“Never mind. We’ll come over,” replied a kindly voice.
A rubber boat appeared under the plane wings, and two men paddled it easily toward them. When Hilda fell twice in trying to get over the gunwale one of the fliers stepped aboard and took her wasted form into his arms. Though Nancy and Mabel were both weak and trembling with excitement they managed to get into the rubber boat with the help of the second man. The other man went back for their coats and bags and soon they were under the shadow of the great wings. Eager hands lifted them bodily into the cabin.
Nancy could never recall afterward all that was said and done as they were lifted inside. But she did remember one man’s hushed voice as he said, “Three army nurses.”
Eager Hands Lifted Them Bodily into the Cabin
Those men in their spotless clothes seemed like angels to the shipwrecked women. They were put into bunks and almost as if by magic someone was handing Nancy a thermos top filled with hot tea. These things couldn’t be real, she kept telling herself. She had only hoped they would happen for so long that now she believed they could not be true.
A doctor the fliers called Lieutenant Holmes, questioned them about how much they had had to eat and drink, then allowed them to have a small portion of concentrated food from a tin, and gave them a cup of water. But Nancy came back to her thermos top of tea. It seemed heavenly to have something hot. She could feel reviving strength flow to her very toes.
“Good thing we brought that hot thermos along,” one of the men remarked.