Smithy looked around at the undergrowth, out of which they had just pushed. No doubt his imagination was working at full speed, and he could see a face leering out from behind every scrub bush. Smithy was at least a great reader, even if he had until lately never been allowed to associate with other boys; and likely enough he had spent many hours over Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and kindred stories of adventure. And being of a nervous temperament, the consciousness of hovering peril acted on him to a much greater extent than it did in the cases of his fellow scouts.
"But where do you think they could have taken the boat, Thad?" Smithy now asked, as he stared out on the waves that were sweeping past so merrily, and could see no sign of any craft.
"Perhaps gone around the island, hiding it in some place they know about; or it might be they've just sunk the canoe out in deep water there," replied Thad.
"Sunk their own boat!" remarked Smithy, in bewilderment; "now, please explain to me just why they would want to do so remarkable a thing as that, Thad?"
"So that we couldn't have the use of it to get back ashore again; and our comrades over there mightn't be able to come over," was the reply of the young scout-master.
"Do you mean they've made up their minds to try and keep us prisoners on this terrible island?" asked the other.
"It looks a little that way to me right now, Smithy; fact is they've got me guessing good and hard what they do mean by that sort of thing. Perhaps they want a certain amount of time to make their escape, and expect to get it by keeping us cooped up here. The question now is, shall we let them carry that scheme out?"
"Not if we know it, we won't," Davy spoke up, and declared in his positive way. "Why, I think I could manage to get over to the mainland somehow, with that log there to help me. The wind and waves would carry me along, you see, Thad; and I could do my clothes up in a bundle and keep 'em dry. Seems to me that's the kind of work for a scout to try, ain't it?"
"A pretty good idea, Davy," admitted the scout-master, readily enough; "there's only one drawback to it, that I can see."
"And what might that be?" asked the one who had conceived the brilliant thought, and who seemed to be disappointed because his chief had not immediately declared it to be a marvel of ingenuity.