The Swallows and the Amazons trooped along the path to the camp. The Amazons did most of the talking.
“The real thing is,” said Captain Nancy, “that we’ve got leave to come and camp on the island for a few days, beginning the day after tomorrow. …”
“That’s tomorrow now,” said Peggy.
“Mother had a party last night at home, and there are people coming today, you know, the sort of people we have to be best-frocked for. So the only thing was to have the war last night. We can’t very well be at war with each other while we’re living in the same camp. The wind wouldn’t let us have it before. It had to be last night or never. And then the able-seaman did us. It was a noble feat of arms.”
“I got in an awful row when we found Amazon had gone,” Peggy broke in. “Captain Nancy thought she had drifted away, and when I said she couldn’t drift against the wind …”
“You wait, Peggy,” threatened Captain Nancy.
“Oh, well,” said Peggy. “You know what you said. Anyhow, it wasn’t till it got light that we knew what had happened to her. At least we didn’t know at first, not even after we saw her. Not until Able-seaman Titty sat up and hauled our flag down.”
“Well,” said Captain Nancy, “yours was a great plan. Anybody might have been taken in by it. When we saw you at the boathouse …”
“Where were you?” asked Captain John.
“We were in the reeds at the mouth of the river.”
“I never thought of that,” said Captain John.