“I’ll pull up close,” Tyler said. “We have to be careful of that engine, though.”

I could see what he meant. The whole boat seemed to be shuddering, as the propeller kept trying in vain to move the whole thing forward.

“Let’s get this top off,” Leon said. He was toward the back end of the boat now. I was closer to the front, but the boat was taking on water fast, going down nose first. I had to reach down to grab the canvas. Together we each grabbed on and pulled.

“What the goddamned fuck!” a voice said from inside the boat. “What happened?”

Leon and I nodded at each other. We pulled harder on the canvas top. It was heavier than hell, but we were finally able to lift it just enough to see inside.

There were three men in the boat, all of them looking like they’d been thrown forward from where they had been sitting. The one closest to me was lying facedown on the floor, his head in the rising water.

“Grab that guy!” Tyler said. “Get his head out of the water!”

I jumped into the boat and grabbed him. He was big, and the fact that I was standing in a sinking boat now didn’t make things any easier.

“Let go of me!” he said. “Just leave me alone!”

He knocked my arms away and went back down. With a great heave he threw up everything in his stomach, all over the place. There were beer bottles floating in the water, boat cushions, a fishing pole. And now a few pints of vomit for good measure, spreading all around the boat like an oil spill.

“Cut that engine!” Tyler said.

“I can’t get to the controls,” Leon said. “This guy’s out.” He was trying to work his way around the man at the steering wheel. I could see blood on the man’s forehead.

“We shouldn’t be moving him,” Tyler said. “But I don’t think we have much choice.”

“Let me just get this thing turned off,” Leon said. He tried lifting the man with one arm and reaching for the ignition with the other.