Chapter 169

Castor tried to recall the names of his shipmates while he was alone now, but he couldn't remember a single one of them anymore, and if there had been anyone there to hear him say the names, they would have had difficulty understanding him because he had been silent for so long and his father had been in a vegetative state since their arrival.

In the midst of their two-day drifting, he and his father, Galileo, desperately grasped for a piece of wood and the possibility of survival, attaching themselves to it with a length of rope so that they wouldn't fall off in their tiredness. Then he'd notice a speck against the rosy light of the sun as the third day's dawn approached. For the better part of the day, he kicked and paddled in search of safety. Now here they were, trapped on the island.

He'd made the sand beach light dim and dragged himself out of the waves, but he couldn't go any further since he was too fatigued. They were in severe need of water when the sun rose the next