ffiffiffi&ffiemRmtry
$wm
ffiffiffiffwffiffi
Pea Island's
Ftrr"gc-lttelr
FIei'oes
qrhtrnq
n$
Rescueworkerscan
p r o v i d ec r i t i c a lo, r
v i t a l ,a i d w h e n a
h u r r i c a n es t r i k e s .
m&nmmfi
dm'm'xqm$m
Thesepeoplereturned
t o s e a r c ht h e r u i n s
of their home after a
t o r n a d od e m o l i s h e di t .
critical
demolished
elite
commotion
bundle
annoyance
secured
squalling
clammy
realization
Vocabulary
Reader
227.
Context
Cards
mffffitrw
ffitffiw$rysmsswswftffin
Medalsfor braveryare
g i v e nt o a n e l i t e g r o u p
of the bestand most
Rescue
dogsare
trainedto staycalm
in spiteof chaosand
s k i l l e dl i f e g u a r d s .
c o mm o t i o n .
''wStudy each{.-**mt*"wH,
#mr#.
s, BreakeachVocabularyword into syllables.
Useyour glossaryto checkyour answers.
r'--
*prummdffm
: : s c u e rbs u n d l eo, r
, ' a p ,i n j u r e ds k i e r si n
: ankets
for warmthor
-: preventshock.
Duringa fire, people
who get too closecan
d istractf i ref ighters and
causethem annoyance.
ffiffi"dffieffi
ffiffifrmmW
mffmrt'nrm3p
s q u a l l i n go f a c h i l d
' " l e a dr e s c u e rtso
" - e f r i g h t e n e d c, r y i n g
The protectiveclothing
--e
't
ffi#$$'sffi$fffitrt#ffi
lrm.
worn by firefighters
can makethem feel
c l a m m ya n d d a m p .
s#ffim*fi-ffid
I n m o u n t a i nr e s c u e s ,
one personissecured
to anotherby safety
fasteners.
ffiwffi
frfrmmtfrnn
T h e r e a l i z a t i o no, r
understanding,
that
rescuers
savelives
m a k e sf a m i l i e sp r o u d .
ffiffiffiKqffiffiffi&ffi.ffiffi
T h e Ou ter Banks The chainof islandsoff
co a sti s ca l l e dth e Outer Banks.The islandspr otect
N o r t h C a ro l i n a 's
t h e m a i n la n db e ca u seo f th e i r criticallocationin the path of many
t
:
h u r r i c a n e s.H u g esto rmsh a ved em olishedpar tsof the islands.One
s t o r m c u t Ha tte ra sl sl a n di n tw o ! So many shipshavesunk in stor m s
t h e r e t h a t th e a re a i s ca l l e d" T h e Gr aveyar dof the Atlantic."
I n t h e 1 8 7 0 s,l i fe sa vi n gsta ti onswer e set up on the Outer
Banks. Elitecrews,often securedto the shore by ropes,swam out
t o g r o u n de dsh i p sto re scu eth o se aboar d. Theywould bundlethe
c l a m m yv i c t i m si,n c l u d i n gc h i l d r e n i,n b l a n k e t s .T h e yk e p t w o r k i n g
, n d t h e c h i l d r e n 's q u a l l i n g .
t h r o u g ht h e c o m m o t i o no f w i n d , w a v e s a
N o t e v e ryo n ere a ctsto th e Outer Banks'windswith annoyance.
Todaya
, r e a l i za ti o no f th e i sl a n ds'beautyattr actsthousandsof
touristseachyear.
. E x a m i n et h e m a p b e l o w . W h i c h i s l a n d sm a k eu p t h e O u t e r B a n k s ?
Winds,storms,andtidesare
constantly
changing
North
Carolina's
OuterBanks.
d
".,:
.:-
N O R T HC A R OL IN A
Hatteras
lsland
/-outer
Banks
#ffiffiffitrffifuffiKkffiKffiffiffi
ar.-,fu
conclusionsand Generalizations
A s y o u re a d " sto rm w a rri o rs," noticethe detailsthat the author
p r o v i d e sa b o u t th e me n w h o r escuethe passengeraboar
s
dthe E. s.
N e w m a n . T h e i ra cti o n sa n d wor ds can help you dr aw conclusions
a n d m a k eg e n e r a l i z a t i o nasb o u t t h e j o b t h e s u r f m e no n c ed i d . U s e
a g r a p h i co r g a n i z e rl i k et h i s o n e t o r e c o r da c o n c l u s i o an b o u t t h e
s u r f m e na n d th e d e ta i l syo u usedto dr aw your conclusion.
