"I am not," decisively declared Professor Scotch.
"Nayther am Oi!" almost shouted the Irish youth. "It's enough av this koind av business Oi've been in!"
"We'll turn about," said Scotch, grimly. "That canoe will lure us into this dismal swamp so far that we'll never find our way out. We'll turn about at once."
Frank laughed.
"All right," he said. "I suppose I'll have to give up, but I do dislike to leave without solving the mystery of that canoe."
"It may be thot we're so far in thot we can't foind our way out at all, at all," said the Irish lad.
"I'm afraid we'll not be able to get out before nightfall," confessed the professor. "I have no fancy for spending a night in this swamp."
Barney promptly expressed his dislike for such an adventure, but Frank was silent.
The canoe turned about, and they set about the task of retracing the water courses by which they had come far into the swamp.
It was not long before they came to a place where the courses divided. Frank was for following one, while both Barney and the professor insisted that the other was the right way.