I am not saying what I think he should have done; I am simply telling you what he did.  He slid silently into the water with his rags clinging to him and started swimming up the river against the ebbing tide.  He had a simple, short-sighted, one-track mind.  It never occurred to him that by undressing he might return and don his dry clothes again, such as they were.  He had always gone in swimming with his rags on and he was his own clothesline; they dried upon his back.

In the water, Keekie Joe was at his best.  He swam to shore like a little devil.  Then, with all his might and main, he ran northward through the woods keeping close to the shore.  This necessitated his swimming through mud and marshy places.  But he hurried on, soaked, weary, panting.  He was a horrible sight when he reached the boat, dripping with mud, his flesh torn by brambles, his ragged clothing plastered to his poor little form like wall-paper.

He was not good at rowing but fortunately all he had to do was to guide the old punt while the tide carried it down.  And so he brought the old boat to the island and pulled it well up on the shore, and tied it with a rope.  Then panting, dripping, he groped his way to the tent and looked within.  They were all still sleeping peacefully.

Keekie Joe had no change of clothing either on the island or anywhere else.  Going to school was out of the question now; he was too saturated and filthy.  Why should he remain on the island?  He felt that he could not face Townsend Ripley after breaking the promise he had made him not to go in swimming.  Poor Keekie Joe, his eyes were so full of mud that he could not see the glory of that broken promise!

“Yez cin all go ter school,” he said.  Then, with as much fear and stealth as if he were running away from the police he crept into the water again and started for shore.  He bent his course as nearly as he could for the end of Barrel Alley which abutted on the river.  Soon he would be back in the yard of Billy Gilson’s tire repair shop and could rest.  His little sojourn in Fairyland had been a wonderful thing . . .