Detail:
Conclusion:
Detail:
frmfmrfFn
wdiet
Au t h o r sd o n o t a l w a ysd i re ctlystate infor mationfor r eader s.you
: a n u s ed i a l o g u e ,d e ta i l s,a n d eventsin a stor yto infer infor m ation
a b o u t i ts ch a ra cte rs.In fe rri n ginfor mationcan help you dr aw
: o n c l u si o nas n d p re d i ctw h a t might happennext. As you r ead,
r r a k e i nfe re n ce sb a se do n ch ar acter s' actions
and details,and tr y to
c r e d i c th o w th e sto ryw i l l e n d.
;l
\,eolry*tr%
:ri.
p-t
t,
critical
demolished
elite
commotion
bundle
annoyance
secured
sq u a l l i n g
cl a mmy
realization
Conclusionsand
Generalizations Usedetails
t o e x p l a i ni d e a st h a t a r e n ' t
s t a t e d o r a r e g e n e r a l l yt r u e .
lnfer/Predict Usetext clues
t o f i g u r eo u tw h a tth e a u th o r
m e a no
s r w h atmi g h th a p p e ni n
the future.
i
i
Historical fiction isa story
andeventsare
whosecharacters
setin a realperiodof history.
Essential
quesuon
n
-
1o
What conclusions
can we draw
about the sea?
227
It's 7896 on Pealsland, part of Nortb Carolina's
Outer Banks. Nathan dreamsof becominga
fearlesssurfman utitb PeaIsland's elite African
American lifesauing crew. Howeuer,his father, a
fisherman,doesn'twant Nathan to risk bis life
rescwingp eoplefrom shipurecks. Neuertheless,
Nathan studiesmedical booksand leams
critical lifesauing skills. Then a hurricane
hits the Outer Banks. TheE.S.Newmanrzzs
aground in the storm. This is Natban's chance
to help the swrfmen.As tbe storw rages,he
beginsto realize that knouledge is as important
as brauety.
I stumbledforward and caughtmy balance
on the sideof the beachcart. I facedthe sea
and the wind. Therewas the sunkenship,
hardly thirty yardsfrom us. Shewas a mass
of dark hull and white torn sailsagainstthe
foamingsea,rockingon her side,her cabin
and much of her starboardalreadydemolished
by the heavysurf. As I stoodwith my mouth
open,panting,the wind blew my cheeksfloppy
and driedmy tongue.
A cheerwent up from the sailorsaboard
the ship. They'd spottedus and had high hopes
that they would soonbe rescued.I expected
to hearthe command"Actionr"to beginthe
rescue,but heardnothing. It
breeches-buoy
took me a momentto realizewhat Keeper
Etheridgemust alreadyhavefiguredout: our
equipmentwas useless.Therewas no way
to dig a hole for the sandanchorunderthese
rolling waves,nowhereto setup the Lyle gun.
That's when I heard Mr. Meekins'svoice above the din of
wind and surf. "Those waves won't stop me from swimming
through them-they're all blown over,hardly taller than a
manr" he said.
Swim? Swim out into that raging sea?
I stood rigid and watched as Mr. Etheridgepulled a largesizedshot line out of the beachcarr and helped Mr. Meekins
tie it around his waist. Mr. Pugh was tied in as well, and the
heaving stick, attachedto its own line, was securedto Mr.
Meekins's body. The wind shoved at me and buffeted my
ears. It was unthinkable, what thesemen were doing. violence
swirled around us-a deadly,churning mix of wind and sea.
And these two surfmen were walking into it.
"Man the ropes," shoutedMr.
Etheridge. "One of them goesdown,
we'll haul them both back in."
Mr. Meekins and Mr. Pugh were
dark forms againstthe white foam,
plodding into the surf. Powerful
waves smackedthem in the chest.
They ducked their headsdown and
pushed forward.
I watched with a sick feeling in
my stomach as the realization crept
over me: I would never be able to
do what thesemen were doing. The
words of their motto ran through my
head: "You have to go out, but you
don't have to come back." In that
moment I knew. with not a shred of
doubt, that I did not have the courage
to risk my life that way. The dream,
and all the months of hoping, blew
away as quickly as the foam off the
waves. Villiam and Floyd and
Daddy were right. I would never
be a surfman.
S T O PA N D T H IN K
Doyouthinkthe rescue
Infer/Predict
crew will be able to rescuethe sailors?
