Nancy Dale, Army Nurse

by Ruby Lorraine Radford

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  THE PLANE

  At the end of the first week when there was still no hope of rescue,nor any sight of land, their water had to be reduced to one portion aday. Only by the notches Olan Meyer cut on the stem seat, could theytell how much time had passed. After the first few sunrises, days andnights seemed a muddled succession without hope of ending.

  Once they saw a smudge of smoke on the horizon, but it vanishedswiftly. Another time Nancy thought she heard the drone of a plane, butno moving speck appeared in all the cloudless, blazing blue overhead.She wondered if her mind was weakening and she was beginning to hearsounds, as a wanderer in the desert sees mirages.

  On their second day afloat Nancy had had another chill, then to heramazement, after the fever had burned itself out, the attacks did notcome back. Her illness made her think of the small golden vitaminsMajor Reed had given her. She found them still in her musette bag. Bydealing them out one a day to each person there would be enough to lastthem two weeks.

  A sail had been hoisted after their conference the first morning, andOlan Meyer steered toward what he believed was their originaldestination. But the wind soon died down, the sail fell slack, and itwas only useful as shade from the blazing sun.

  The day after her fever cleared Nancy was sitting beside Olan as hestudied the Pacific map, which had been placed in the lifeboat alongwith a book of navigation instructions.

  "Where is Koshu Island on this map?" she asked.

  After a brief search he pointed it out with a grimy finger.

  "Do you know of any coral-surrounded islands northeast of it?" sheasked.

  "Plenty. Why?"

  "There was one--about a day by water from Koshu, where they tell me mybrother's plane went down," Nancy explained. "His gunner was made aprisoner by the Japs. He turned up at our hospital back there on Koshu.Soon as he's able he's going to guide a plane back to the island."

  "Got any more details?" asked Olan.

  "Nothing, except that the island was covered with a jungle. As far asVernon knew there were no native villages there."

  "And it was surrounded by coral reefs?"

  "Entirely, so that no big boats could go close. But he said there werepassages where small boats could enter the lagoons."

  "Twelve hours journey north of Koshu," repeated Olan, while making somemental calculations. "We must have been somewhere in that neighborhoodwhen we were struck."

  "Oh, are we?" asked Nancy eagerly.

  "We were," he corrected. "Lord knows where we're at now. A fair windfor forty-eight hours took us in the opposite direction."

  He pointed out where he surmised they had been sunk, and indicated theapproximate direction in which the wind had taken them.

  "I figure the group of reefs and islands you're talking about issomewhere back here."

  "And northeast of Koshu," she observed. "Wouldn't it be safer to try togo back in that direction?"

  "You're optimistic, lady. Distances in a tub like this take a hundredtimes longer to cover than on our transport."

  "I know that. But we may as well be going somewhere definitely asdrifting like this. We might even be able to locate the island whereTommy was marooned."

  "Any land, no matter what--a jungle would be a thousand times betterthan this," said Hilda Newton.

  It was two days later, however, before another breath of wind came tostiffen their sail. The heat was almost unbearable by day while thecold penetrated to their marrow at night. Nancy thanked her lucky starsthat she had been wearing her overcoat at the time they were struck,and that Mabel had brought hers along. Hilda had not been so fortunate.

  When the breeze stirred at last Nancy sat beside Olan, watching how heset the sail into the course he desired. It made little difference toany of the others what direction they took, so long as it brought anend to their misery. The very fact that they were moving boosted theirmorale.

  But the fair wind was only a brief hope. It fell away after a fewhours, and the horrible pall of inaction closed down on them again.Sometimes for an hour or so they would recite poetry, tell jokes or askriddles--anything to keep their minds off reality. In this way thefirst week dragged by. Not once during that time was there a drop ofrain to renew their diminishing water supply. So far they had used onlyfrom the lifeboat's supply, saving the individual canteens for areserve.

  The corporal, Ned Owens, showed little improvement in disposition, evenafter his mind cleared. He kept aloof from the others and seldom tookpart in the nurses' attempts to brighten their situation. The first fewdays a fever kept him on fire with thirst, and he was violentlyseasick. Knowing something of what he must be enduring Nancy offeredhim her portion of water at the end of an unusually hot day.

  "You take it and I'll knock your block off!" Olan flared, when Nedhesitated at the offer.

