catch a couple of turtles."

"Turtles! I never caught a turtle in my life!" exclaimed the
nervous man. "I'd be afraid to!"

"Not the least danger," the captain assured him. "All you have to
do is to get between them and the water as they're on the beach
sunning themselves and turn them on their backs. They'll stay
there until I can come and get them. It's time you learned to
catch turtles."

"Oh, dear!" sighed Mr. Tarbill. "I wish I was safe home!"

But the captain paid no attention to his protest.

"It'll do him good," he murmured, as the nervous one walked
dejectedly off. "He'll not have any nerves left when we get
through with him."

Bob had good luck with his hook and line and soon returned with a
dozen fine fish. In the meanwhile the captain had built a big fire
and had a bed of red coals ready to broil the fish over, for he
knew just how to do it.

When the dinner was in process of cooking Tim returned.

"Did you hoist the signal?" asked the captain.

"Aye, aye, sir."

"What did you use for a flag?"

"My shirt, sir."

"Your shirt?"

"Aye, aye, sir. You see I had two on, an outer shirt and an inner
shirt. I didn't need the outer shirt as it's so hot here, so I
hoisted that on top of a tall tree. It's flying in the breeze now,
sir. You can see it from here."

He led the way down to the edge of the water and pointed inland.
Sure enough, flying from a tall cocoanut tree was a white shirt.
It could be seen for a long distance.

"That's a fine idea," complimented the captain. "I forgot when I
sent you off that you hadn't any signal flag. But here comes Mr.
Tarbill. I wonder if he turned any turtles? Any luck?" he called
as the nervous man approached.

"No, sir. The turtles all ran when they heard me coming. Some of
them left a lot of eggs behind."

"Did you bring any?"

"No. I didn't think they were good."

"Good? Of course they're good! We'll gather some later. But come
on. It's long past dinner time and I guess we're all hungry."

Every one proved it by the manner in which he ate. The meal was a
primitive one, with sticks for forks, though they all had
pocket-knives, which answered very well to cut the fish. For
plates Captain Spark substituted large clam shells, in place of the
leaves Bob had used.

"Now I think we had better rig up some kind of a hut for shelter
against the night dews," proposed the captain, when they were done
eating. "Gather all the cocoanut