“Well of all things!” burst forth Mabel. “It’s a little world after all.”
“But he may die, poor soul!”
“He has only a slim chance I’d say, even to realize he’s been rescued, much less to tell you about the disaster.”
“But Mabel, we’ve got to bring him through—somehow! Surely he can tell us about Tommy. Why Tommy may even be among these prisoners.”
As the idea seized her Nancy hurried off to search the faces of those prisoners. She looked at each emaciated face with hope, only to turn away with a heavy heart. Then the idea came to her that Tommy’s suffering might have changed him beyond recognition, so she went back among the prisoners, this time examining their dog tags.
When she passed Mabel a second time her friend gave her a sharp look and said, “Snap out of it, Nancy! You’d better get back on the job or they’ll be jacking you up for shirking duty.”
Nancy flushed and came to herself with a start. She had never received a reprimand of that sort and would have felt disgraced to merit it in this first real testing hour.
Several times during the night, however, she returned to see about Vernon Goodwin. At last as she turned her light on his face to watch his breathing she thought she saw a faint color in his dry lips. He must live, he must! She kept saying the words to herself. If he died she might never know what had really become of Tommy. Vernon seemed her last hope of gaining some clue that might lead to rescuing him.