'Come along,' said Allan impatiently; 'it's time we went home,' and he swept them out of the cottage with so much decision that they obeyed, looking at him with puzzled faces.
'Hulloa!' cried Hamish; 'we had better be going.'
'Going?' echoed Allan; 'why, yes, we have no time to lose. Come along, all of you.'
'What's the matter?' asked Harry of Marjorie as they hurried towards the boat.
'It's a very high tide,' she said. 'Soon there will be a dangerous current flowing between the two islands, and if we get into it we might be swept out to sea. We are allowed to have the boat on condition that we watch the tide-ways; so we have to be careful.'
It took some hard rowing to gain the opposite shore; and when they had landed, Reggie turned to Hamish. 'A near thing that, eh, Hamish?' he said; and they all looked at the dark swift current which filled the channel.
'Ten minutes later, and we couldn't have crossed,' said Marjorie. 'What do you think, Allan?'
Despite the danger so recently escaped, Allan's thoughts were wandering. He looked round abstractedly, and slid into his pocket some object which he had been turning over unobserved; and Reggie fancied he caught a glimpse of a sailor's knife with some elaborate carving on the handle.
Reggie looked at his brother with a gleam of curiosity in his eyes.
'Come along,' said Allan authoritatively; 'don't let's stand dawdling about.'