We need a base, and the island is safest and best." The five got cautiously into the canoe, disposing their weight carefully, and Shif'less Sol, who had taken the paddle from Paul, raised it for the first sweep.

But it did not come down into the water.

Instead, he stopped it in its fall, and he and all the others listened.

The same splash that Jim Hart thought he had heard came now to their ears, and it was repeated.
Paul knew that it was made by paddles sweeping through water, and it was coming nearer.
"Push back into the bushes," whispered Henry.
They gently shoved the canoe far among the bushes in the shallow water, and waited.

They were completely hidden, but even if seen they could spring instantly to the land.