"Oh! I see now," declared Jud, chuckling. "In place of the motor business
we'll use good hard muscle with these setting poles. And so long as we
can touch bottom right along, it ain't going to be a very hard job
getting back to the island. You don't think it's more'n half a mile; do
you, Paul?"

"Not much more, and we can take our time, Jud. The one thing above all
others we've got to keep in mind is silence. Nobody ought to knock a
pole against the side of a boat under penalty of being given black marks.
And as for talking, it'll have to be in whispers, when at all."

"S-s-sounds g-g-good to m-m-me," said Bluff, who somehow seemed to have
gone back to his old stuttering ways; though it might be the excitement
that caused the lapse.

Nothing more was said on the way over, though doubtless the boys kept up
considerable thinking. They were tremendously worked up over the
situation. This scheme proposed by the scout leader seemed to appeal to
the spirit of adventure which nearly every boy who has red blood in his
veins feels to be a part of his nature.

There was one among them, however, who was silent because of another
reason; for Old Dan Tucker always declared it a very bad and injurious
plan to try and converse when one's mouth was crammed full; and crackers,
too, being apt to get in the wind-pipe, may do all manner of choking
stunts. So he said never a word.

They presently could see the other shore looming up, though it was
getting very dark, just as though a storm might be threatening to again