  Rather than precipitate a fight Nancy finally drank the water herself.By the end of the first week the feud between the two men, whichstarted with selfishness on one side and firmness on the other, hadgrown to alarming proportions. Every time Olan dealt out the water Nedaccused him of giving him less than his portion.

  One evening after they had sat through the worst heat they had yetendured, Ned demanded that Olan give him his entire allotment of waterand let him drink it as he pleased.

  "I won't do it! You haven't got the grit to restrain yourself," Olanstated.

  Nancy had been surprised to find just before their evening ritual offood and drink that Ned had moved next to Olan on the boat seat.

  Suddenly just as Olan was measuring out a portion of water, Ned's armswung round and struck him in the pit of his stomach. Caught unawaresthe keg slipped from Olan's hand to the bottom of the boat, and theprecious fluid gurgled out into the bilge water. While the two men wentinto a grip, Nancy grabbed the keg from under their feet, but she wasnot quick enough to save more than half of the remaining water.

  She dragged the keg with her toward the prow as the raging mengrappled. Jim Benton and Hilda were sitting in the prow, and the slacksail had at first cut off their view of what was happening. The menwere already at each other's throats before Jim realized there was arow, and rushed to separate them.

  Terrified, the women feared the struggle would capsize the boat. Theyhuddled together in the prow to keep a balance. The corporal was a muchlarger man than the bluejacket, and soon had him down on the seat, hishands clawing at his throat. Jim could not break their grip with hisbare 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'shead. The corporal crumpled into the bottom of the boat like a crushedegg.

  The moment his hands relaxed their grip on Olan's throat, thehalf-conscious man rolled into the water with a list of the boat.Without a moment's hesitation Jim Benton went in after him, shoes andall. The shock of the cold water revived Olan's faculties sufficientlyfor him to get a death grip on Jim. In spite of all the soldier coulddo 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 herback by main force. "You're insane!" she screamed. "You haven'tstrength to do anything for them."

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

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

  Mabel was the first to say anything as she stared with fixed eyes atthe 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. Bloodflowed from the gash on the back of his head made by the oar. Eventhough she dreaded to see him regain consciousness, the instincts ofher profession would not be denied. She finally squatted in the bilgewater to do what she could for his injuries. She cleaned the woundafter a fashion and dusted it with some sulfa drug from her first-aidkit, then drew the edges together with some sticking plaster. Theyfeared he would roll into the sea if they dragged him to the seat, sothey 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 thewaves that had swallowed the men. She was like one under the influenceof dope and made no complaint, only sat there hour after hour as if thelife had gone from her, too.

  Mabel took a last look at Ned in the twilight and saw he was stillbreathing, though he showed no signs of regaining consciousness. "Ifhe'll only stay that way till morning," she said. "I'll feel muchsafer."

  For once Mabel's wish was fulfilled. The first rays of daylightrevealed the corporal lying where she had left him. She bent over himalmost eagerly. Her shaking fingers, that pressed his wrist, found nopulse.

  "God is good," she said fervently, looking up from her knees at theother two. "No telling what we've been spared."

  His passing was such a relief to them all, that even Hilda foundinterest enough to help them heave the body over into the sea.

  When the lapping green water had swallowed him up Nancy said, "Let'srecite the Twenty-third Psalm for _all_ our dead."

  She emphasized the all, for in spite of their relief at this lastdeath, she felt that none should be excluded from their simple burialritual.

  With the knowledge of navigation that she had picked up from Olan,Nancy steered a southeast course with every fair wind that blew. Thoughtheir number was now only half the original, she dared not increasetheir 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 seemednothing left to say, and speech was such an effort with rasping vocalchords and cracked lips.

  Once they sighted a smudge of smoke that promised to be a boat on thehorizon. Though there was always the possibility it might be a Japaneseboat, even captivity seemed preferable to their present condition.Nancy tacked to catch a bit of wind taking her in that direction. But anearer approach showed them it was merely mist from spray breaking on areef. But the island was barren, with not a single palm to pierce theburning 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 keepthe current from sweeping them against some hidden reef.

  Twice during that day Nancy had thought she heard the drone of adistant plane. If any had passed they had been hidden by fleecy clouds.

