"It's a flag of truce, I think," said I.
I saw the Skipper shake his head and look despondently on the ground. What he said was: "O Lord! those wretched sailors again."
I wondered if he was correct in his surmise as I ran along toward where the Bo's'n stood. When he saw that I was really coming, he dropped the flag of truce and put it on, for it was his shirt which he had fastened to a branch to use for this purpose.
"How silly you are, Bo's'n!" I said. "I can't be following you all over the island. You had better come back to the camp and behave like a Christian."
A look of horror overspread his face as I spoke of his return to the camp, but he shook his head and said:
"I should not have called you, sir, Mr. Jones, sir, but I have discovered something. I thought you would like to know it." He turned and walked briskly away.
"Hold on!" I said. "I am tired of this tomfoolery. Do you know what a hot morning it is?"
"Yessir, I know, sir," said the Bo's'n. "Come here, sir."
The Bo's'n's air of mystery overcame my desire to sit down in the shade. I followed where he led.
"It's the result of the battle, sir," he explained.