Zia by Scott O’Dell Read Free Book Online Page A

watchman went on. Then Mando began to hack at the rope again.

    "There is a knot in the rope. Have you tried to untie it?" I asked.
    "I have tried. It is a special knot and I can do nothing with it."
    "Let us take our boat," I whispered.
    "What does it matter?" Mando said.
    "It is ours," I said and climbed out of the captain's boat and into the one alongside.
    Mando followed me. "A boat is a boat," he said.
    " Island Girl is smaller and easier to handle," I said to end the argument.
    We had reached her when I heard the squeak as the watchman moved above us. We crouched until he passed and came back. Then we both hacked hard at the rope that held us to the boom and freed ourselves.
    I let myself over the side and, kicking my feet, slowly moved the boat to the side of the ship where the watchman did not pass.
    Above us hung the monstrous heads. We passed a carcass and a second carcass, which had been stripped of all its fat. Mando took hold of the bones and helped me move the boat. Halfway along I told him to shove us away.
    We left the carcass, moving with the tide and the waves in the direction of the island. Mando was in the water beside me. If the watchman had passed along our side of the ship he could have seen us. Still, if he had looked toward the island when he stood at the bow or the stern, he could have seen us, too, even though we were moving slowly and quietly, grasping the rudder.

    When the first light showed in the east, we reached the kelp bed that surrounds the island. The kelp was heavy and we could not push through it. We climbed in the boat and lay there, resting and trying to get warm. I looked off toward the coast. It was dim and far away.
    "The tide is against us," I said. "We will rest and wait for a while. But we should go on. They will be out looking for us, and the first place they look will be here."
    "It is another hour before breakfast," Mando said. "They will eat and go on deck. It will be two hours before anyone will notice that a boat is missing. Maybe it will be longer."
    I wondered if, after all, he wanted to be caught and taken back to the ship.
    "The cook will miss me in the galley," I said. "And the captain will miss you when his morning tea is not brought on the silver tray. They will know we are gone before the hour is out."
    I looked again at the distant shore. It was too far away to see the sand dunes or the waves breaking. The island was between us and the ship and I could not see her either.
    It was then that I noticed the rudder. It was made of three oar-shaped slats, each one longer than my arm, and fastened to the boat with light iron straps. I dug my knife into the wood and saw that we could free the bolts that held it.

    By the time the sun was rising we had the rudder off. The three slats were held together by wooden pegs. We broke them loose and had two pieces that we could use as paddles.
    " Vámanos !" I said. "The wind is with us and the tide soon will be."
    Mando looked over his shoulder, in the direction of the ship. Slowly he put his paddle in the water and we set out for the distant shore.
    When the sun was well up we had cleared the island and could see the three masts of the ship on the horizon. The makeshift paddles were not as good as oars, but we were gaining headway nonetheless. The tide and wind were with us and the mainland now was clear. I could see the tower of Mission Ventura.
    Mando was torn between the shore and the ship. He kept looking back over his shoulder until the topmost masts disappeared. From time to time, even then he would look back and sigh.
    "You are sorry," I said, "that they did not send out their longboats and catch us."
    "Nothing happens at the Mission," he said. "You work in the fields and clean the weeds out of the water ditches and sweep up the courtyard and light the candles."

    "On the Boston Boy you would carry tea to the captain. That is all," I replied. "It is not much. But if you want to be a sailor, Father Vicente will see that you