The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong

Author:M.H. Herlong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2010-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I LOST THE ABILITY to think. I wanted to call Dylan up to tell him, but I couldn’t move and I couldn’t yell loud enough to make him hear. What was the point anyway? I would just be telling him so I would have somebody else be as scared as I was.

And they were probably scared enough already, stuck down below in their bunks with no light. They couldn’t see the storm, only hear it and feel the pounding on the boat and the sharp heel to port. I hoped they were wedged in somehow. Two hot bodies in the dark of a tiny boat smashed by the waves and wind. All they could do was wait. I wondered if Gerry was crying—or if he was too scared even for that.

And still Chrysalis tore through the waves, black in the half-light except where they foamed yellow over and past the hull. The wind shrieked through the stays and shoved the waves up higher and higher until the tops blew off and fell raining into the cockpit. The waves grabbed for the forepeak, then picked up the bow and slammed it down in the troughs. Chrysalis shuddered with every blow, every joint in her hull loosening. We were taking in water somewhere, but I couldn’t go look. I could only steer and look at the sail, stretched by the screaming wind to a big, round, peculiar shape.

Then something exploded. Suddenly. Like a bomb detonated right on our deck. A crack, a boom, a roar of sound that knocked me backward and drowned out the shriek of the wind as the echoes reverberated in my head.

The sail. Our sail had exploded, ripped to shreds by the wind’s pressure. The leading edge hugging the mast was still intact, but the leech was torn into a string of ridiculous signal flags flashing mindlessly at the storm. The boom swung wildly while yards of canvas hung from it, dragging across the cockpit and dipping into the sea.

I stared. One second we were screaming along with the sail bellied out tight and whole. The next, the sail was gone and the boat was stalled, turning slowly sideways to the waves.

I didn’t have to call Dylan. The hatch boards were flying out of the companionway, and he was climbing into the cockpit as I hauled in the boom and pulled the longest shreds out of the water. Dylan didn’t need me to explain anything. He saw immediately what had happened. He turned and motioned Gerry back down. I pointed to the tiller and yelled, “Keep the wind behind us. Keep the waves coming from the stern.”

I found the longest line we had in the cockpit locker and stood. Just as I looked at Dylan, a wave broke over the stern, dropping gallons of water straight down on us. I lost sight of Dylan for that instant. Then he was there again. Wet. Water running off his nose. And trembling slightly. I turned to go forward. My plan was simple.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.