“No sun, moon or stars, either,” Johnny agreed.
For a full half hour they sat there in silence. Off in the distance a seal barked. Closer at hand an eider-duck quacked to his mate. A sudden scream, close at hand, startled them for an instant. It was followed by a wild laugh. They joined in the merriment. It was only a loon.
There came a wild whir of wings. A flock of wild ducks, flying low and going like the wind, shot past them.
“That’s north,” Johnny exclaimed. “They’re going due north to their nesting place. That’s east,” he pointed. “All we have to do is to row that way. We’ll come to land.”
“If you kept your course, which you couldn’t,” MacGregor chuckled.
“It’s worth trying. Anyway, I’m cold,” Johnny began to row. “There may be other bird flights to set me right.”
There were not, at least not for fifteen minutes. When at last a pair of loons with long necks stretched straight before, passed them, to his disgust, Johnny saw that the boat was headed due north.
“Well,” he sighed, dropping his oars, “At least I—”
“Listen!” MacGregor put up a hand.
Johnny listened. “Say! That’s no seal.”