On the Elizabeth Hiru hearted the sound an engine. Thank God! It was the boat! Soon he would be safe! The boat was coming to save him! He took out another flare and fired it. Great cloud of bright red smoke lit the darkness. He waved the flare. The sound of the engine got nearer. He looked for the boat but could see nothing. Then, Suddenly, out of the wind and the rain a seaplane appeared. A plane? The pilot must be mad! He couldn't land the plane in these waves. It was impossible. Completely impossible! What was the pilot trying to do? Kill himself? Hiru stopped waving the flare. The flare died and he threw it into the waves. His hope died, too. This was the end. He was going to die.
As he flew the manatee towards the Elizabeth, Max could see Hiru quite clearly in the light of the flare. He could see that the Elizabeth was lying very low in water. Large waves were breaking over the boat all the time and Max could see that soon the boat would sink. There was very little time. Just then, a sudden strong win hit the plane. Ikemi screamed. It took a few moments before Max was able to straighten the plane. By that time, they were flying over the sinking boat. Max saw Hiru stop waving the flare and knew what that meant. Hiru had realized that the plane could not land and save him.
"Ikemi" he shouted, "listen carefully and do as I say! It's too rough here to land the plane. We'll have to wait untill we're inside the eye.
"But...the boat's going to sink any minute..."
Yes, I know. But we can drop him the life raft.
47
Remember? It's just behind the seat. It's a good one, a new one. If he gets into it and closes it, he'll be OK. You can throw it down to him."