The Navigators Read Online Free Page A

more of his dashing smiles, and a little charm, who knows?
    A rumble moved through the bottoms of my feet. I felt it more than I heard it. The surface of the whole pond shimmered in little ripples.
    Behind Roger, a cloud of dust curled upwards from the other dig site.
    He stared into the water around him. “What the fuck was that?”
    “Landslide!” Melissa shouted.
    They rushed to the shore as the unmistakable sound of an emergency whistle pierced the air.

Chapter Four
     
    A cloud of dust covered the spot where Riff and Barry had been. It cascaded all the way down the slope. A big gray mud cloud expanded through the water, too, with waves going out in all directions.
    I couldn’t see Barry or Riff, just waves and splashing. I ran toward the site. Barry’s head popped up for a second, then submerged again.
    As I got closer, he came up again, eyes wide and mouth gaping.
    “Come on!” he barked at me. Then he went under again.
    I ran to the water and stopped at its edge. “What's going on?”
    Barry thrashed like a madman, his head breaking the surface again. “Riff is trapped!”
    Then he disappeared back under the water.
    I jumped in, but the water was cloudy. I felt around – nothing but mud and sand. From the surface, Barry yelled to me.
    Gasping for air, I stood. Barry’s face was white.
    “He’s right here! Come on, I can’t get him out!”
    I moved to Barry. He pulled on what seemed like a ball of mud. “Right here, Peeky. Grab him! Pull!”
    Plunging underneath, I felt for Riff. I found Barry’s hands and grabbed what he grabbed. It was an arm.
    I held the arm and surfaced for air. Barry threw himself at the sludge that had piled on top of Riff, straining to move it an inch. “Keep pulling!” He groaned, clawing frantically at the mud.
    Riff wasn’t budging. Barry’s eyes grew wild. “Pull!” He screamed. “Come on!”
    It seemed hopeless. Whenever I pulled mud from Riff, more slid into its place. Every time I tried to push the dirt in one direction, my body floated in the other direction. If I tried to stand and lift, I only sunk deeper into the sticky bottom.
    But I had to keep pulling on that arm. I wasn’t going to just let Riff die.
    Now I understood the desperate look on Barry’s face. He realized we might not get Riff out. There was no life in that arm.
    Under the water, I struggled. My lungs aching, I refused to give up. My head pounded. My heartbeat thumped in my chest.
    I pulled on the arm, straining as hard as I could. I had no more air. Red spots dotted the blackness of my closed eyes as I neared the verge of passing out.
    Then the arm lifted. It practically pulled me upward.
    I broke the surface to find Roger hauling a mud-covered Riff out of the water.
    Melissa helped pull Riff’s pale, limp body onto the sand. “Can you hear me?” She checked him quickly. “He’s not breathing!” She opened his mouth and blew air into it.
    After a few quick puffs, she checked his eyes. “Come on, Riff. Breathe!”
    Roger worked his way up to what remained of the dig site and grabbed the field radio to alert the nearest hospital. As I gasped for breath, I thought about my earlier warning, that the closest hospital was an hour away. They would never get here in time to help.
    I watched, helpless and exhausted, as one friend tried to save the life of the other. I could do nothing else. I dropped to my hands and knees, sucking in air as fast as I could.
    “Come on, Riff.” Melissa continued mouth to mouth resuscitation. “Come on! Breathe, dammit!”
    She exhaled into Riff’s mouth again.
    “Come onnnn!”
    Riff jerked his head to the side and coughed, spraying water across the sand.
    “Oh, thank God.” Melissa rolled Riff onto his side. He coughed with force.
    “Tomàs!” Roger called to me. “Peeky! Get the water!”
    I ran to collect the water bottles I had dropped going to the scene. Roger shouted into the handset to Shands Hospital in Gainesville. “Student crew at Central