They used one of the raincoats as a kind of bag and put a good many apples in it. Then they all had a good long drink at the well (for they would meet no more fresh water till they landed at the head of the Creek) and went down to the boat. The children were sorry to leave Cair Paravel, which, even in ruins, had begun to feel like home again.
“The DLF had better steer,” said Peter, “and Ed and I will take an oar each. Half a moment, though. We’d better take off our mail: we‘re going to be pretty warm before we’re done. The girls had better be in the bows and shout directions to the DLF because he doesn‘t know the way. You’d better get us a fair way out to sea till we‘ve passed the island.”
And soon the green, wooded coast of the island was falling away behind them, and its little bays and headlands were beginning to look flatter, and the boat was rising and falling in the gentle swell. The sea began to grow bigger around them and, in the distance, bluer, but close round the boat it was green and bubbly. Everything smelled salt and there was no noise except the swishing of water and the clop.clop of water against the sides and the splash of the oars and the jolting noise of the rowlocks. The sun grew hot.