161 Lost In The Everglades by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene [Keene, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

8. Mistaken Identity

Nancy stared in horror as her friend slipped overboard.

Bess hit the dark water with a loud splash. “Help!”

she screamed. “Hellllp!”

Nancy leaped to her feet. So did George and Susan.

“Susan, tell Jody and Michael to stop the boat!” Nancy

shouted.

“Okay!” Susan turned and rushed off.

Nancy glanced down at Bess, who was bobbing

around in the sunset-streaked waves. Bess, who was a

good swimmer, had panicked, Nancy could tell. She

wasn't even trying to swim. At least she has her life

preserver on, Nancy thought. In the distance Nancy

could hear the motorboat gunning its engines and

speeding back in the direction of Flamingo.

“Nancy, there are sharks in the bay!” George cried

out.

“I know. She's panicked. I'm going in after her.”

“What do you want me to do, Nan?” George asked

calmly.

“Stay here and keep an eye out for—for sharks.”

Nancy shook off her leather sandals. “Hang on, Bess!”

she shouted. Then she executed a perfect dive into the

water.

The warm, salty water swirled around Nancy's head.

She came up for air, sputtering for breath. She saw

right away that Bess was just a couple of feet from her.

“Nancy! Hellllllllp!” Bess screamed, flailing her

arms.

Nancy swam over to her. “Bess, just relax. I'll get

you.”

Bess grabbed Nancy around the neck. They both

went underwater for a minute.

Bess was holding Nancy's neck way too tightly.

Coming up for air, Nancy tried to shake her off. “No,

not like that,” she sputtered. “We'll both drown! Let

me put an arm around you in a cross-chest carry. Come

on, you know how to do it. Relax, it'll be okay.”

“Oh, yeah, like I can really relax!” Bess wailed.

Finally Bess calmed down and let Nancy help her

back to the Seabreeze. As they swam, Nancy saw

something out of the corner of her eye: a creature with

its silvery black head out of the water. For a second

Nancy almost panicked. Was it a shark? No. She

quickly realized that it was some sort of large fish. The

fish bobbed up again, and then swam off in the other

direction.

Nancy and Bess finally reached the Seabreeze. Jody

and Michael had stopped the boat and were gazing

anxiously over the edge. So were Susan and George.

Nancy and Bess climbed the metal ladder that was

attached to the side of the boat. When they got to the

top, George offered a hand to hoist them up and over

onto the deck.

“Are you okay?” Susan demanded.

“We're fine,” Nancy replied breathlessly.

Jody handed Nancy and Bess towels. “My gosh, what

happened?”

“I was looking at this cute little bird or whatever,

and I got too close to the edge,” Bess said sheepishly.

“You're lucky you got out of there before the sharks

got curious,” George chided her.

All the blood drained out of Bess's face. “I was just

starting to forget about them! George, you shouldn't

have reminded me—now I'll have nightmares forever.”

George glanced at Nancy and grinned apologetically.

“I guess I shouldn't have mentioned the sharks.”

“I guess not.”

Jody and Michael went belowdecks to turn the

Seabreeze back toward shore. Nancy's and Bess's

dresses were soaked. They sat on a bench and huddled

under layers of towels.

“Now what?” Bess said, shivering. She ran a hand

through her sopping-wet hair. “My hair is a total wreck,

and I spent an hour blow-drying it today!”

“I'm sorry our evening was ruined, girls,” Susan

apologized.

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