scrambled through the undergrowth, seeking no path, seeking only a hiding place.
At length, when they were in a dense thicket where the branches were so closely entwined that further progress seemed impossible, they halted.
"This is as far as we can go," panted Chet. "They'll be searching for us now, but they'll never find us in here."
"That was a narrow escape!"
"It sure was. But we gave them something to remember us by."
Biff Hooper doubled up his fist with satisfaction.
"I knocked my man colder than a sardine," he declared.
It was nearing dawn. The first faint streaks of light were appearing in the eastern sky.
"I wonder where that boat went," said Chet suddenly. "Perhaps it's still near the island."
"It wasn't one of the boats belonging to the gang, anyway, by the way those two fellows were talking. If we could get a hiding place a little nearer the shore we might be able to see it."
"Yes—let's get out of this thicket."
Quietly, the boys began to withdraw from the deep thicket in which they had become entangled. But the branches cracked underfoot and seemed to have the brittleness of match-
