The struggling girl emerged through the tangle of shrubs, and paused suddenly at my side, her lips giving utterance to a cry of surprise.
"The--the boat! It is not here ?" "No; there is not a sign of it.

Those fellows must be still in the neighborhood; must have seen us when we first came." "But, what are we to do ?" I had no ready answer, yet the echo of utter despair in her voice stirred me to my own duty as swiftly as though she had thrust a knife into my side.

Do?
We must do something! We could not sit down idly there in the swamp.

And to decide what was to be attempted was my part.

If Kirby, and whoever was with him, had stolen the missing boat, as undoubtedly they had, they could have possessed but one purpose--escape.