Refuge Cove by Lesley Choyce Read Free Book Online

waterloggeddory. It started to slip away.
    The dory tipped and Ravi was thrown out. I looked around for something to throw but everything had been washed overboard.
    I watched as Ravi floundered. I tried to use my senses, but nothing made any sense. He was only feet away. There were only seconds before the crest of another wave might push us away from him. I threw myself in the water. It was so cold it felt like hot knives against my arms and legs. I floundered but forced myself to move my arms. Flailing wildly, I grabbed his outstretched hand. I pulled and tugged. Ravi was trying to stay up, trying to swim.
    It was like pulling deadweight. I caught a look of terror in his eyes and didn’t let myself look again. I swam, I pulled, I cursed the cold. I could see we were sliding up the face of another wave now. I saw the white water near the top. I sucked in a big gulp of air as I saw it coming.
    Harold was screaming something at me. Tamara was at the side of the boat. Her armwas reaching out. I locked my hand hard around Ravi’s wrist as I felt him start to go under. My other hand shot up like I was trying to dive up into the sky. Tamara grabbed my hand just as the wave smashed down. In the next few seconds of pure fear, panic and hope, I knew that she could not let go. I could not let go. Our whole world depended on us hanging on to each other.
    We were on the backside of the wave now. Harold and Indra were pulling Ravi up into the boat. He was coughing and gagging. Tamara pulled me inside and we sat exhausted in the seawater sloshing around on deck. She was still hanging onto me.

Chapter Twelve
    I was so cold and exhausted just then that I didn’t want to move. I knew we were still in deep trouble. The wind was wailing and the boat was getting battered. Tamara and I were huddled together, which made me think if I was going to die soon, this wouldn’t be such a bad way to go. I pressed Tamara tightly against me.
    A kick in the ribs brought me back toreality. Harold’s boot had connected with my sense of priorities. “Get up here, Greg, you lazy bum,” he snarled. “I need your help if we are going to make it.”
    I left Tamara and tried to get my footing beside Harold.
    â€œWe can’t go ashore,” Harold told me. “Not for miles in either direction. We don’t even have enough fuel to fight this swell all the way back to Deep Cove. Our only chance is to get out to deeper water and go with it, downwind. Ride it out, full tilt.”
    â€œI lied about the desert,” I confessed. “She’s taking water below.”
    â€œI know you did. You’re like your mother—a bad liar.”
    â€œI’ll go check on the pump.”
    â€œGood idea.”
    I opened the cabin door. The hum of the bilge pump was music to my ears. The water was still coming in through the seams, but it was only about two feet deep.
    â€œWe’re okay,” I told Harold.
    â€œThat’s what you think,” he countered,pointing to the maze of frothing waves pounding on exposed rocks straight ahead.
    â€œGet up on top and help me steer us out of here.”
    â€œAye, aye, captain,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.
    There were only three major obstacles in our way, but each low island of submerged rock looked deadlier than the one before. Harold tried to use the deeper water of an approaching wave to sneak over top of the first shelf of rock. That put us dead on course for number two. Harold was forced to come about and crawl up the face of the sea demon at full throttle. I held my breath as we reached the peak of the huge swell. The engine sputtered. I thought for a second we’d slide backwards down into the trough right on top of rock number two. But the wave passed beneath us without breaking and Harold pulled back around.
    I screamed out, “Hard right!” Harold responded and we barely skirted the third shoal. We had our back to the wind