"Can you swim?" asked the voice, and this time Roy was certain that it was Horace Burlen's. For an instant he wondered what would happen if he said no. Probably they would devise some punishment quite as uncomfortable as a ducking in the lake. The latter wasn't very terrifying, and, at all events, the water couldn't be much colder than the air was! So,
"Yes," he answered, and heard a chuckle.
"Good, you'll have a chance to prove it!"
For what seemed several minutes the boat was paddled onward. By this time, thought Roy, they must be a long way from shore, and he suddenly wondered, with a little sinking at his heart, whether the current was very strong thereabouts and how, when he was in the water, he was to tell in which direction the land lay. Then the oars had ceased creaking in the rowlocks and the boat was rocking very gently in the water.
"Stand up," said the voice. Hands guided him as he obeyed and steadied him.
"When I count three you will jump into the water and swim for land," continued the leader.
"You've got to take this thing off my eyes, though," protested Roy.
"That may not be," answered the voice sternly, and Roy caught a giggle from behind him which was quickly suppressed.
"Then I'm hanged if I'll do it," he said doggedly.
"Better to jump than be thrown," was the ominous reply.