12-第五章：前往明日岛(11)

’ ‘I’ve found another one!’ ‘No Hogfly, it really, really does have to be one with no holes in it at all…’ A little further on, Hiccup spotted the small upturned bottom of a rowing boat, and hurrying towards it, he realised with mounting excitement that the boat was virtually intact, apart from a small section bitten out of it by some large sea creature. Perhaps a Leviathorgan? Or a half grown Woden’s Nightmare, by the look of those tooth patterns…
he thought to himself. And then: Wow, I do seem to know an awful LOT about dragons, imagine thinking about natural history at a time like this…

The boat was small enough that Hiccup could turn it over by himself, and panting hard, he dragged it over the marshes by the end of a fraying rope, every now and then sinking so deep into the soggy ground that he thought he wouldn’t be able to get out again. A little later, he had got the little boat into the sea, and to Hiccup’s passionate relief, it floated, a little lopsidedly. Everything seemed to be going Hiccup’s way. The wind had even changed direction, so it was now blowing a violent gale in the direction of the island he hoped was Tomorrow. That wind would blow him rapidly across the white-tipped waves and on to the island, Hiccup was sure of it – as long as the boat didn’t sink…