“I tell you this is getting serious,” said Fred.
“Are you afraid?” demanded John.
“Some, and I don’t mind saying so. We never ought to have left the Gadabout.”
“That may all be true,” responded John, “but we did leave the Gadabout and we are here on the lake. The only thing for us to do is to go ahead.”
“That’s all right,” said Fred more cheerfully. “I haven’t forgotten our name, but I’m wondering whether we really are going ahead or not.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why, we may be rowing around in a circle, the way a man travels when he is lost in a woods.”
“I guess it is not quite as bad as that,” responded John. “Want me to take the oars?”
“Not yet,” said Fred sturdily, once more seating himself and resuming his task.
A half-dozen times the boys rowed ahead and then stopping, united in a call to their friends.