, boys," said the captain.

As he spoke there came a long succession of sharp, shrill blasts from
the fog horn of the Antelope, which started every one, and made them
run to the rising ground to find out the cause.

XXII.

Astounding Discovery.--The whole Party of Explorers
overwhelmed.--Meeting with the Lost.--Captain Corbet improves the
Occasion.--Conclusion.

At the sound from the Antelope they had all started for the rising
ground, to see what it might mean. None of them had any idea what
might be the cause, but all of them felt startled and excited at
hearing it under such peculiar circumstances. Nor was their excitement
lessened by the sight that met their eyes as they reached the rising
ground and looked towards the schooner.

A change had taken place. When they had left, Solomon only had
remained behind. But now there were two figures on the deck. One was
amidships. The schooner was too far away for them to see distinctly,
but this one was undoubtedly Solomon; yet his gestures were so
extraordinary that it was difficult to identify him. He it was by whom
the blasts on the fog horn were produced. Standing amidships, he held
the fog horn in one hand, and in the other he held a battered old cap
which supplied the place of the old straw hat lost at Quaco. After
letting off a series of blasts from the horn, he brandished his cap
wildly in the air, and then proceeded to dance a sort of complex
double-shuffle, diversified by wild leaps in the air, and accompanied
by brandishings of his hat and fresh blasts of the horn. But if
Solomon's appearance was somewhat bewildering, still more so was that
of the other one. This one stood astern. Suddenly as they looked they
saw him hoist a flag, and, wonder of wonders, a black flag,--no other,
in short, than the well-known flag of the "B. O. W. C." That flag had
been mournfully lowered and put away on Tom's disappearance, but now it
was hoisted once more; and as they looked, the new comer hoisted it and
lowered it, causing it to rise and fall rapidly before their eyes.

Nor did the wonder end here. They had taken away the only boat that
the schooner possessed in order to come ashore, leaving Solomon alone.
They had noticed no boat whatever as they rowed to land. But now they
saw a boat floating astern of the Antelope, with a small and peculiarly
shaped sail, that now was flapping in the breeze. Evidently this boat
belonged to the new comer. But who