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212 had departed. Later on each told his or her story once more, and a general conversation ensued regarding the future.

"Lesher is not the man I thought he would be," said Captain Blossom. "If he insists on getting drunk he will surely cause us a good deal of trouble, and if I try to keep the liquor from him he will get ugly. More than that, he has several sailors with him who are old friends, and they like their liquor just as much as he does."

It was seen that the flag of distress was down, as already mentioned, and after Baxter and Lesher had departed, Tom and Dick set off to put the flag up once more.

The way was by no means easy, for the storm had washed the dirt and stones in all directions and the path was strewn with broken branches and torn-up bushes. On the way they picked up half a dozen dead birds and also saw three dead monkeys.

When the spot where the flag had been was reached they found the tree still standing. The halyard of the flag had snapped and the colors lay in a mass of bushes a hundred feet away.

To get to the bushes the boys had to leap over something of a gully. Tom took the leap in safety, but Sam went down out of sight.

"Help! help?" cried the youngest Rover.