As the man tried to swing the speedboat round, the steering wheel came away in
his hands. He waved desperately to his companion, who had been water skiing
for the last fifteen minutes. Both men had hardly had time to realize what was
happening when they were thrown violently into the sea. The speedboat had
struck a buoy, but it continued to move very quickly across the water. Both
men had just begun to swim towards the shore. when they noticed with dismay
that the speedboat was moving in a circle. It now came straight towards them
at tremendous speed. In less than a minute, it roared past them only a few
feet away. After it had passed, they swam on as quickly as they could because
they knew that the boat would soon return. They had just had enough time to
swim out of danger when the boat again completed a circle. On this occasion,
however, it had slowed down considerably. The petrol had nearly all been used
up. Before long, the noise dropped completely and the boat began to drift
gently across the water.&