They could tell he was bending in the bottom of the boat as he spoke. Then they could hear him tugging at something. “It’s that last chap who came aboard,” he said. “He must have been knocked out.”
“Lucky he is—not knowing he has anything to worry about,” said the other man.
The sailor eased the man’s head to a higher level and began bailing out the water. But the small boat heaved and pulled on her anchor chain so they took in almost as much as he cleared out. In another hour the girl across from Nancy was violently sick. But it was not long before Nancy, Mabel and the other man were all agonizing over the side of the boat. Only the sailor and the sleeping man in the bottom of the boat kept steady stomachs.
For the first time in her life Nancy prayed for death to relieve her suffering. Sick, cold and miserable as she was, the struggle didn’t seem worth the effort.
From troubled dozing against Mabel’s shoulder Nancy woke to find dawn breaking on a sea as empty and placid as a mountain lake. No rescue ship, nor even any lifeboat was visible on all that gray expanse. How could she endure this awful plight that daylight had revealed?
Nancy’s gaze came back from her futile search to look around at her companions. The bluejacket sat on the floor in the prow, his arms bent over the seat, cradling his head. She discovered it was a young corporal who had come aboard last. He still slept in the bottom of the boat. The girl across from them was a nurse of another unit. She lay on the seat. The first class private who sat beside her couldn’t have been more than nineteen Nancy thought, as she studied the sleeping face.
Everyone was covered with an oily scum that had swept over them from the sinking boat, and Nancy knew she must look as repulsive as the rest. Even before her inspection was finished the sailor roused and dragged himself to the seat. He took one look across the empty water.
“Well if that ain’t a way to do us!” he growled, when the drowsy corporal sat up and wanted to know what the row was about. “They all beat it off to safety without ever waiting to see who else was here.”
“They may have gone under for all you know,” said Mabel.
“Where’s the water?” asked the corporal. “I’m dry as a desert.”