Marjorie spoke. I would still be near her; the ruined ship remain a
sacred dwelling. But in my error I had blundered, overbold, and I tried
to explain confusedly.

'Marjorie,' I said, 'I thought you were going and I dared to tell you
the truth. It is the truth indeed, but I should not have told it.'

She held out her hand to me with a kind smile as I clasped it.

'We are good friends,' she said. 'You and I and Lancelot. Let us
remember nothing but that, that we are good friends, we three. I always
think well of you; always deserve that I shall think well of you. Be
always brave and good and God bless you!'

She let go my hand as she spoke and I turned away and left her, stirred
by a thousand joys and fears and wonders.

By this time Captain Amber had made all his preparations, albeit with no
small reluctance, to quit the ship. He picked out some ten of his men
from those that had served him of old and that were now equipped as men
of war. Then he formally entrusted to Lancelot the ship and the lives of
all aboard her. Marjorie, who now came to him, he kissed very tenderly,
making no attempt to urge her to accompany him. He knew the two so well
and their love and loyalty each to the other. Then he took me by the
hand and bade me serve Lancelot as I would serve him, which I faithfully
and gladly promised to do, and so he went over the side into the skiff,
with his men and Hatchett, and the sailors that were handling the skiff,
and made his way towards the island.

It was now that a thing came to pass which relieved my mind of a care
only to increase our anxieties. When the skiff was a little way from the
ship my Captain, looking back to where we lay, drew from his pocket his
kerchief, which was a big and brightly-coloured kerchief, such as men
love who follow the sea, and waved it in our direction as a signal of
farewell, and, no doubt, of encouragement. Now, I cannot quite tell the
train of thought which the sight of that action aroused in my mind, but
I think that it was something after this fashion. The waving of that
kerchief reminded me of the waving of a flag, and the moment that the
word flag came into my mind I suddenly remembered what it was that I had
been trying to remember through all those weary hours. As in a mirror I
saw again the interior of Jensen's cabin and the beautiful face of
Barbara, smiling as she stooped over her hideous standard. I saw again
that vile black flag, and as the picture painted