"You don't think we are going to be discovered here until perhaps it is too late, do you, Mr. Nance?"
"We always have hopes. There being nothing we can do, the only thing for us is to sit down and hope."
"And starve? No, thank you. Not for mine!"
"Nor mine. It's time we men did something," declared Stacy pompously.
"As I have had occasion to remark before, children should be seen and not heard," asserted Ned Rector.
"Kindly be quiet. We are listening to Master Tad," rebuked the
Professor. "Go ahead, Tad."
"There isn't much to say, except that I propose to get on the other side of the horseshoe and climb back over the rocks to our trail. If I am fortunate enough to get there the rest will be easy and I'll have you up in a short time. How about it, Dad?" asked the boy lightly, as if his proposal were nothing out of the ordinary.
Dad took a few steps forward.
"How do ye propose to get across that stretch of water there to reach the other side of the horseshoe?"
"Swim it, of course."