“It is no use,” he said. “We cannot shake her off that way. We might as well resume our regular course.”
The following morning the same conditions were found to prevail. The distance between the boats seemingly never changed.
“She is a good boat and jolly well sailed, don’t you know,” remarked the mate, who was a typical English sailor.
“What is that flag for?” asked Tom suddenly.
“What flag is that?” asked the captain in return.
“Why, that one there,” replied Tom, pointing to a square of red bunting flying from a davit of their own ship.
“That,” laughed the captain. “Well, you ought to know better than I do.”
“Why?” asked Tom.
“Really,” said the captain, “didn’t some of you boys put it there?”
“Why, of course not,” disclaimed Tom. “I thought maybe it was some kind of a signal.”