'Dick,' she cried. 'What idiots we are!' He did not look up. 'Dick, how far is it across the lake to the other side?'
'Forty or fifty miles,' he replied gloomily. 'We can't move a foot.'
'No, but the dinghy can!'
'What d'you mean?'
'With four oars we'd do it between dawn and dark! Or nearly.'
'What's the good?'
'You're not your brightest, dear... At the worst we'd be on the route of the Belgian boats. At the best we'd strike a Belgian Boma or mission.'
Dick's gloom was dispelled, and he hurried aft to requisition the skipper's knowledge of the lake. In answer to his shouts Alibaba emerged from the secret places of the ship. His smiling face signalled to Norah that her plan was passed. Even the lean Indian was interested. She wondered if he had at first been drugged with hemp and the effects had now worn off.... What an interminable amount of talk between Dick and the skipper! How men did talk!
'We start at dawn!' Dick greeted her at last. 'It'll be a long day, let's go and stretch our legs ashore.'
'Don't be maddening, Dick! Start at the beginning!'