With sudden terror, she realized that the torpedo would strike the ship directly beneath her. The order to turn the ship had come too late.
“And when it does strike!” Her knees trembled. For the first time in her life, she was paralyzed with fear.
The torpedo came on rapidly. Now it was fifty feet away, forty, thirty. It dove beneath the water, rose sharply, sped through the air, and—
Shaking herself into action, Sally turned and ran. Headed for the opposite side of the ship she was all prepared for a terrific roar accompanied by the sound of rending and crashing of timbers. But none came.
Racing headlong, she banged into the gunwale on the opposite side, to stand there panting.
Suddenly she rubbed her eyes, then looked at the sea. “It’s gone,” she murmured. “The torpedo is going away. It must have plunged low and gone under the ship.”
Her instant of relief was cut short by the realization that there were other torpedoes and shells, that the battle had just begun and that a shell had gone through their radio cabin.
“Riggs!” she cried. “Riggs was in that cabin!”
She reached the radio door just as two sailors carried Riggs out. His face was terribly white.
Asking no questions, she brushed past them and into the cabin. With Tobin and Riggs gone, she must carry on.