Penny, who scarcely had taken her eyes from the moving point of light ahead, now exclaimed:
“They’ve blown out the lantern!”
“Then they may have seen us,” Mr. Parker muttered. “If only we were armed!”
Cautiously, the party proceeded. A few minutes later as the boat passed a high point of land several hundred yards deeper in the swamp, another bullet whizzed dangerously close overhead.
“Where’d that come from?” Mr. Parker demanded, shielding Penny with his body.
Jerry pointed to the high point of land on the right hand side of the channel. “Those birds must have pulled up there and hope to pick us off!” he whispered.
Still another bullet whined close over their heads, splashing as it struck the water.
Hurriedly Jerry steered the boat into a clump of bushes. All remained motionless and silent.
Bullets kept splattering the water, though farther away.
“We’re in a pocket!” Mr. Parker fumed. “They can pick us off almost at will if we stay here!”