She was unaware that of the 1,500 left behind, an additional five hundred would be saved in the lifeboats, floating around the bodies. Only fifty survivors would be taken from the icy clutches of the sea as other lifeboats rowed away from the wreckage.
As a woman, a stewardess, was pulled into the boat, Maddy stood, stripped the poor woman, and gave her the fur she had worn. “Is that better now? You are dry, and this will warm you. Some of you, sit close and hold her so she warms herself, please.”
The stewardess knew Maddy Astor and could not believe the woman had wrapped her in a real sable coat. In appreciation and awe, the stewardess could only weep. She thought Mrs. Astor was a saint.
Cunningham, the steward, tipped an imaginary hat, “Mrs. Astor, you amaze me with your generosity and energy.”
“It is what is right. No more and no less. We shall abide.”
They pulled Sam Hemming from the water after he swam hundreds of yards to reach the boat. His feat was miraculous. Even while his teeth chattered uncontrollably, he pointed, and everyone looked.
“A ship. We are saved,” Perkis announced. There, just before them, was an older vessel, a seasoned ship that had seen better days as its wood was sodden and molded, the masts were canted, and the portholes were dirty. It floated in a yellowish mist that wafted right above the water’s surface, and icebergs floated out from it, as if it were releasing them.
“Is she manned or derelict?” Ranger asked.
“I dunno. She looks sea worthy though, and we could ride this out there and wait for help,” Perkis said. He did not add that the ship gave him a chill, and he felt a terrible dread when he looked at it. His job was to ensure passenger safety. It was perhaps safer than the lifeboat.
“Let’s row closer.”
Her masts were broken, and tatters of her dirty sails flapped in the slight breeze. A rope trailed behind the vessel, and it there that the seamen tied the lifeboat and further appraised the sailing vessel.
“I will climb up. Who will join me?” Perkis asked.
Crewmen Breeze, Compton, Smyth, and Everett volunteered. Perkis said they would look around to see how the rest could be brought up easily and that they would be back quickly; however, if they were needed, a call out was all that was needed.
“She looks fine. I wonder why she is here and abandoned?”
They found her lifeboat missing, and all of the navigational instruments were either missing or twisted and ruined. It was so odd that Freeze remarked, “Why would anyone destroy a nice sextant as this?” There was no logbook or papers left aboard.
Compton righted a chair, salt stained and weathered, but in good shape. A vapor lay just aft on the port side, and Compton walked over to pick up a pair of eyeglasses. Wiping the lenses against his chest, he looked them over and found a tiny chip in the glass, but they were unharmed.
Since the boat was loaded and the Titanic had sunk, he had felt a little chilly, but now, he felt downright cold. His bones began to ache. Perhaps the anxiety and work had gotten to him because he was very drained. He could feel his energy pouring out.
“Are you alright, Compton?”
“Yes. I am fine. Just tired.”
Perkis frowned. The man had picked up the glasses and gone pale. What might be wrong, Perkins did not know. They all examined the wood railing and found some deep gauges, but there was nothing to indicate what caused them, and there was no blood in sight.
Besides being empty, the upper deck was strong and in excellent repair. It was dusty and moss-covered in places, but there was nothing a mop and water could not fix.
“I have no idea what might have occurred here, gentlemen,” Perkis said, a little formally. He had Smyth check on those in the boat, and the man reported all was fine. “Compton and Smyth, remain here. Freeze, Everett, and I shall go below. Call if you need us, and we will do the same.”
They found a sturdy oak table and chairs below, as well as berths and a bed for a small child made up neatly with older, dusty, but serviceable linens. It was comfortable and well laid out. The blankets were wool and of decent quality, not fancy but not shabby either.
“Why they have enough supplies for six months or more,” Everett said. “The food is ruined, but there was plenty. Salt, dried beef, vegetable, spices, rum, grains salted pork, hard tack, coffee and tea, a few wheels of cheese, fruit, and wine.”
Freeze found clothing in trunks for both men and women. It was not what wealthy people would wear as everything was years and years out of date, almost something a past generation would have worn, and it was all oft mended, but of good material. All the clothing was neat and clean as well as nicely folded.
On a desk, while they found no papers of importance, they found old books, a trio that had been popular a quarter of a century before. A cup sat on the desk, still half full of tea.
“It’s dusty, but this was a well-cared for sailing ship,” Freeze said. He was perplexed.
“As if she is from long ago,” Perkis noted, “and I have such an apprehension about her.”
“Look here. Liquor, casks of it, but they are in red oak, not white. That is shameful. It’s all evaporated.”
Everett showed them a box he found, “Maybe we’ve lucked upon treasure?” It was about a perfectly square foot box and made of dark oak that had been polished and waxed until it shown. Eight thin strips of hammered silver bands ran about the box from the hatch, around the back where it was hinged in silver, to the front again. Tiny silver rivets held them in place. In the center on the top, was a jade medallion, cool green, in the shape of a frog. Emeralds, tiny and pale, made a circle about the jade.
There was no lock on the box, and even if it were empty, Everett felt it was worth a great deal of money; he was taking it with him. He lifted the lid and stared inside, his jaw hanging open with surprise.
“What ‘ave you?” Perkis asked as he searched the larder.
“Why, Sir, it’s a… a frog.”
“Carved? Jeweled?”
“Ummm… looking at me and blinking his eyes,” Everett said.
Freeze and Perkins stopped their searches and stared back at the other man. Everett watched the frog, or perhaps it was a toad, flick its tongue.
Then the little creature opened his mouth as if to yawn. But it kept opening, stretching wide and bigger; it was impossible. The mouth of the frog grew as large as a pie. Without a sound, it leaped upwards and with that big, open mouth, latched on to Everett’s face.
His screams were muffled, and he pulled at the frog, slammed into the walls of the sailing ship, and fell to his knees. Freeze and Perkis ran to him, and both pulled on the slimy, disgusting thing that attached itself to the man’s face. All three rolled about the floor, but could not dislodge the monster.
“It has a mighty grip,” Perkis yelled, “we will get you free.”
Perkis, in desperation, used a hammer he saw to clobber the frog. At first, it did no damage, but then the frog’s skin split open as its back broke. Perkis continued to beat at the frog while Freeze pulled at the frog’s mouth, trying to pry it loose.
Freeze fell to the ground as the frog came away in his hands. He tossed it to the floor where Perkis finished smashing it. Scrambling on his hands and knees, Freeze got to Everett and turned him over. He held back a scream as he saw that the man’s face was gone. The eyes, lips, cheeks, nose, and all of the flesh were eaten away as if tiny mouths and teeth had been at work. Everett’s skull showed beneath the blood.
To their horror, Everett made a ghastly keening sound deep within his throat. Perkis clenched his jaw, removed his big knife, and slid it across the man’s throat, ending his agony. He used a sheet to cover the man’s face and body. “God forgive me and have mercy upon our souls.”