“Mike! What’s up?” said Jack in alarm. “Are you ill?”
“No,” said Mike in a very excited voice. “It was only that I suddenly got such a marvellous idea I wanted to shout - and I only just stopped the shout in time. That was the funny noise you heard - me stopping the shout. But oh, Jack, I’ve really got the most wonderful idea!”
“What is it?” asked Jack in surprise.
“Well, it was you saying that you wished we could make Mr. Diaz and Luiz prisoners that really gave me the idea,” said Mike. “I know how we could! If we could only get their boat away from the island to-night, they wouldn’t be able to leave - and they’d be prisoners there!”
“Mike! That’s a most marvellous idea!” said Jack. “It solves all our difficulties. You really are a clever chap! Once they are prisoners on the island, we can row to the village at the end of the lake, get a car, and go back to Peep-Hole in safety!”
“Yes,” said Mike, trembling with excitement. “How shall we do it. Jack?”
“Wait a minute,” said Jack, frowning in the moonlight. “I’ve just thought of something. Suppose Mr. Diaz and Luiz can swim? They could easily swim across to the mainland and escape that way.”
“But they can’t swim,” said Mike. “I heard Luiz tell Mr. Diaz he couldn’t, and Mr. Diaz said he couldn’t either. It was when I was a prisoner up in the tower - they often used to come and sit with us there, and they talked to one another. So if neither of them can swim they really would be prisoners!”
Jack was so delighted the he wanted to sing and dance. He carefully took off his share of the rug and put it over the sleeping Paul.
“We needn’t wake Paul or the girls,” he said. “We will undress, Mike, then slip into the water over the edge of the boat, and swim to the island. You can swim as far as that, can’t you?”