What makesyou think as you do? Use
the text to supportyour answer.
!,mJx'ryffi!:iiryq!}ryw:11r}r:q*g,ss;9rlsyt4fiil4
230
.Nlwj4iryr
There was no time for me to
wallow in my loss. The men were
paying out the ropes,and I was a
fisherman-here to help. I took hold
of one of the ropes. I turned my face
sidewaysto the wind, bur still it made
my eyesblurry with tears. Blindln
I let the rope out, hand over hand,
then squinted out toward the ship.
A ladder had been lowered, and the
sailors leanedover the side,waiting.
Mr. Meekins and Mr. Pugh were
almost there.
I heard another cheerfrom the
'Vfhen
men on the ship.
I peered
out, Mr. Meekins was swinging the
heaving stick and line. He let it fly
and it landed on deck. The sailors
u,tuuUw
would tie the line to the ship so
that the rope could help steadythe
ffi,,
surfmen as they made their way from
ship to shore and back again.
Ir''
Soon #e were hauling rope back
in. The surfmen would be carrying
one of the sailors betweenthem now.
I squinted into the spray. Xfhere was
the rescuedsailor? Mr. Meekins and
Mr. Pugh were on their way back, but
without a third man betweenthem.
Mr. Meekins was carrying something
a little larger than a Lyle gun.
231
\7hat in the world could be more important to saveoff that
ship than the lives of the men on board? I shook my head and
hauled rope. The surfmen were half walking, half swimming,
pushing forward, the waves smacking againsttheir backs and
seemingto want to spit them out of the sea.
As the surfmen drew closer,I heard what soundedlike the
squalling of an alley cat. Mr. Meekins handed over his bundle and
shouted,"Get it into dry blanketsbeforeit goesblue!" The bundle
was passedfrom man to man, until it was handed to me and I found
myself looking into the terrified eyesof a screamingchild.
Daddy put his arm around my shoulders. "The driving cart)"
he shouted over the din of the waves and wind. In the driving cart,
which was nothing more than an open wagon, dry blanketswere
packedunder oilskins.
\7e crouched next to the cart, and it gave us some protection
from the storm. The child clung to my neck. He was drenchedand
shiveringmiserably. I tried to loosen his grip so I could get his wet
clothes off, but he just clung tighter. He was crying more softly
now. "Mamma?" he whimpered.
I gave Daddy a pleading look.
'What
if his mother had already
beenwashedoverboardand drowned? Daddy stood,cuppedhis
hands around his eyes,and looked in the direction of the ship.
"They're carrying a woman back now," he said.
"Your mamma is coming," I told the child. He looked to be
about three or four yearsold, with pale white skin and a shock of
thick brown hair. "Let's get you warm before shegetshere."
\7e had the boy wrapped in a dry blanket by the time his
mother came running to him, cried, "Thomas!" and clutched him to
her own wet clothing with such passionthat she probably got him
half drenchedagain.
The lady, who told us her name was Mrs. Gardiner,said she'd
be warm enough in her wet dressunder blankets and oilskins. No
sooner had we settledher with Thomas than we heard the cry "Ho,
this man is injured!"
232
STOPAND THINK
Author'sCraft Theauthorusesfirstperson point of view, which tellsthe
story from the narrator'sperspective.
How would the storychangeif it were
told from Mr. Meekins's(third-person
limited)point of view?
I ran to see. A young sailor had just been delivered
by the surfmen. Blood dripped from his head and
stainedhis life preserver.His lips were a sickly blue. He
took two steps,then collapsedface first into the shallow
water. Mr. Bowser draggedhim up by his armpits and
pulled him toward the driving cart.
"George, take over my place with the ropesr" he
shoutedto Daddy. "Nathan, come help me."
The sailor looked hardly older than me, with dirty
blond hair that had a bloody gash the sizeof a pole bean
r u n n i n gth ro u g h i t.
"Treat the bleedingfirst, then the hypothermia," I
said as I recalledthe words from the medical books and
they comforted me with their matter-of-factness.
Mr. Bowser grunted as we lifted the sailor into the
driving cart. "You did study well, Nathan," he said.
Mr. Bowser sent me for the medicinechest,then I
held a compressagainstthe man's head wound while Mr.
Bowser beganto removehis wet clothes. That's when Mr.
Bowser seemedto notice Mrs. Gardiner for the first time.
"Ma'am, we're going to have to . . ." He cleared
his throat. "This boy's hypothermic, so his wet clothes
haveto..."
