It's no use to pole.

We may be going farther away, like as not." Dick said nothing, but stood listening, fancying he heard the splash of a pole in water; but there was no sound save the throbbing of his own heart to break the silence, and he quite started as Mr Marston spoke.
"How long is this mist likely to last ?" "Mebbe an hour, mebbe a week," was the unsatisfactory reply.

"Bud when the moon rises theer may come a breeze, and then it'll go directly." Hickathrift rested his chin upon his uninjured hand, and Dick sat down in silence, for by one consent, and influenced by the feeling that some stealthy foe might be near at hand keen-eyed enough to see them through the fog, or at all events cunning enough to trace them by sound, they sat and waited for the rising of the moon.
The time seemed to be drawn out to a terrible extent before there was a perceptible lightening on their left; and as soon as he saw that, though the mist was as thick as ever, Hickathrift rose and began to work with the pole, for he knew his bearings now by the position of the rising moon, and working away, in half an hour the little party emerged from the mist as suddenly as they had dived in, but they were far wide of their destination, and quite another hour elapsed before they reached the old willow-stump, where the wheelwright made fast his boat, and assuring his companions that there was nothing much wrong he went to his cottage, while Mr Marston gladly accompanied Dick to the Toft, feeling after the shock they had had that even if it had not been so late, a walk down to the sea-beach that night would neither be pleasant nor one to undertake.
Dick was boiling over with impatience, and told his father the news the moment they entered the room where supper was waiting.
"A shot from close by!" cried the squire, excitedly.
"Yes, Mr Winthorpe," said the engineer; "and I'm afraid, greatly afraid, it was meant for me.".