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that one of the birds had Adam pinned under
its sharp claws. Mel and Dr. Ritter were struggling to pull the powerful bird
off him.
    “This knot’s undone!” Sheena announced. She worked on another knot.
    I nervously tugged at the knot in my hands. I was so scared, I couldn’t
think. My fingers felt thick and clumsy.
    Hurry! I ordered myself. Hurry—before they catch us!
    Finally, I ripped open the last knot and pulled the lifeboat free. Dr. D.
tossed it into the water, holding it by a rope.
    “Okay. Let’s go! Jump in! Now!”
    I gripped the rail of the motorboat and braced myself to jump.
    “Hey!” I heard a cry behind me. I turned back and saw Mel staring at us. “Hey—they’re getting away!”
    He motioned to us. “Stop!” he shouted. He grabbed a spear gun. “Don’t move!”
he ordered.
    I hesitated. The sharp point of the metal spear sparkled in the sunlight.
    Would he really shoot us?
    “Go, kids! Now!” Dr. D. cried.
    Mel aimed the spear gun at my uncle—and fired.

 
 
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    WHOOSH!
    I couldn’t see it. It moved so fast, I could only hear the spear fly
through the air.
    To my horror, Dr. D. slumped to the deck.
    “You—you shot him!” I shrieked.
    “Dr. D.! Dr. D.!” Sheena cried. We both hurried to his side.
    Our uncle sat up.
    “It—it missed!” He seemed surprised. He leaped to his feet. “Into the
lifeboat, kids!” he cried.
    A gull squawked. I heard Adam scream. Mel turned back to help him.
    I took a running jump, shut my eyes, and threw myself overboard.
    PLOP! I landed in the soft rubber boat. Sheena jumped in after me. Then
Dr. D.
    “Stop, or I’ll shoot!” Dr. Ritter called. He picked up Mel’s spear gun and
aimed it at us.
    A gull’s wing bumped his arm, knocking the gun into the water.
    We frantically scooped our hands through the water, paddling away from Dr.
Ritter’s boat.
    “You can’t escape!” Dr. Ritter called after us, shaking his fist. “I’ll get
you!”
    Dr. D. grabbed the lifeboat paddles. He started paddling with all his
strength. The ocean pulled us away.
    The ocean turned rough and foamy. A wind kicked up and blasted us, churning
up huge waves. The waves carried us quickly out to sea.
    Dr. Ritter’s boat faded into the distance.
    “Well, we escaped,” Sheena sighed. “But where are we going ?”
    No sign of land anywhere. No sign of another boat. Nothing but water.
Churning water and crashing waves.
    The rubber lifeboat smacked down hard on the water. “Hold on, kids,” Dr. D.
shouted. “Here comes a big one!”
    I gripped the sides of the boat as a huge wave tossed us into the air.
    THUMP! We landed in a valley between waves. Then another wave smashed
over us.
    I shivered, totally soaked.
    “Is everybody okay?” Dr. D. asked. Sheena and I nodded.
    Then a gigantic wave caught us from behind.
    The lifeboat bounced high in the air. I clung to the side.
    But Sheena’s hands slipped off. She flew up into the air—and disappeared
into the white foam.
    “Sheena!” I screamed. “She fell overboard!”
    Her head bobbed up. “H-h-help!” she sputtered. She sank below again, her arms
thrashing.
    I waited for her to bob back up.
    Waited.
    Waited.
    Please—I prayed.
    And then there she was. I leaned over the side. Leaned forward. More. More…
    And grabbed her arm and hauled her back into the boat.
    “Are you all right, Sheena?” Dr. D. asked.
    She coughed. Water ran down her face. “I think so.”
    Dr. D. held on to her as another big wave drenched us.
    We huddled in the lifeboat, wet, shivering, hungry, and tired. The lifeboat
puddled with water. It was like sitting in a wading pool.
    The sky grew dark. It would be night soon.
    We’ll have to spend the night out here, I realized. Out here in the middle of
the ocean.
    We can’t even rest. The ocean is so rough. If we let go of the boat for a
second, we could be thrown into the sea.
    We had no food, no water. Nothing.
    “It can’t get any worse than this, can it?” I