarine ears without superstitious fears, and if they referred to imaginary _ellos_ it was as an American would say "knock on wood," with no actual belief that it meant anything.
Whatever the _Esperance's_ purpose was, there was nothing mystical about it--not if a flattop parted with rare and expensive specialized vacuum tubes to try to help, and the police department of Manila urged Terry tactfully--through Horta--to join the yacht, and no less than a Navy Captain had named him as someone to be recruited.
Deirdre came abovedecks and replaced Tony at the wheel. The _Esperance_ sailed on. A last-quarter moon was now shining low on the eastern horizon. It seemed larger and nearer to the earth than when seen from more temperate climes. The wake of the yacht glowed in the moonlight.
The wide expanse of canvas made stark contrast between its moonlit top and its shadow on the deck. The only illumination on the ship was the binnacle lights and the red and green running lights. Deirdre kept the _Esperance_ on course.