Bruised, breathless and dizzy, they got to their feet and staggered to
the side of the road and subsided on the turf.
After a long minute Ossie said feebly: "Where--do you--suppose--we are?"
"About ten miles--in the country," answered Wink.
There was silence then, silence long and profound. At last they climbed
to their feet and, without speaking, walked off in the darkness in the
direction from which they had come. Perhaps ten minutes later there came
the first sound to break the silence. It was a choking sort of gurgle
from Wink.
"What's the matter with you?" inquired Perry listlessly.
"I was just--just thinking," replied Wink. "It was so--so--" But words
failed him and he began to laugh. After a dubious instant Perry
chuckled, and then Ossie, and presently they were clinging to each other
convulsively in the middle of the unknown road and sending shrieks of
laughter up to the starlit sky.
Over an hour later they reached the landing. Both tenders were gone. The
_Follow Me_ was dark, but a faint light still burned aboard the
_Adventurer_. Perry cupped his hands and sent a hail across the water. A
sleepy response was followed by the sound of someone tumbling into the
dingey and then by the measured creak of oars.
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