Darkness had fallen. John Player had awakened. He was ashamed to have slept so long.
“You needed it,” I told him.
“You were absolutely worn out.
“And you kept watch?”
“I swear to you there has been no sign of a ship anywhere.”
“There must be some time.”
We had more water and a biscuit.
“What of Mr. Lorimer?” I asked.
“If he wakes up we’ll give him something.”
“Should he be unconscious so long?”
“He shouldn’t be, but it seems he is. Perhaps it’s as well. That leg could be rather painful.”
“I wish we could do something about it.”
He shook his head.
“We can’t do anything. We hauled him aboard. That was all we could do.”
“And you gave him artificial respiration.”
“As best I could. I think it worked though. Well, that was all we could do.”
“How I wish a ship would come.”
“I am heartily in agreement with you.”
The night descended on us . our second night. I dozed a little and dreamed I was in the kitchen of the house in Bloomsbury.
“It was such a night as this that the Polish Jew was murdered …”
Such a night as this! And then I was awake. The boat was scarcely moving. I could just make out John Player staring ahead.
I closed my eyes. -I wanted to get back into the past.
We were into our second day. The sea was calm and I was struck afresh by the loneliness of that expanse of water. Only us and our boat in the whole world, it seemed.
Lucas became conscious during the morning. He said:
“What’s the matter with my leg?”
“I think the bone may be broken,” I told him.
“We can’t do anything about it. We’ll be picked up by a ship soon, John thinks.”
“John?” he asked.
“John Player. He’s been wonderful. He saved our lives.”
Lucas nodded.
“Who else is there?”
“Only the three of us. We’re in the lifeboat. We’ve had amazing luck.”
“I can’t help being glad you’re here, Rosetta.”
I smiled at him.
We gave him some water.
“That was good,” he said.
“I feel so helpless.”
“We all are,” I replied.
“So much depends on that ship.”
During the afternoon John sighted what he thought was land. He called to me excitedly and pointed to the horizon. I could just make out a dark hump. I stared at it. Was it a mirage? Did we long so much for it that our tortured imaginations had conjured it up? We had been adrift for only two days and nights but it seemed like an eternity. I kept my eyes fixed on the horizon.
The boat seemed not to be moving. There we were on a tranquil sea and if there really was land close by we might not be able to reach it.
The afternoon wore on. The land had disappeared and our spirits sank.
“Our only hope is a ship,” said John.
“Goodness knows if that is possible. How far we are from the trade routes, I do not know.”
A slight breeze arose. It carried us along for a while. I was on the lookout and I saw land again. It was close now.
I called to John.
“It looks like an island,” he said.
“If only the wind is in the right direction …”
Several hours passed. The land came nearer and then receded. The wind rose and there were dark clouds on the horizon. I could see that John was anxious.
Quite suddenly he gave a shout of joy.
“We’re getting nearer. Oh God . please help. The wind … the blessed wind … it’s going to take us there.”
A tense excitement gripped me. Lucas opened his eyes and said: “What is it?”
“I think we’re near land,” I told him.
“If only …” John was right beside me.
“It’s an island,” he said.
“Look, we’re going in .
“Oh, John,” I murmured, ‘can it be that our prayers are answered? “
He turned to me suddenly and kissed my cheek. I smiled and he gripped my hand hard. We were too full of emotion in that moment for more words.
We were in shallow water and the boat scraped land. John leaped out and I joined him. I felt an immense triumph, standing there with the water washing above my ankles.
It took a long time for us to drag the boat onto dry land.
The island on which we had landed was very small, little more than a rock jutting out of the sea. We saw a few stunted palm trees and sparse foliage. It rose steeply from the beach which I supposed was the reason why it was not completely submerged. The first thing John wanted to do was examine fully the contents of the boat and to his delight in one compartment under the seat he found more biscuits and another can of water, a first aid box containing bandages with some rope which enabled us to tether the boat to a tree and this gave us a wonderful sense of security.
Finding the water particularly delighted John.
“It will keep us alive for another few days.”
My first thought was for Lucas’s leg. I remembered that Dot had once broken an arm and Mr. Dolland had set it before the doctor had arrived and commended him for his prompt action. It had been related to me in some detail and I now tried to recall what Mr. Dolland had done.
With John’s help I did what I could. We discovered the broken bone and tried to piece it together. We found a piece of wood which served as a splint and the bandages were useful. Lucas said it felt more comfortable as a result but I feared our efforts were not very successful and they had in any case come far too late.
It was strange to see this hitherto self-sufficient man of the world so helpless and dependent upon us.
John had taken charge of us. He was a natural leader. He told us that he had attended drills on board the Atlantic Star, which every crewman was expected to do, and he had learned something about how to act in an emergency. That stood him in good stead now. He wished he had paid more attention but at least he remembered something of what he had been taught.
We were impatient to explore the island. We found a few coconuts. He shook them and listened for the rattle of milk.
He turned his eyes to the sky.
“Someone up there is looking after us,” he said.
Those days I spent on the island stand out in my memory never to be forgotten. John turned out to be quite ingenious; he was practical and resourceful and was constantly trying to find ways to help us survive.
We must keep an account of the time, he said. He was going to make a notch in a stick for this purpose. He knew we had been at sea three nights and so we had a start. Lucas was now fully aware of what was happening. It was maddening for him to be unable to move but I think his main concern was that he might be a hindrance.
We tried to assure him that this was not so and we needed someone to be on watch all the time. He could stay in the boat and keep a lookout while John and I explored the island searching for food, or doing any jobs that needed to be done. We had been provided with whistles with our lifejackets and if he spotted a sail or anything unusual happened he could summon us immediately.
It is amazing how very close one can become to another human being in such circumstances. Thus it was with John and me. Lucas had been my friend before this shipwreck. John had been almost a stranger. Now we seemed like close friends.
He would talk to me more frankly when we were alone than he did when Lucas was present. There was something very kind about him. He understood Lucas’s feelings, realizing how he would feel in his position, and he never mentioned before him his fears about the water supply running out. He did to me, though. He had installed a system of rationing. We took water at sunrise, midday and sunset.
“Water is the most precious thing we have,” he said.
“Without it we’re finished. We could very shortly become dehydrated. A healthy young person can do without food for perhaps a month, but that person must have water. If is only a little we’re getting. Drink it slowly. Hold it in your mouth, roll it round to get the utmost from it. As long as we have water we can survive. We’ll preserve some if it rains. We’ll manage.”