  In mid-morning the following day they were becalmed again under acloudless sky. By crouching in the bottom of the boat during thehottest hours they could shade their heads under the boat seat, makingthe heat slightly more endurable.

  Nancy was lying there almost in a coma, when there came the sound of aplane, clear and not too far away. For a moment she did not stir,believing it the sound she had imagined a score of times before. Thensuddenly Mabel called out, "Nancy it _is_ a plane! I can see it!"

  "Coming this way," Hilda added.

  "Hoist the sail! They can see us easier with the sail up!" cried Mabel,her last reserve of strength pouring out into action.

  The three of them tugged at the sail a moment, then Mabel stopped tobend over her musette bag. "I'm going to try flashing a mirror atthem!" she explained. She opened her compact, containing a mirroralmost as large as her palm. "I've heard of people catching the sun'srays in a mirror and attracting planes that way."

  They had discussed this as one device for getting the attention offliers in the early days of their shipwreck. Nancy and Hilda got thelimp sail up, while Mabel set the mirror to catch the sun's rays andreflect them toward the approaching plane. Then they realized that thesilver speck was not coming straight over, but would pass well to thesouth.

  "Oh, dear God, make it come on!" prayed Mabel.

  Both the other nurses were praying, too, in a frenzy of hope anddespair. Mabel tried the mirror trick she had practiced several times.Three long flashes from the sun-touched mirror, then three short, thenthree longs--SOS. Again and again she repeated the signal, but theplane kept steadily on its course.

  Nancy felt she couldn't endure to see it go entirely out of sight.Moaning she pressed her face into the slack sail, and leaned againsttheir mast, certain this was their last hope.

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  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  RESCUED

  "Oh, Mabel, they're going on! They don't see us," wailed Nancy when theplane dipped low on the horizon.

  Better a thousand times that they had never seen it at all than toendure this agony of disappointment. But Mabel was too intent upon hersun and mirror trick to heed Nancy's despair. She shifted her positionas the plane moved on, and continued flashing the mirror into the sky.

  Suddenly Hilda cried out, "Look--they're turning! They've seen us."

  Incredible as it seemed, the plane was swinging back toward them, butit was still very high as it came on.

  "It may be a Jap Zero." Hilda dropped the words like a bomb into theirmidst.

  They had been so obsessed with the hope of rescue by their own peoplethat their dulled minds had not counted on that possibility.

  "Too late now," said Mabel. "They evidently saw my light flashing."

  "Could any thing be worse than this?" asked Nancy.

  Their bloodshot, sunken eyes watched in an agony of suspense as thedrone of the plane beat harder and harder on their sensitive ears thatwere so long conditioned to silence.

  Suddenly Nancy's straining eyes recognized the insignia of her own AirForce, and she burst forth above the roar of the plane that was nowalmost overhead, "There's our white star in the blue circle. It's oneof our planes!"

  They began waving frantically as the plane circled high above them. Thepilot was obviously taking no chances that this might be some trick ofthe Japs. From the burned color of their skins they could be mistakenfor Japs from above.

  Then Nancy thought of the American flag she always kept in her musettebag with the battered confederate relic. It was rather small, butsurely bright enough to be distinguished from above. She was tremblinglike a leaf in a gale when she found it and waved it aloft. Almostimmediately the plane dipped lower.

  "Why, it's a hydro!" burst forth Mabel.

  The great ship sped south again dipping nearer the water. About a mileaway she turned back, skimming above the waves until she settled downwith a great splash and came gliding easily toward them. Then the broadwings were at rest and the motor silent.

  A hearty voice from the plane called out, "Can you row closer?"

  "We'll try," replied Nancy, but she feared her faint, cracked voice didnot cover the distance between them.

  The oars had not been touched since that horrible day when the men haddied. Mabel found one under the seat. Two of them could scarcely handleit. They could as well have used toothpicks for all the movement theirfeeble efforts brought.

  "We can't make it!" wailed Nancy, and would have wept had her eyes notbeen too burned out for tears.

  "Never mind. We'll come over," replied a kindly voice.

  A rubber boat appeared under the plane wings, and two men paddled iteasily toward them. When Hilda fell twice in trying to get over thegunwale one of the fliers stepped aboard and took her wasted form intohis arms. Though Nancy and Mabel were both weak and trembling withexcitement they managed to get into the rubber boat with the help ofthe second man. The other man went back for their coat
s and bags andsoon they were under the shadow of the great wings. Eager hands liftedthem bodily into the cabin.

