After tossing from side to side for a couple of hours she finally got up and went down to the spring to do her washing. Soon her undies and seersucker suits were flapping on a line between two palm trees near their shelter. Then she took a bath in the wash hole at the stream, which they had made private by an arrangement of palm leaf screens.
When Nancy was coming back up the path from the stream she met Major Reed. Since they had landed on the island there had been little thought or time for military formalities. The entire unit, from the highest officers to the youngest shavetails, had become a harmonious working whole. However, Nancy saluted now as she came face to face with the major on the path.
He was about to pass on when suddenly he paused and said, “Nancy, there’s no need of killing yourself. You look all washed up.”
“Maybe I look pale because I just had a bath,” she told him. “A rare luxury!”
He chuckled and admitted, “You do look mighty clean!” Then almost immediately he was serious again. “I’ve just come from your ward and York told me you worked long beyond your time this morning.”
“More were coming in than the nurses on duty could handle,” she explained. Then for fear she would be given more credit than she deserved Nancy hastened to add, “And Vernon Goodwin was so much better I thought he might rouse at any moment and be able to tell me something.”
“And did he?”
“Yes he did, Major. He told me a little about Tommy. He wasn’t able to talk much.” Briefly Nancy repeated what she had learned from Vernon.
“Did he know the name of the island where they came down?”
“No—or rather I didn’t ask him. I was afraid to let him talk too much. His life still hangs by a thin thread.”