Mabel took a last look at Ned in the twilight and saw he was still breathing, though he showed no signs of regaining consciousness. “If he’ll only stay that way till morning,” she said. “I’ll feel much safer.”
For once Mabel’s wish was fulfilled. The first rays of daylight revealed the corporal lying where she had left him. She bent over him almost eagerly. Her shaking fingers, that pressed his wrist, found no pulse.
“God is good,” she said fervently, looking up from her knees at the other two. “No telling what we’ve been spared.”
His passing was such a relief to them all, that even Hilda found interest enough to help them heave the body over into the sea.
When the lapping green water had swallowed him up Nancy said, “Let’s recite the Twenty-third Psalm for all our dead.”
She emphasized the all, for in spite of their relief at this last death, she felt that none should be excluded from their simple burial ritual.
With the knowledge of navigation that she had picked up from Olan, Nancy steered a southeast course with every fair wind that blew. Though their number was now only half the original, she dared not increase their water supply, as so much had been lost when their keg overturned. By careful economy they would have food and water for a few more days.
After the death of the three men they rarely spoke. There seemed nothing left to say, and speech was such an effort with rasping vocal chords and cracked lips.
Once they sighted a smudge of smoke that promised to be a boat on the horizon. Though there was always the possibility it might be a Japanese boat, even captivity seemed preferable to their present condition. Nancy tacked to catch a bit of wind taking her in that direction. But a nearer approach showed them it was merely mist from spray breaking on a reef. But the island was barren, with not a single palm to pierce the burning sky.
Before night closed them in they saw other reefs, but all were barren. They decided to lower their sail and drop anchor for the night to keep the current from sweeping them against some hidden reef.