"We'll hang out here for half an hour, and then head back,"
explained Paul.

"The outlet isn't far away from here; is it?" Joe Clausin asked.

"Not very far--on the right," Paul replied. "I had that in mind when
choosing to come this way. You see, if we were intending to only go
ashore, they'd expect to see a fire burning somewhere. As it is, they'll
be sure to think we've dropped down into the Radway, preferring to risk
all sorts of danger from the rocks and snags there, rather than stay here
another night."

"Makes me think of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow," remarked Nat Smith in
the other motorboat.

"Oh! come off, will you?" ridiculed Bobolink. "Napoleon was a good one,
but not in the same class with _us_. He never came back, like we're going
to do. This retreat is only a fine piece of strategy, remember, while his
was in deadly earnest."

They talked in low tones that were cousins to whispers, and certainly
could not be heard half way over to the mysterious island, even
though water does make the finest conductor of sound possible, as
every boy knows.

Finally, when about half an hour had gone, Paul said it was time to make
a fresh start. He had thought it all out, and while taking one pole
himself, asked the expert, Jud, to handle the other in their boat.