8 Swim for Your Life!

　　Jack moved his arms slowly.He moved his legs slowly. He gently pushed the water out of his way as he did the breast stroke.

　　Calm， calm， he told himself.

　　Annie swam beside him. They headed for the reef.

　　All was calm.

　　Then Jack saw something out of the corner of his eye.

　　A dark fin was zigzagging through the water. It was heading toward them.

　　Jack wanted to splash. He wanted to yell. But he remembered: calm.

　　I better not tell Annie， he thought. She’ll stay calmer if she doesn’t know.

　　He began to swim faster—then faster. Annie went faster， too.

　　They both swam as fast， and as calmly， as they could.

　　Sometimes Annie went even faster than Jack， which made him swim faster. And faster.

　　Jack was so scared that he wasn’t tired at all.He was swimming for his life—and for Annie’s life， too.

　　He didn’t look back to see if the shark was still there. He didn’t want to know.

　　He just kept his eye on the tree house in the distance. And he kept swimming.

　　Jack and Annie swam and swam and swam.

　　It took forever for the tree house to get just a little closer.

　　Jack realized the reef was farther away than he had thought.

　　He kept swimming， but his arms and legs felt heavy.

　　Annie was struggling， too.

　　“Float!” she said. “Float!”

　　Jack and Annie turned onto their backs. They floated the way they had learned in swimming class.

　　We’ll just rest for a minute， Jack thought. Then we’ll keep going.

　　But the more Jack floated， the more tired he felt. Soon he was too tired even to float. He started to sink.

　　Then he felt something.

　　His heart stopped. Something pushed at him in the water.

　　It was slippery and alive.

　　Had the hammerhead caught up with them?

　　Jack shut his eyes and waited for the worst. He waited and waited. Finally， he opened his eyes.

　　In front of him was a shiny gray head—a dolphin’s head!

　　The dolphin pushed Jack with its nose.　　It made happy clicking sounds.

　　“Hooray!” cried Annie.

　　Jack looked over at her.

　　She was clinging to the fin of another dolphin!Her dolphin was moving through the water.

　　Jack grabbed the fin of his dolphin.

　　Then the two dolphins swam smoothly through the water， pulling Jack and Annie toward the reef.

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