He gave the man’s arm a jerk and pulled him into the boat. Another man, evidently a sailor, let the boat into the water. The ship lurched dangerously and oily spray drenched the boat. They were not a dozen oar strokes away when acrid smoke billowed from every opening as the ship suddenly burst into flames. The oarsmen had a race to clear the area where flames lapped at the oil-coated water.
It was awful to see that towering bulk become a flaming carnival for some Jap, watching through the periscope of the sub that had struck them. A few minutes later the mighty ship went down with such an explosive churning of water that those in the lifeboats had to cling to the gunwale to keep from being swept overboard. For some time after the flames were extinguished they drifted in Stygian darkness. Nancy couldn’t even see Mabel sitting next to her.
In those first stunned moments of escape Nancy had been aware of other boats around them, and people in the water. But when they found themselves in calmer seas some time after the sinking they seemed to be utterly alone.
“Where are the others?” the strange woman across from them asked.
“God only knows,” replied her companion.
By the location of their voices Nancy surmised they also were sitting side by side. There was some comfort in feeling the physical nearness of another in that vast, empty darkness.
“We’ll drop anchor and ride it out here till morning,” the seaman decided. “We were due to be in sight of the convoy by dawn. If they got our SOS somebody should pick us up then.”
The last man they had taken aboard had not spoken since their arrival. Nancy wondered if he had gone overboard while the boat pitched so wildly after the ship went down. But a few minutes later she realized she was ankle deep in water. When she lifted her feet she struck something in the bottom of the boat.
“Somebody’s lying in the bottom!” she exclaimed. She found she had lost her flashlight in the scramble, but Mabel had hers.
“Don’t use a flash!” warned the sailor. “Those yellow devils can see one miles away.”