  Nancy could never recall afterward all that was said and done as theywere lifted inside. But she did remember one man's hushed voice as hesaid, "Three army nurses."

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  _Eager Hands Lifted Them Bodily into the Cabin_]

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  Those men in their spotless clothes seemed like angels to theshipwrecked women. They were put into bunks and almost as if by magicsomeone was handing Nancy a thermos top filled with hot tea. Thesethings couldn't be real, she kept telling herself. She had only hopedthey would happen for so long that now she believed they could not betrue.

  A doctor the fliers called Lieutenant Holmes, questioned them about howmuch they had had to eat and drink, then allowed them to have a smallportion 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 tohave something hot. She could feel reviving strength flow to her verytoes.

  "Good thing we brought that hot thermos along," one of the men remarked.

  "Thought Tom would appreciate it," replied his companion.

  Nancy stared incredulously at the man. "Tom," she repeated. "I had abrother named Tom. He was lost, too."

  She saw the men look at each other. "Tom Dale--your brother?" asked theflier who had given her her food.

  She nodded.

  "You can't be--"

  "Nancy Dale, Army Nurse," she replied.

  Suddenly a man in army clothes, turned sharply from where he held a canof food for Hilda, and stared at her. Then Nancy saw that the hairunder his cap was snow white. Her eyes, so long conditioned to theglare, could see little when she was brought inside, but now she staredat this man incredulously. Was this another mirage? She brushed herhands across her hollow eyes and looked again.

  "Take it easy," said the white-haired man with the pale, thin face."You're going to be all right, Miss Nancy. I didn't recognize you atfirst."

  "You can't be Vernon," she whispered.

  "But I am," he assured her. "You asked us to come out and look forTommy and here we are."

  "You've found him?"

  "We're on our way to pick him up now," Vernon explained. "But you'dbetter lie down now and keep yourself quiet or you won't be able togreet him when we take him aboard."

  He forced her to lie down, and she glanced across to see others lookingafter Mabel and Hilda.

  "You may not find him," she said wearily. "A person can stand just somuch."

  She felt it would not be so terrible after all if Tommy were reallydead. Those who had known bitter depths of suffering had told her manytimes that there were things worse than death, and in those awful daysadrift she had learned it was true. She had even stopped praying thatTommy might live. How could she have been so cruel all along as to tryto hold him to a life of such hardships?

  "A plane has already been over the island," Vernon explained in answerto her doubts. "A man signaled us from the beach. It must've been Tom."

  "When?" she asked.

  "Yesterday."

  "We thought we heard a plane yesterday. Why didn't you rescue him then?"

  "There was no place to land. Only a seaplane can get near him."

  The great motors of the plane roared into action again as Vernonfinished speaking. He motioned her to lie back and rest, for even hisvoice was not yet strong enough to carry above that roar.

  Nancy had a struggle to force her mind to any degree of calmness. Theswift changes of the last few minutes and her renewed hope about Tommybrought an enervating reaction.

  Though the island where Tommy had been marooned was the goal of theirsailing from the time Olan learned of it, Nancy could scarcely believethey had actually come within reasonable range of it. That the rescueexpedition, which she had instigated back on Koshu Island, would be themeans of saving her own life, too, seemed now almost uncanny. This warhad certainly woven some strange and incredible designs into thetapestry of life.

  So relieved was she to sink into the comfort of that berth and know shewould be taken back to safety, that not even her suspense about Tommykept off her drowsiness as the plane gained height. She felt as sheonce had when going under an anesthetic.

  Some time later a gentle hand on her cheek roused her. "We're flyingover the island," Vernon said in her ear.

  She was confused for a moment, then asked, "Is there a window where Ican look out?"

  He helped her down and over to a window from where she could see theverdant blotch entirely surrounded by a blue lagoon fringed with reefson which tumbling waves broke, an emerald set in sapphire and pearls.The plane crossed the island at great height, then circled and cameback much lower, just leaving a safe margin above the towering palms.

  "He signaled from the western shore," Vernon said.

  Nancy saw the gunner's hand tremble violently as he steadied himselfagainst the seat in front.

  The great ship roared south, then north above the western shore of theisland.

