Free Nim's Island by Wendy Orr

computer and suitcase had washed overboard and were at the bottom of the ocean.
    He wouldn’t even be scared when he saw that the masthad taken a chunk out of the bottom of the boat as a going-away present, and the sea was coming in to take its place. A Hero would simply take off his hat and bail, so that’s what Alex did.
    The problem was that even when she was being a Hero, the waves were still monstrous, the rain was still pouring and the wind was still roaring, and each time they slammed across a wave, more of the wave came into the boat, and no matter how fast she bailed, less of it went out. The hole was getting bigger, and the bigger it got, the faster the water poured in, and the faster the water poured in, the bigger the hole got.
    And the bigger the hole got, the faster the boat sank, as if it was tired of being a boat and wanted to try being a submarine.
    And Alex was still tied firmly to it.
    ‘If only I’d gone to Brownies,’ she muttered, frantically trying to untie the pulled-tight rope, ‘and learned to tie reef knots, or whatever kind of knot it is that you can untie when you need to!’
    She tried to undo the knot around her waist first, but when she’d pulled it so tight that she could hardly breathe, she gave up and worked on the other end. She tried with fingers and tried with teeth, spluttering and choking, because now the knot was quite a long way under water.
    Which is where I’m going to be, too, Alex thought, and even though she didn’t much like being in the top bit of the ocean, she thought she’d like the bottom even less.

Chapter Fourtee
     
    N IM LAY ON the floor of the cave with Fred under one arm and Selkie sheltering her back. Through the opening they could see the rain trickle to a stop and the gale gentle to a wind.
    They crept out to look, peering out over the Black Rocks.
    The sea was still monstrous. The wind had whipped it to a fury, and it wasn’t ready to calm down just because the storm had passed. Towering waves crashed onto the shore; spray foamed white and rainbows fountained into the clearing sky.
    It could have been beautiful, if Nim hadn’t known that Jack was on the west side of the island, being tossed even farther from home, and Alex was on the east being thrown towards it.
    ‘She’ll be smashed on the rocks!’ Nim cried.
    She searched the horizon with her spyglass. There was no sign of a sail, but there was a speck that could be a boat with someone inside it.
    Nim was still scared, but there wasn’t enough time tothink. She crawled back into the cave and tore a sheet from her notebook.
     
    Dear Jack,
    I’ve gone to rescue Alex Rover.
    Love, Nim
     
    Selkie was waiting; Fred was starting to slide down to the sea.
    ‘Wait!’ Nim shouted. ‘You can’t swim out there by yourself!’
    But Fred wasn’t by himself. Chica had heard Nim’s whistle, a storm-while ago, and had been resting on the seabed as close as she could get to her friends in the cave. Fred scrambled onto her back and hooked his claws to the edge of her shell, staring out over her head.
    Nim hugged hard around Selkie’s neck and they slid into the water.
    It was hard swimming, even for a brave and determined lion of the sea. The waves slammed against them, so hard and so high that sometimes they threw Selkie backwards and under the water—which is where sea lions like to swim, but not when they’re carrying girls on their backs.
    Nim’s hair whipped like long, wet ropes, and she gulped salt water with every breath, but she clung as tight as she ever could.
    The seventh wave came; a swamping, dumping wave, stronger than Selkie, forcing her down deep below thewater; stronger than Nim, ripping her arms away from Selkie’s neck and pushing her deeper still, so there was nothing but swirling blue and she didn’t know which way was up to the air and which was down to the bottom.
    She was whirling . . . struggling . . . sinking . . . but Selkie somersaulted backwards and pushed her up