“Yes, but we can’t get the boat to Crystal Lake, and it’s too much of a jaunt to walk there. We’ll just let Skeel alone, and stick to the old mill.”
“What about Sam and Nick?” asked Jack.
“We’ll let them alone, too, as long as they don’t bother us,” decided Tom, and, on the whole, the crowd agreed with him.
Remembering their former experience, when the old hermit had come along so unexpectedly, they decided that it would be best not to take the boat as close to the mill as before.
“We’ll just tie it about half a mile down the river,” said Tom. “Then the noise of it won’t give the alarm, and we can go up quietly. If we have to run for it I think we can do the half mile somewhat under the time old Wallace can make.”
“Or Skeel, either,” added Jack, for all the boys were good runners, and had done well in track athletic contests.
“What about Sam or Nick, if they chase us?” asked Bert.
“We won’t run from them, that’s flat!” exclaimed Tom. “And I think they’ll know better than to take after us.”
They turned from the lake into the river, and proceeded up that stream, with the speed of the Tag cut down about half, so that the craft would not make so much noise.
“I think this place will do to tie up at,” remarked Tom, when they had covered a few more miles. “It’s secluded, and there seems to be a good path leading along the bank. We want a good path if we’ve got to run,” he added.