“I beg you, therefore, to be very careful,” resumed Howard, seeing that the others waited. “I am particularly insistent, because we must explore first of all. To-day the danger is not great, because we are not likely to get far away, but we might as well start right. First, we must run up all the signal-flags we can find; they will be conspicuous for a long ways off. Next, we must light a fire in the galley range; its smoke will be visible still farther away. Third, we must never go out of sight of our base--the Queen, at present--under any circumstances; when we climb to each new ship we must look back and make sure that we can still see the flags or the smoke. Fourth, we must each carry a hatchet and mark our way just as a woodman blazes a path through a forest; the hatchet will come in handy, anyhow. Later, if we do not find what we want, we can shift our base to some other vessel along the ‘coast,’ and explore farther with that as a new center. Do I make myself clear?” Dorothy nodded. “Shall we all go together?” she asked. Howard shook his head. “No, I think not,” he answered gently. “I hope you will be willing to stay here for the present and keep the galley fire alight; I’ll show you how to make it smoke. Jackson and I will do the exploring for to-day, anyway. He can go to the north along the coast, and I will go to the south, and----” “Not much!” The policeman was shaking his head doggedly. “Not much, you don’t. I don’t leave you out of my sight. I’ve got my orders from headquarters and----” Howard stifled an exclamation. “Very well,” he said coldly. “As you please! Perhaps it is better anyway. Two can do things that one could not. Come! Let’s get ready.” “But----” Dorothy looked very dubious. Howard turned to her. “I know what you would say, Miss Fairfax. You would like to go, of course. But, believe me, it is best not. Moving about these wrecks will be difficult and even dangerous for any one hampered by skirts. You would be exhausted very soon. Besides, we may meet unpleasant sights. Later, when we know our ground better, we will take you for a sight-seeing tour. You will be perfectly safe on the Queen. You are not afraid to be left alone, are you?” “Oh! No! It will be lonely, of course, but isn’t there some way that I can signal to you if anything should happen?” Howard considered a while; then plunged down into the vitals of the Queen, returning shortly with a double armful of straw dug from a hogshead once filled with crockery. “There,” he said, dropping it at the entrance of the galley. “If anything happens, wet some of that and put it on the fire; it will make a thick black smoke. By alternately closing and opening the draft, you can let it go up and cut it off altogether. We’ll watch for it.”