And as for old Charles the Fifth, again, the gay-pranked,
coloured suits of cards were invented, to while away his dotage,
even so, doubtless, must these pretty little signals of blue and
red spotted _bunting_ have been devised to cheer the old age of
all Commodores.

By the Commodore's side stands the signal-midshipman, with a sea-
green bag swung on his shoulder (as a sportsman bears his game-
bag), the signal-book in one hand, and the signal spy-glass in
the other. As this signal-book contains the Masonic signs and
tokens of the navy, and would there-fore be invaluable to an
enemy, its binding is always bordered with lead, so as to insure
its sinking in case the ship should be captured. Not the only
book this, that might appropriately be bound in lead, though
there be many where the author, and not the bookbinder, furnishes
the metal.

As White-Jacket understands it, these signals consist of
variously-coloured flags, each standing for a certain number. Say
there are ten flags, representing the cardinal numbers--the red
flag, No. 1; the blue flag, No. 2; the green flag, No. 3, and so
forth; then, by mounting the blue flag over the red, that would
stand for No. 21: if the green flag were set underneath, it would
then stand for 213. How easy, then, by endless transpositions, to
multiply the various numbers that may be exhibited at the mizzen-
peak, even by only three or four of these flags.

To each number a particular meaning is applied. No. 100, for
instance, may mean, "_Beat to quarters_." No. 150, "_All hands to