“I know!” said Bevis, “I know! You stop on the island with Pan. I’ll sail the Pinta into harbour, then I’ll paddle back on the catamaran.” “There!” said Mark, “I knew you could do it if you thought hard. We could bring the catamaran up in the boat, and leave it in the sedges there ready.” “I can leave half my clothes on the island,” said Bevis, “and tie the rest on my back, and paddle here from the sedges in ten minutes. That will be just like the savages do.” “I shall come too,” said Mark. “I shan’t stop here. Let Pan be tied up, and I’ll paddle as well.” “The catamaran won’t bear two.” “Get another. There’s lots of planks. I will come--it’s much jollier paddling than sitting here and doing nothing.” “Capital,” said Bevis. “We’ll have two catamarans, and paddle here together.” “First-rate. Let’s be quick and get the things on the island.” “There will be such a lot,” said Bevis. “The matchlock, and the powder, and the flour, and--” “Salt,” said Mark. “Don’t you remember the moorhen. Things are not nice without salt.” “Yes, salt and matches, and pots for cooking, and a lantern, and--” “Ever so many cargoes,” said Mark. “As there’s such a lot, and as we can’t go home and fetch anything if it’s forgotten, hadn’t you better write a list?” “So I will,” said Bevis. “The pots and kettles will be a bother, they will want to know what we are going to do.” “Buy some new ones.” “Right; and leave them at Macaroni’s.” “Come on. Sail home and begin.” They launched the Pinta, and the spanking south-easterly breeze carried them swiftly into harbour. At home there was a small parcel, very neatly done up, addressed to “Captain Bevis.” “That’s Frances’s handwriting,” said Mark. Bevis cut the string and found a flag inside made from a broad red ribbon cut to a point. “It’s a pennant,” said Bevis. “It will do capitally. How was it we never thought of a flag before?” “We were so busy,” said Mark. “Girls have nothing to do, and so they can remember these sort of stitched things.” “She shall have a bird of paradise for her hat,” said Bevis. “We shall be sure to shoot one on the island.” “I shouldn’t give it to her,” said Mark. “I should sell it. Look at the money.” In the evening they took a large box (which locked) up to the boat, carrying it through the courtyard with the lid open--ostentatiously open--and left it on board. Next morning they filled it with their tools. Bevis kept his list and pencil by him, and as they put in one thing it suggested another, which he immediately wrote down. There were files, gimlets, hammers, screw-drivers, planes, chisels, the portable vice, six or seven different sorts of nails, every tool indeed they had. The hatchet and saw were already on the island. Besides these there were coils of wire and cord, balls of string, and several boxes of safety and lucifer matches. This was enough for one cargo, they shut the lid, and began to loosen the sails ready for hoisting.