“Why do you think it will take us so long?” questioned Jo.
“That is something we cannot tell,” responded the professor. “We don’t know what we may have to contend with. We have a powerful and wily enemy in Captain Beauchamp, and we will have to accomplish our ends by strategy rather than by force.”
“Have you got any plan, professor?” asked Tom.
“Only in a general way,” replied the professor. “We shall have to act as seems best as things turn up.”
“What is the first thing to be done?” asked Tom.
“I propose,” answered the professor, “that we go to the place where you saw the column of smoke.”
“What do you expect to find there that we did not?”
“Nothing, perhaps, but I think that that is the highest point on the island,” explained the professor, “and from there we ought to be able to get a fair idea of the size and shape of the place and the character of the country.”
“And from that we can plan our campaign,” said Berwick.
“Exactly. Now, then,” he went on a moment later, “if you are all ready we will get away. Be careful, boys, for it is more than likely that our movements are watched.”