“We’d go to Zanzibar and bring back a whole shipload of parrots, grey ones, talking like fun,” said Peggy.
“And monkeys,” said Roger.
“I like green parrots best,” said Titty.
“Look here,” said Nancy Blackett, “we are forgetting all about this parley. We can’t fight Captain Flint all the time. But we can practise. We mustn’t sink each other’s ships. …”
“Nobody shall sink Swallow ,” said Roger fiercely.
“All right,” said Nancy, “nobody’s going to. But it’ll be very good practice for us to try to capture Swallow , and for you to try to capture Amazon . The one who wins shall be flagship. There’s always a flagship in a fleet. If you capture Amazon , then Swallow will be flagship and Captain John will be commodore. If we capture Swallow , then Amazon will be flagship and I’ll be commodore. Beginning from tomorrow.”
“And when that’s settled, we’ll go and take the houseboat,” said Titty.
“But,” said John, “you know where we keep Swallow , because you know we are here. If we don’t guard her, you can easily take her. But we don’t know where you keep Amazon .”
“You saw where we went yesterday.”
“We saw you go behind a promontory on the western coast.”
“Well, if you go beyond that promontory you’ll find the mouth of a river. That’s the Amazon River. Not far up it on the right bank, that’s the left bank as you sail up from the lake, there’s a boathouse. It’s a stone boathouse, with a big wooden skull and crossbones that we made fastened over the front of it. In it there’s a motor launch that you