Dolphin Island Read Online Free Page A

cavalry.
    He wondered how long they would keep it up, but they showed no signs of slackening.
     From time to time, one of the dolphins would drop away from the raft, and another
     would immediately take its place, so that there was no loss of speed. Though it was
     very hard to judge how fast he was moving, Johnny guessed that the raft was being
     pushed along at over five miles an hour. There was no way of telling, however, whether
     he was moving north, south, east, or west; he could get no compass bearings from the
     almost vertical sun.
    Not until much later in the day did he discover that he was heading toward the west,
     for the sun was going down in front of him. He was glad to see the approach of night,
     and looked forward to its coolness after the scorching day. By this time he was extremely
     thirsty; his lips were parched and cracked, and though he was tantalized by the water
     all around him, he knew that it would be dangerous to drink it. His thirst was so
     overpowering that he did not feel any hunger; even if he had some food, he would be
     unable to swallow it.
    It was a wonderful relief when the sun went down, sinking in a blaze of gold and red.
     Still the dolphins drove on into the west, beneath the stars and the rising Moon.
     If they kept this up all through the night, Johnny calculated, they would have carried
     him the best part of a hundred miles. They
must
have a definite goal, but what could it be? He began to hope that there was land
     not far away, and that for some unknown reason these friendly and intelligent creatures
     were taking him to it. But why they were going to all this trouble he could not imagine.
    The night was the longest that Johnny had ever known, for his growing thirst would
     not allow him to sleep. To add to his distress, he had been badly sunburned during
     the day, and he kept twisting and turning on the raft in a vain attempt to find a
     comfortable position. Most of the time he lay flat on his back, using his clothes
     to protect the sore spots, while the Moon and stars crept across the sky with agonizing
     slowness. Sometimes the brilliant beacon of a satellite would drift from west to east,
     traveling much more swiftly than any of the stars, and in the opposite direction.
     It was maddening to know that up on the space stations were men and instruments that
     could easily locate him—if they bothered to search. But, of course, there was no reason
     why they should.
    At last the Moon went down, and in the brief darkness before dawn the sea once more
     came alight with phosphorescence. The graceful, superbly streamlined bodies all around
     the raft were outlined with fire; every time one of them shot into the air, the trajectory
     of its leap was a glowing rainbow in the night.
    This time Johnny did not welcome the dawn; now he knew how pitiful his defenses were
     against the tropical sun. He re-erected his little tent, crept beneath it, and tried
     to turn his thoughts away from drink.
    It was impossible. Every few minutes he found himself picturing cold milk shakes,
     glasses of iced fruit juice, water flowing from faucets in sparkling streams. Yet
     he had been adrift for not more than thirty hours; men had survived without water
     for much longer than that.
    The only thing that kept up his spirits was the determination and energy of his escort.
     The school still drove on into the west, carrying the raft before it with undiminished
     speed. Johnny no longer puzzled himself about the mystery of the dolphins’ behavior;
     that was a problem that would solve itself in good time—or not at all.
    And then, about midmorning, he caught his first glimpse of land. For many minutes
     he was afraid that it was merely a cloud on the horizon—but, if so, it was strange
     that it was the only cloud in the sky and that it lay dead ahead. Before long he could
     not doubt that it was an island, though it seemed to float clear of the water, and
     the heat haze made its outlines dance