CHAPTER 10
Gilligan felt himself flying through the air. It seemed as if his stomach was up in his throat. As he flew, feet over head, he looked up (down?) and saw the contrast of his white shoes against the brilliant blue of the sky.
The boar had charged him. Nahele, from his spot up in a tree, had shouted and tried to distract the boar. Pilipo made a valiant leap and tried to tackle the boar, plunging his bone dagger deep into the boar's shoulder . . . but the beast was on a collision course. He saw red and headed straight for it.
Gilligan started to run, but then stopped with a determined look and turned to stand his ground. He crouched with his spear in his hand, ready to throw it. But when he saw Pilipo leap onto the animal, he was afraid to throw and hit his new friend. He reached down and tried to pull his machete out, but it stuck in its scabbard.
He looked back up just in time to see the crack in the boar's left tusk and a few burrs stuck in the coarse hair on the side of the boar's head. The boar's eyes were wild as he came crashing down on the terrified sailor. Several sensations hit Gilligan at once. He felt like a mack truck slammed into him; he felt a searing pain as the cracked tusk dug into his side; and then he felt himself flying backwards.
After they collided, the boar spun out. He tried to switch directions and head back into the jungle. Pilipo was still hanging on, and looked back over his shoulder shouting for Nahele to help. He didn't realize that at that moment, Gilligan was flailing his arms and falling.
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From the beach, Skipper and Lalani watched helplessly as Gilligan tumbled over the edge of the cliff face. He watched as Gilligan, upside down and spinning, stretched his arms out trying to grab something . . . anything. By an amazing stroke of luck, Gilligan landed on the small ledge below him. However, the momentum of his fall caused him to slide over the edge of the small ledge, too.
Lalani screamed again, as she watched the young sailor slide over the edge, unable to stop himself. As he slid down the steep cliff, he was finally able to grab hold of some roots that were sticking out, and he held on with all his might.
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Gilligan felt himself stop sliding. His hands were wrapped around a thick root in a death grip. He was gasping for breath, and his side was in ferocious pain. He carefully looked up to see how far he had slid. He was only about four feet below the ledge, but he might as well be forty feet down.
Where was Pilipo? Nahele? Gilligan's side was on fire. His lungs felt like bursting. His arms were throbbing.
"Heeelllllppppppp," he hollered. "Somebody . . . anybody! Skippppeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
From far below, he heard Skipper yell back. "Hang on, Little Buddy. Hang on. We're coming." He tried to look around, to see how far away Skipper was, but he couldn't twist his body around enough without hurting his side. He knew that his shirt was wet, but he couldn't tell how badly he was bleeding. Judging from the pain he was feeling, he figured it was pretty bad. He started to feel light-headed and nauseated.
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Nahele stood on the edge of the precipice. He couldn't see Gilligan, but he just heard him yell. The small ledge was about 15 feet down. He looked back toward the jungle to see if Pilipo was coming back, but he did not see any sign of his friend.
He ran to the nearest banyan tree and started pulling down vines to throw down to the ledge.
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Skipper and Lalani stood at the base of the volcano. Skipper looked frantically for some handholds or a narrow trail to get up to Gilligan. What worried him the most was Gilligan losing his grip and plummeting down the side of the cliff and landing on the jagged rocks below him.
"Just hang on, Gilligan. Don't let go . . . and that's an Order," he yelled.
Lalani stood next to him with tears streaming down her face. She was hugging herself and emitting a low moan.
Skipper was vaguely aware that this must be agonizingly similar to what happened with her own husband, three years ago. He wanted to comfort her, but right now, he was too worried about Gilligan and how to get him off that cliff-face.
"Come on, Lalani," he said gently, pulling on her elbow. "We have to get up there. The only way is back through the jungle."
"But he'll fall," she said. "He can't hold on much longer."
Skipper sighed and looked up at Gilligan again. "I know," he said sadly.
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Deeper into the jungle, Pilipo finally conceded that he would lose the boar. It was just too large for him to take down by himself, and he couldn't imagine what was keeping Nahele and Gilligan. He grudgingly let go of his dagger and rolled off to the side. Thankfully, the boar just kept running, rather than turn and attack.
Pilipo shouted at the retreating boar, calling him a few choice names, then he brushed himself off and started heading back to find Nahele and Gilligan. On his way, he ran into the other castaways and hunters. They made their way up to the top of the volcano, laughing and shrugging. The experienced hunters knew that sometimes you were successful and sometimes you weren't. As they got close to the scene of the battle, he called out to Nahele and Gilligan, but he didn't get any answer. As he walked out of the jungle, he was surprised that there was no sign of either of them. Where could they have gone? he thought.