"And what about us? Are we to fly out and pick you up?"
"Better wait for me. I'll get back here. When the repairs are finished it won't take a minute to get the boat afloat, and as you can't possibly get up enough speed among these rushes to fly, I'd better be here: I know the place, you don't."
"All right, then. And the sooner you start the better; the second boat is coming up pretty fast, judging by the shouts."
Errington got into the boat with Lo San, and pulled off quietly. He was in something of a quandary. He wished the Chinamen to see him as soon as they had taken off their stranded companions, but until then to remain undiscovered by both parties. This was difficult to manage, because the only point from which he would be visible from the shore where he had found the boat was the entrance of the narrow cross passage from the wider waterway leading to the island. If he took up his position there, he would be seen first by the crew of the second boat.
To overcome the difficulty both he and Lo San had to get into the water and lug the boat through a mass of reeds, behind which they could see without being seen. They had hardly concealed themselves when the second boat came round a bend in the winding waterway, and, guided by the shouts of the marooned crew, swung round to the right. The moment they were out of sight, Errington and Lo San dragged their boat back through the reeds, and lay to, waiting until they should hear that the men had been taken off.
There was a tremendous hubbub of explanations when the two parties of Chinamen met.
"What are they saying?" asked Errington, as he paddled gently towards the entrance of the passage up which the boat had disappeared.
"My no can tell," said Lo San. "He piecee fella makee plenty too muchee bobbely."
At a slight diminution in the uproar Errington guessed that the explanations, whatever they were, were over, and that the men were being taken into the boat. With a stroke of the paddle he brought the nose of his boat to the edge of the reed-bed, where, by stretching forward, he could see what was going on. There were eight men in the boat; two were still on the bank, waiting until room was made for them. Errington smiled: the boat thus overloaded would not be difficult to outdistance.
The last man was stepping into the boat. The moment had come. Whispering to Lo San to make as much noise with his paddle as possible, he gave the word to go. The two paddles struck the water together with a loud splash, and the boat shot ahead in full view of the Chinamen, making directly for the main channel leading to the river. Terrific yells escaped the pursuers when they saw their boat dashing away from them with a white man on board. Errington had little doubt that his stratagem had succeeded.