Free Ghost of a Chance by Pam Harvey Page B

pointed. About two hundred metres from the beach, one of the hire boats bobbed towards the shoreline. It was empty. ‘I bet it’s come from the island. Someone might be stuck out there.’
    The cry came again, longer and higher pitched—fearful.
    ‘I can see someone now,’ said Gabby. ‘On the island.’
    There was a dark shadow on the sand across the water. It ran this way and that, waving frantically.
    ‘If we got that boat, we could go out and rescue whoever that is,’ said E.D.
    The drifting boat was now only a hundred metres from the shore. Angus turned to Gabby. ‘Reckon you could bring it in?’
    Gabby was already on her way, running and jumping into the water. The water pushed at her, making her work hard. At the same time, the boat was moving in faster and faster. She caught up with it and grabbed the dangling rope tied to its bow. Awkwardly, she towed the boat towards the boys, who’d come out to meet her. Angus clambered in and grabbed the oars while E.D. scrambled over the stern. Gabby kicked her legs and pulled herself in, taking an oar from Angus.
    It was a struggle to row the boat to the island. The further they went, the stronger the wind became. E.D. moved to sit in between Angus and Gabby, taking the ends of each oar and helping them row. The figure on the beach kept waving.
    ‘I know who that is,’ E.D. puffed as they came closer. ‘It’s that kid we pulled out of the grave. Donald.’
    ‘Daniel,’ corrected Gabby. ‘Didn’t he learn from the last time he was here?’
    Angus jumped out of the boat as it neared the shore and steered it into the sand. Daniel was standing a little distance away from him.
    ‘Are you alright?’ Angus asked.
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Are you by yourself?’ E.D. splashed through the shallows. ‘Brave of you.’
    ‘It was easy to row this morning,’ Daniel said. ‘The bay was calm.’
    ‘What are you doing here?’ asked Gabby. ‘You told us to keep away. What’s going on?’
    ‘Kristy told you to stay off the island. I didn’t.’
    ‘We know about the treasure.’ E.D. folded his arms. ‘You don’t have any secrets from us.’
    Daniel looked surprised but then he shrugged. ‘I think a lot of people know. I came out this morning because there was another boat here. They were scuba diving. I don’t know whether they were looking for treasure—they didn’t look serious enough.’
    ‘Probably on holidays like us. Where are they now?’ E.D. climbed up the beach to the top of the rise and looked around.
    ‘They went around the cliffs.’
    Thunder rumbled, a low and dangerous sound. Gabby looked up at the black sky and shivered. Not a patch of blue was visible. Lightning zagged across the top of the island and more thunder sounded. The wind had whipped the sea into a frenzy of big angry waves.
    ‘I think we’d better head back now,’ she said. ‘This weather—’
    Her voice was smothered by the next thunderclap. It made her jump and she put her hands over her ears so she couldn’t hear what E.D. was saying; she could just see his lips moving. She took her hands away.
    ‘—getting battered! How are we ever going to get back?’
    ‘Look! There’s the other boat!’ Daniel pointed out to sea.
    A large black boat rocked on the waves. Gabby could see three people on board, two dressed in wet suits. They were busy on deck, tying things down, putting boxes into the cabin. Rain started and the wind howled. The black boat heaved up and down on the sea.
    ‘They’re next to Devil’s Wing. If they’re having trouble, we’ll never get back. Our small boat will never make it through those big wavesnow.’ Angus ran to the small hire boat and pulled it further out of reach of the waves. The distance to the mainland looked enormous—the gap filled by an angry, crashing sea.
    ‘Maybe they could take us back!’ E.D. ran to the top of the island and began waving his arms and yelling to the black boat. ‘Hey! Over here! Come and get us or we’ll be