15
PARADISE ISLAND
MIDMORNING
“Hey, Mac!” Mariah wearily pushed aside a thick tangle of vines, and bent down to examine the rocky hillside. “I found our trickle of water again.”
Already she was bone-tired, and the blazing sun was just reaching its zenith. Robinson Crusoe must have been some kind of superman to survive in the wilds more than a week, she concluded with a jaw-cracking yawn.
Of course, he hadn’t stayed awake all night, every night, watching for nonexistent ships on the distant horizon.
The other four were helping, but it was too easy for the ocean’s rhythmic hum to lull a person to sleep. Last night Mac and she had needed to wake Penny twice…and finally they’d sent the weary girl to bed, and finished her watch themselves.
Reuben had relieved them just before dawn, and s
