“Yes. But I’m afraid he’ll never find either,” said Mr. Brown. The children were playing about on the sand, now and then tossing stones and shells into the water, when they saw their father looking at a tall, straight palm tree which grew near the shore. He went into the hut where they had slept and came out with a piece of canvas—a small end of the tarpaulin that had been put over the leaky hut.
“What you going to do, Daddy?” Bunny wanted to know.
“I was thinking of putting up a flag on this tree when Sam and Will come back,” was the answer.
“A flag?” cried Bunny. “What for? Is this the Fourth of July?”
“No,” answered his father with a laugh. “Though it is quite warm enough for that. No, I want a flag to fly in the wind so those on the Beacon will see it when they come back and know we are still here. It is to be a signal flag, not a regular flag.”
“I thought it looked like a funny flag,” replied Bunny. “It hasn’t any stars or stripes or anything.”
“No, we don’t need that for a signal flag,” said Mr. Brown, as he looked at the piece of weather-stained canvas in his hand. “Anything that will flutter in the wind will do. You see the Beacon may circle about and come back to the island from the other side. But if they come back on this side they will know where we are. Yes, this tree will make a good flag pole. I’ll have Will or Sam climb it and fasten on this piece of canvas when they come back.”
“Will they bring the wild man back with them when they come?” Sue asked.
“Perhaps,” said Mr. Brown.
Immediately Sue began to run toward the hut.