Mrs. Gardiner rolled her eyesin annoyance."Oh,
for heaven'ssake!" sheexclaimed. Sheimmediately
went to work to pull off the man's boots, help Mr.
Bowser get the rest of his clothes off, and bundle him in
a dry blanket.
"Are there any other injured on board?" Mr. Bowser
asked as he wrapped a bandagearound the man's head.
"No, only Arthurr" she said. "He took quite a fall
when the ship ran aground."
234
Arthur groaned and his eyesfluttered
open. "I'm coldr" he complained.
Suddenlythere was a commotion at
the ropes. "Heave!" Mr. Etheridgeshouted.
"Haul them all in!"
, ' ,"i
"They've lost their footing!" I cried.
Mr. Bowser graspedme by the arms.
"Take over here. I'm sure you know what
to do." Then he ran to help with the ropes.
My hands felt clammy and shaky,but
once again the words from the books came
back to steadyme: "Rub the legsand arms
with linseedoil until warmth returns . . ." I
rummaged in the medicine chesr,found the
,r#
linseedoil, and poured some into my palm.
"This will warm you, sir," I said loudly
enough to be heard over the wind.
Arthur nodded his bandagedhead and
watched nervouslyas I rubbed the oil into his
feet and calves,then his hands and arms. He
gave Mrs. Gardiner a quizzicallook. "Ain,t
he young to be a doctor?" he askedher.
Shepatted his shoulder and smoothed
the hair off his forehead. "He seemsro
know what to do, dear,"she said.
"I am warming up," he said.
I lifted the lantern to look ar Arrhur's face
and saw that his lips were no longer blue.
STOPAND THINK
Conclusions and Generalizations Basedon the
eventsthat have happenedup to this point, what do
you think Nathanwill do for work when he grows
up?
n$.a.ffine1iry
235
Just then a tall white man appeared,dressedin a captain's
coat, his long hair flying in the wind. He reachedup into the
driving cart and pulled Mrs. Gardiner to him, pressinghis cheek
againsthers. He must have asked about Thomas, becauseshe
pointed to him, bundled and sleepingin the cart. "They've
savedthe whole crew!" he cried. He looked around at me and
Arthur, and at the other rescuedsailors and the surfmen who
were now gathering around the driving caft in preparation for
the long trip back through the storm to the station.
"My good menr" he said, his voice shakingr"we owe you
our lives."
ffiffiffiKwkwxffiffitr
What ls a Complex Sentence? A complex
by a
s
s e n t e n c e i s a p a i r o f se n te n cejoined
subordinating conjunction suchas because,
although, or since. The part of a complexsentence
w i t h t h e s u b o rd i n a ti n gco n j u n ctiontellsabout the
o t h e r p a r t o f th e se n te n ce .l t g ivesinfor mation,but
Academic Language
complexsentence
conjunction
subordinating
i t c a n n o tsta n do n i ts o w n a s a c ompletesentence.
their ship had beenwr ecked.
T h e c r e w me mb e rsw e re i n d anger ' because
Al t h o u g h th e w a ve sw e re b i g, two sur fm enswamto the ship.
Copy each sentence onto another sheet of paper.
Circlethe subordinating conjunction in it.
Underlinethe part of the sentence that cannot stand on
its own.
the child,Nathantook careof him.
$ Rfterthe menrescued
comfortedhim.
O when the childwhimpered,Mrs.Gardiner
€l rfre childwarmedup oncehe waswrappedin a dry blanket.
0 ns a sailorcametowardthe shore,he collapsed.
he waswounded.
€l rh" sailorneededtreatmentbecause
242
Jage
ce
5entence Fluency Good writers try to show exactlyhow ideas
^ s e p a r a tese n te n ceas re re l a te d.
com biningshor tersentences
: f o r m a c o mp l e xse n te n ceca n s how how ideasar e linkedor
r i c h i d e a i s mo re i mp o rta n t. U sea comm aafter the fir st par t
: ' a c o m p l e xs e n t e n c ei f t h a t p a r t b e g i n sw i t h a s u b o r d i n a t i n g
, njunction.
nctio'n
T h e s n o w w a s d a n g e ro u sl y
The gover nordeclar edan
deep.
em er gency.
s i n ceth e sn o w w a s d a n g er ouslydeep,the gover nordecr ar edan
emergency.
sr
Connect Grammar to Writing
As you revise your responseto literature next week, look for
sentenceswith related ideas. Try building a complexsentenceby
joining relatedsentenceswith a subordinatingconjunction.
243