More than that, he has several sailors with him who are old friends, and they like their liquor just as much as he does." It was seen that the flag of distress was down, as already mentioned, and after Baxter and Lesher had departed, Tom and Dick set off to put the flag up once more.
The way was by no means easy, for the storm had washed the dirt and stones in all directions and the path was strewn with broken branches and torn-up bushes.

On the way they picked up hard a dozen dead birds and also saw three dead monkeys.
When the spot where the flag had been was reached they found the tree still standing.

The halyard of the flag had snapped and the colors lay in a mass of bushes a hundred feet away.
To get to the bushes the boys had to leap over something of a gully.
Tom took the leap in safety, but Sam went down out of sight.
"Help! help!" cried the youngest Rover.
Tom looked back, to see Sam's fingers clutching at some brushwood which grew at the edge of the gully.

Then the hand disappeared and he heard a crashing far below, for though the gully was not wide, it was very deep.
"Sam! Sam!" he called.

"Are you hurt ?" No answer came back, and much alarmed, Tom got on his knees and tried to look into the opening.