"It would be too long a journey through the woods," objected Fenn. "Especially if he isn't well, and it's raining."
"I have it!" cried Frank. "The canoe!"
"The canoe isn't built for land travel," remarked Bart.
"No, but it can go on the creek and river all the way to the sanitarium," said Frank. "I know, for I tried it." Then he told his chums of the night journey he had made.
"I was right then," commented Ned, and he related how he suspected Frank had made a journey in the craft.
"One of us might paddle the canoe to the foot of the cliff," went on Frank. "I can take my father to it, and put him into the boat."
"That's a good idea," agreed Bart. "I never thought our canoe would be of such service."
"It's a fine craft," Frank said. "It only leaks a little bit."
"Then you and I will patch it up this afternoon when Bart and Fenn go after the ladder," said Ned. "We can finish by night, and then, the first thing in the morning, we'll get the donkey and start through the woods. We'll have to do that part of it by daylight, as we can't see at night. But I guess it's safe, as there is no one in the woods."
Things were very different in the camp than they had been a few hours previously. Now there was hope and activity, while, before, there had been gloom and apprehension.