“What did you say to him?” asked Susan sternly.
“I said ‘Yes,’ ” said Roger. He, too, had been giving nothing away.
They sailed back to the islet for Titty. She waved to them when she saw them coming, and was at the water’s edge ready to climb in when John brought Swallow alongside.
“It’s all right,” she said. “They haven’t come out. They must be still in there behind that promontory.”
“Well, I’m glad we know, anyway,” said John.
“May I land on Titty’s island?” said Roger.
“Why not all land and have dinner on it?” said Susan.
So they lowered the sail and landed, taking the anchor with them and letting Swallow lie in the lee of the island at the end of the anchor rope. A rock on the top of the islet made a table. John opened the pemmican tin, and jerked it till the pemmican came out all in one lump. Susan cut up the loaf and spread the butter, so that no one slice should be thicker spread than another. On the hunks of bread and butter they put hunks of pemmican, and washed them down with deep draughts of Rio grog out of the stone bottles. Then they ate the apples. All the time they kept a close watch on the promontory where the little white sail of the pirate ship had disappeared.
“They may never have seen us at all,” said Susan.
“I’m sure they did or they would never have hoisted that flag,” said John.
“Perhaps,” said Titty, “there were more of them. Perhaps these ones showed their flag so as to draw us away from the island while some of their allies landed there and took our camp.”