Dolphin Island Read Online Free Page B

and shimmer against the skyline.
    An hour later, he could see its details clearly. It was long and low and completely
     covered with trees. A narrow beach of dazzling white sand surrounded it, and beyond
     the beach there seemed to be a very wide, shallow reef, for there was a line of white
     breakers at least a mile out at sea.
    At first Johnny could see no signs of life, but at last, with great relief, he spotted
     a thin stream of smoke rising from the wooded interior. Where there was smoke there
     were human beings—and the water for which his whole body was now craving.
    He was still several miles from the island when the dolphins gave him a bad shock;
     they were turning aside as if to by-pass the land that was now so close. Then Johnny
     understood what they were doing. The reef was too great an obstacle; they were going
     to outflank it and approach the island from the other side.
    The detour took at least an hour, but Johnny’s mind was at rest, now that he felt
     sure that he was nearing safety. As the raft and its untiring escort swung around
     to the western side of the island, he saw first a small group of boats at anchor,
     then some low white buildings, then a collection of huts with dark-skinned people
     moving among them. There was a fairly large community here, on this lonely speck in
     the Pacific.
    Now at last the dolphins seemed a little hesitant, and Johnny got the impression that
     they were reluctant to go into the shallow water. They pushed the raft slowly past
     the anchored boats, then backed off as if to say, “It’s up to you now.”
    Johnny felt an overwhelming impulse to say some words of thanks, but his mouth was
     too dry for speech. So he stepped quietly off the raft, found himself in water only
     waist deep, and waded ashore.
    There were people running along the beach toward him, but they could wait. He turned
     toward the lovely, powerful creatures who had brought him on this incredible journey,
     and waved them a grateful farewell. Already they were turning back toward their home,
     in the deep water of the open sea.
    Then something seemed to happen to his legs, and as the sand came up to hit him, dolphins,
     island, and everything else vanished from his consciousness.

Chapter 5
    When Johnny awoke, he was lying on a low bed inside a very clean, white-walled room.
     A fan was spinning above his head, and light filtered in through a curtain-covered
     window. A cane chair, a small table, a chest of drawers, and a washbasin completed
     the furniture. Even without the faint smell of disinfectant, he would have known that
     he was in a hospital.
    He sat up in bed, and immediately yelped with pain. From head to foot, he seemed to
     be on fire. When he looked down at his body, it was an angry red, and patches of skin
     were peeling off in large flakes. He had already received some medical attention,
     for the worst places had been liberally covered with white ointment.
    Johnny gave up the idea of moving, at least for the time being, and collapsed back
     into bed with another involuntary cry. At that moment the door opened, and an enormous
     woman came into the room. Her arms were like bolsters, and the rest of her was built
     on the same scale. She must have weighed at least two hundred and fifty pounds, yet
     she was not unhealthily fat—she was simply huge.
    “Well, young man,” she said. “What’s all the noise? I never heard such a fuss about
     a little sunburn.”
    A broad smile spread across her flat, chocolate-brown face, just in time to check
     Johnny’s indignant answer. He managed a feeble grin in reply, and submitted while
     she took his pulse and temperature.
    “Now,” she said, as she put away the thermometer, “I’m going to send you to sleep,
     and when you wake up, all the pain will be gone. But before I do that, you’d better
     give me your address so we can telephone your family.”
    Johnny stiffened, despite his burns. After going through all this, he was