"Shall we follow him?" asked Rand.
"There is a sand-bar there, I think," replied the colonel. "If
you pull up the centerboard, perhaps we can slide over it. It's no
use," he added a moment later as the boat fell off, "we shall have
to go round."
By this time the small boat had been pulled in close to the shore,
where the man, picking up a package from the bottom of the boat,
sprang over the side and, followed by the boys, ran up the shore
and disappeared in the woods, leaving the boat to drift.
"Shall we follow them?" asked Rand.
"I don't want them," said Donald.
"Better let them go, I think," added the colonel.
"Well, I hope I have seen the last of Monkey Rae for a good while,"
went on Pepper.
"Then as Dogberry says: 'Let us call the watch together and thank
God we are rid of a knave,'" quoted Rand.
Picking up the drifting boat the Scout was headed down the river
and in a few minutes they were off the colonel's landing. Here, the
boys would have taken their boat and rowed home, but the colonel
insisted on carrying them down to Creston, which was quickly done
in the bracing breeze.
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