15 Chapter 15

“Phew! Rotten!” I examined the three “eyes” at one end, and saw that something had bored into one of them, presumably exposing the water inside to the air, and therefore to rotting.

I looked at my companion questioningly.

He took the coconut from me gently and, turning, looked up at the coconuts at the top of the tree. After preparing himself, he let fly. The coconut shot upwards into the leafy top of the tree. There was a crack, and twococonuts fell back down to the ground.

The Marine went to where one of the coconuts had landed—evidently having been able to follow the ballistics to determine that this was notthe coconut he had thrown. He grinned, holding it out to me.

I smelled it, and nodded, giving him a thumbs-up signal.

In a half-dozen further throws managed to score three more fresh coconuts. We took all four back to our camp.

The first thing we did was to bore open holes where the eyes were, and drink the coconut water.

“Wow!” I said. “That was good!”