Nancy Dale, Army Nurse

by Ruby Lorraine Radford

She dragged the keg with her toward the prow as the raging men grappled. Jim Benton and Hilda were sitting in the prow, and the slack sail had at first cut off their view of what was happening. The men were already at each other’s throats before Jim realized there was a row, and rushed to separate them.

Terrified, the women feared the struggle would capsize the boat. They huddled together in the prow to keep a balance. The corporal was a much larger man than the bluejacket, and soon had him down on the seat, his hands clawing at his throat. Jim could not break their grip with his bare hands. Hilda had snatched up one of the oars, as if to help. Suddenly he seized it from her and cracked it down over Ned Owens’s head. The corporal crumpled into the bottom of the boat like a crushed egg.

The moment his hands relaxed their grip on Olan’s throat, the half-conscious man rolled into the water with a list of the boat. Without a moment’s hesitation Jim Benton went in after him, shoes and all. The shock of the cold water revived Olan’s faculties sufficiently for him to get a death grip on Jim. In spite of all the soldier could do to break the hold, Olan pulled him down under the waves with him. The horrified women stared, helpless to save either one.

Nancy was making a motion to get out of her shoes, when Mabel held her back by main force. “You’re insane!” she screamed. “You haven’t strength to do anything for them.”

But it was already too late. Even while Mabel held Nancy back the two men went down again, and they saw them no more. Too stunned for speech they could only stand and stare, hoping against hope that they might come up again.

Then Hilda, the little blue-eyed girl, wavered, and Mabel gently eased her to the bottom of the boat as consciousness slipped from her. After bathing her face with sea water Mabel and Nancy dragged her up to the boat seat, and Nancy held her head in her lap. For a long time they were too stunned for speech.

Mabel was the first to say anything as she stared with fixed eyes at the bottom of the boat. “Now we’re left to the mercy of that thing!” she moaned, pointing to the corporal.

“It would be better if we were all dead,” said Nancy in a hollow voice.

Mabel finally prodded Ned Owens with her foot, turning him over. Blood flowed from the gash on the back of his head made by the oar. Even though she dreaded to see him regain consciousness, the instincts of her profession would not be denied. She finally squatted in the bilge water to do what she could for his injuries. She cleaned the wound after a fashion and dusted it with some sulfa drug from her first-aid kit, then drew the edges together with some sticking plaster. They feared he would roll into the sea if they dragged him to the seat, so they pulled him into the prow where only his feet were in the water.

When Hilda stirred again she sat up, her fixed eyes turned across the waves that had swallowed the men. She was like one under the influence of dope and made no complaint, only sat there hour after hour as if the life had gone from her, too.