“I’ll tell you what I think,” Case observed. “When those fellows turned on the light they were getting ready to set the motors going. If we don’t watch out, they’ll have the Rambler whizzing downstream at the rate of twenty miles an hour.”
“Well,” Jule declared, “if we go ashore we may get into trouble there, so I propose that we land on the north side of the cut-off and try to make a sneak on board.”
“Whatever we do,” Clay advised, “we ought to keep the boat within reach so that, if they do go on downstream, we can follow them as fast as the current will carry us.”
The boys argued in whispers for some time over Clay’s proposition and then Alex broke out:
“If you fellows will push over to the south shore for a minute, I’ll get out and see what is going on there. I don’t like the idea of having a gang of pirates come up behind us after we land and advance to the Rambler. That wouldn’t look well.”
“Don’t you never let him go!” Case advised. “If you do, he’ll get mired in a swamp or bring a company of night-riders on top of us.”
Alex, however, did not wait for the boys to either pole the boat to the south shore, or to decide as to whether he ought to land. Before any further objections could be offered, he was up to his waist in water moving toward the shadows on the south bank.
“The little monkey!” whispered Case. “I wish I had a rope around his neck!”
“What shall we do now?” asked Jule. “We can’t go away and leave him in that patch of woods.”
“I think we’d better go on over to the north shore and see if we can retake the Rambler” Clay answered. “Alex, probably, has some notion in his head which we don’t understand, and, anyway, he is capable of taking care of himself.”