"Not very far—on the right," Paul replied. "I had that in mind when choosing to come this way. You see, if we were intending to only go ashore, they'd expect to see a fire burning somewhere. As it is, they'll be sure to think we've dropped down into the Radway, preferring to risk all sorts of danger from the rocks and snags there, rather than stay here another night."
"Makes me think of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow," remarked Nat Smith in the other motorboat.
"Oh! come off, will you?" ridiculed Bobolink. "Napoleon was a good one, but not in the same class with us. He never came back, like we're going to do. This retreat is only a fine piece of strategy, remember, while his was in deadly earnest."
They talked in low tones that were cousins to whispers, and certainly could not be heard half way over to the mysterious island, even though water does make the finest conductor of sound possible, as every boy knows.
Finally, when about half an hour had gone, Paul said it was time to make a fresh start. He had thought it all out, and while taking one pole himself, asked the expert, Jud, to handle the other in their boat.
Jack and Tom Betts were to look after those in the Speedwell; for the scout master knew that Tom could be very careful, given a job that required caution.
They took their time, and by degrees Paul led the way across the shallow part of the lake. Bobolink had aptly described their movement, when he said it reminded him of the words in the song: "He came right in, and turned around and walked right out again."
Now it was so dark that most of the scouts found themselves confused as to their bearings, the minute they lost sight of the trees along the shore. Some wondered how Paul was going to go straight back over their recent course, when he did not have even the stars to guide him.
But then, there were many other things he did have, one of which was the slight breeze that blew in his face, and which had been directly behind them at the time they left the island.
Slowly and laboriously, in comparison with their other trip, the scouts crossed the stretch of water. And when finally those who were so eagerly watching out for that cedar on the top of the little elevation in the middle of the island whispered to Paul that it was dead ahead, they realized with wonder that the pilot had led them in a direct line back over their course.