"We'll have to get off," said Tom decidedly.
"Rub a dub dub!
We're stuck in the mud
As hard as hard can be!
Shall we ever,
Or shall we never,
Set the houseboat free?" came softly from Songbird Powell.
"Great Caesar, that's a fine thing to make a rhyme about," returned
Sam reproachfully.
"Let's make Songbird wade out in the mud and shove us off," suggested
Tom, with a wink at his companions.
"Wade out in the mud?" cried the youth who was given to rhymes. "Not much!"
"Mud bath is the finest thing in the world, Songbird," went on Tom.
"Bound to cure hay fever, warts, squint-eye and lots of things."
"Then you go take it yourself," murmured Songbird.
"We'll have to get out the rowboat and see if we can't pull her off," said Captain Starr.
"Yes, and the sooner the better," said Dick. "If we wait, we may get harder aground than ever."
It did not take long to let the rowboat over the side of the Dora, as the houseboat was named. Then Dick, Sam, Tom and Fred got in to do the rowing, while the others remained on the houseboat, to try what they could do toward poling off. A line was made fast between the rowboat and the Dora, and the boys began to pull away with might and main.