Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/142

124 a patch of brilliant moonlight, stood one of the bluejackets who had landed with them. He held a flag in each hand and was spelling out  some signalled message in frantic haste. The ship showed vaguely in the dark nearly half  a mile away to the eastward, but the moon  hung low in the west and evidently formed a  sharp background against which the moving  flags could be plainly read. It seemed as though the sailor must know what danger  threatened to bring his message to an end for  he glanced backward over his shoulder more  than once, yet never failed to continue swinging his flags with steady precision.

Billy was only quick enough to jerk at the stranger’s arm just as the rifle went off again  with a startling crash and a quick spurt of  flame. He saw the sailor on the point stagger and drop the flag from his hand; at the same  moment he felt a stunning blow upon the side  of his head and his shoulder so that he seemed  to see, for a second, room, lamp and Sally, all  go around and around in confusing circles. He recovered himself quickly, but not in time to intercept the enemy’s next move.

It was one of retreat, for evidently discovery was the thing most dreaded by this hidden