Then they sat on the beds and looked at one another. Not till then did the girls begin to cry But cry they did, letting the tears run down their cheeks without trying to wipe them off. They were so tired and so disappointed.
Tears came into Tom's eyes too, when he saw the two miserable girls. But he blinked them back, after one look at Andy's lean brown face Andy's blue eyes were like stones, and his mouth was stern and straight. Andy was not thinking of crying or grumbling. Andy was angry and fierce, and he sat in silence, looking straight before him, thinking hard.
"Andy—what are you thinking about?" asked Tom at last. "You look so stern. You're not angry with us, are you?"
"No," said Andy. "We all did our best—and we've got to do our best again, I tell you, Tom, we've got to leave this island! Somehow, we've got to get away and tell our secret. No matter what happens to any of us we must try to get home and tell all we have seen! As long as the enemy remain hidden in these islands, able to come here whenever they need food or fuel, then just so long will our ships be sunk round about these seas."
"Oh Andy—it's all very well to say things like that—but how con we get away now our boat's gone?" said Jill, wiping her eyes.
"I'll think of a way," said Andy. "Somehow, I'll think of a way. I'm going out by myself now, to puzzle a way out of this fix. Don't come with me. I want to be alone»
The boy slipped out of the shack. He climbed the cliff and sat in the heather by himself, his blue eyes fixed on the sky-line. How could he get home? How could he tell his secret? For two hours he sat there, puzzling and worried, so still that the gulls circled round his head and wondered if he were asleep.
And then Andy straightened himself and got up. He went down to the others, his eyes shining and his head up "I've thought of a way," he said proudly. "I've thought of a way at last!"