King had thought he saw the ocean's surface breaking over something and rose to look over the bow. Just then, the boat hit the shoal, sending him tumbling to the front of the boat. He scrambled back upright to see the water spraying into the hull. 

"[i]Flag my father![/i]" Annie called to him. "[i]Get his attention![/i]"

King wanted to help with stemming the leak, but his boatmate insisted he communicate with her father. He stood and grasped the mast with one hand and the other waved back and forth frantically for attention from the other boat. Annie suddenly turned the boat hard, almost sending King into the ocean. He dropped down to avoid the swinging boom, then stood and began waving again.

It was nearly a minute before either one of the men looked their way. King found that tragically ironic seeing how Paul hadn't been able to stop leering at him ever since he'd started the second leg of the trip in Annie's boat. Then, finally, Bran looked his way and noticed the waving.

"[i]They're looking this way![/i]" he told Annie. "[i]What now?[/i]"

"[i]Keep watching for rocks,[/i]" Annie told King as she gestured him to take the tiller. She started signaling her father in a [i]sign language[/i] that King didn't know. After a minute, she explained to him, "They're going to go to Black Rock. We'll beach and walk there, [i]if[/i] we beach I mean. You bail water, and I'll get us to shore."

She moved back to the tiller, simultaneously operating it and the sails to get as much speed toward shore as she could. King grabbed a bucket that they'd used for gathering fresh water and began bailing. He began to tire after what felt like hours but was actually only ten or twelve minutes. He finally spoke up, saying, "[i]This isn't working! It's just coming in too--[/i]"

He went silent as he looked seaward and saw a massive swell coming their way. "[i]Hold on![/i]"

But it was too late, and as the wave hit, King was thrown against the mast and dumped into the flooded hull of the sinking boat. He struggled to get control of himself, asking, "[i]Are you okay...? Annie...?[/i]"

But a quick search of the boat beyond the boom and sail revealed that his boatmate was no longer a boatmate; she was a castaway. King hurried toward the stern, searching the water, only to find Annie in the water several yards away just as another big swell once again threw him about. 

The boat was now on its side, the mast and it loose sails in the water. King crawled onto the boom and searched for Annie in all directions, calling out for her at the top of his lungs. Finally, he found her, floating face down just a couple of yards away. 

He dove into the water and swam hard and fast for her. Reaching her, he turned her over, pulled her to his chest, and immediately began kicking for the shore. Another big swell brought the boat up high above them, threatening to bring it down onto them. Luckily, though, the water caught and carried them toward shore as well, saving them from being struck.

King, too, was a good swimmer, kicking with both feet and paddling with one arm while the second arm clutched the unconscious girl to him. His swimming efforts kept them aiming in the right direction, but it was the incoming swells that did the most in moving them toward shore. 

Peeking over his shoulder several times, King kept them heading correctly. Eventually they reached the surf, and he felt sand beneath his feet. He struggled to his feet with Annie again over one shoulder, falling several times before and even after he'd reached high enough on shore to finally stop.

King rolled Annie to her back and checked for a heartbeat and breathing, both of which he found. He looked up and down the beach for signs of [i]other[/i] human life, of which he found none. He looked back to the sea again, and only after a long minute or two of searching did he just barely see the top of the other boat's sails. They were just disappearing beyond Black Rock. King wondered whether or not they'd seen his and Annie's boat sink.

Looking up to the sky, King estimated the time at somewhere midday. Looking inland, he found the edge of what might be a forest. Struggling against exhaustion, he again tossed Annie over a shoulder and headed up the slope. He had to stop four times in just over 60 yards to rest, but eventually he reached his destination.

The [i]forest[/i] he'd hoped would provide them with shelter and fire fuel turned out to be a tiny grove of maybe a dozen trees and twice as many small shrubs. Again, he laid Annie out as comfortably as possible, then went to work gathering the driest burnable debris and limbs that he could locate. 

He'd never been very good at primitive fire starting, and it seemed to take him forever to get smoke, then flames. Eventually, though, King had a healthy fire burning near the still unconscious Annie. He used green limbs broken off tree trunks to build a [i]teepee[/i] over the fire, stripped off all his clothes except his underwear, and hung them to dry. Then, in nothing more than his underwear and boots, he went out again to collect firewood, dried moss, brown litter, and anything else that might burn.  

He also looked for anything that came in a [i]sheet[/i] shape, namely flat rocks and chunks of bark from large fallen trees. He didn't have much to choose from, but it was enough to build a bit of a [i]reflector[/i] to kick some of the radiating fire heat back. It would have been better with sheets of steel or aluminum manufactured many, many years prior or at least with more flat rocks, but it was all he could fashion with what he could find.

One last trip out into the woods resulted in a couple of armfuls of dried most and pine needles. King laid them out to create a barrier from the cold of the ground and gently moved Annie to it. She was now between the fire and the reflector. 
 
Annie had been shivering ever since King had taken her out of the sea, and her wet clothes weren't helping. He stripped her from her own clothes and put her in his, which had dried somewhat and, at the least, held a bit of warmth from the fire. He put her clothes where his had been, then laid with Annie and pulled her tight to him. After a few minutes, his body heat and the fire's direct and indirect heat were enough to stop her shivering. 

Hours passed, and the sun was about to fall behind the tall hills to their west. King had intended to put Annie back in her own clothes, but exhaustion got to him. He fell asleep, shivering against Annie as she originally had been doing against him.