  "There he is! There he is!" cried Nancy, tears of joy streaming downher thin cheeks.

  There really was a man waving something white. From the way he ran backand forth Nancy saw he was not weak from hunger as she was.

  A few minutes later the plane moved off a safe distance from the reefsand taxied cautiously nearer one of the inlets. A small rubbermotorboat, manned by three men, headed toward a passage in the barrierreef. Nancy wondered if she could live through the interval until shecould know if the marooned man was really Tommy. She and Vernon crossedto the opposite window, which gave a view toward the island, but theplane was too low for them to see beyond the high waves pounding on thereef.

  "I'm sure I look like a scarecrow," said Nancy, suddenly aware of herlooks. "Could they spare me a little water to try to scrub some of thegrime off my face and hands?"

  Vernon put a bit of water in a helmet and took a folded handkerchieffrom his pocket to use as a washcloth. He even produced a small pieceof soap. Though Nancy scrubbed and scrubbed, and felt slightly betterfor the performance, she decided that nothing less than a day's soakingin hot water would produce satisfactory results.

  She saw that Mabel and Hilda still slept, and she left them in peace.Already she was beginning to wonder when they would let her have morewater and another portion of food. But Lieutenant Holmes had been verypositive in dealing out the amount they could have at first.

  Vernon and Captain Crawford, the young blue-eyed pilot, filled theseemingly interminable interval by asking Nancy about the shipwreck.While she gave them the horrible details Nancy's gaze kept turningtoward that door through which the boatmen would return.

  "How long were you adrift?" asked Captain Crawford.

  Nancy shook her head. "I'm not sure. Olan Meyer made notches on thestern seat until he died--after that it didn't seem to matter. There'reseven notches on the seat."

  "They left Koshu Island on October third," Vernon recalled. "This isthe sixteenth."

  "Thirteen days," said Nancy. "Seems more like thirteen years." Sheglanced toward the door again. "Why don't they come back? Could theyhave struck a reef?"

  The captain glanced at his watch. "Not quite time yet."

  But even as he spoke the throb of the motorboat beat on their earsagain.

  "They're coming!" she cried, and staggered toward the exit.

  Minutes had never seemed so long to Nancy, but eventually the boat cameinto range. Aquiver with expectancy, she searched the faces of theboatmen. Then her gaze came to rest on a sun-baked, nut-brown man witha long brown beard. Sick with suspense, for she could not believe thatman was Tommy, she wavered and the oncoming boat blurred. She feltVernon's arm about her waist, steadying her.

  Suspense, fear, then incredible joy followed in swift succession, forTommy was calling her name. Her head was whirling so that he seemedver
y far away. But there he was really stepping into the plane. Amoment later she was in his arms. Then all her agony was dissolved incomplete joy, for his arms about her gave assurance that theirsuffering was over.

  "They told me you were here," he said, when he could command himself tospeak, "and also about the horrible things you've been through."

  "No more awful than yours--nor half so bad," she said, looking up intohis eyes that had been so much like hers before her own became sohollow.

  "After the first month I didn't fare so badly," he reassured her. "Fora while I didn't believe I'd make it. Since my stomach healed, though,it's been endurable."

  "You don't look starved," she said.

  "A man can live a long time on fruit, roots, coconuts and fish. Butsay, will I be glad to have a real meal once more!"

  "Then what are we waiting for, old scout!" exclaimed Captain Crawford,slapping the rescued man on the back. "We'll take you straight back toKoshu Island where there's plenty of food and water, and a fewdecorations for all of you who've shown so much valor in action."

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  Transcriber's Note

  Punctuation has been normalized. Variations in hyphenation have beenretained as they were in the original publication. The followingchanges have been made:

  The chapter entitled "Camouflage" on Page 65 is the second instance ofChapter Five. It has been changed to "Chapter Six", to agree with theTable of Contents and its sequential position.

  Too many times spies have {deducted --> deduced} from the nature of agroup's training {P. 72}

  by the time we finish with all these {innoculations --> inoculations}{P. 98}

  a huge waterspout burst high in {the} air {P. 140}

  "Don't {knew --> know}. I just got a whiff of a change." {P. 166}

  Those first patients had to be {stretched --> stretchered} on the sandsof the beach. {P. 187}

  Italicized words and phrases are presented by surrounding the text with_underscores_.