by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER TEN
SALLY SAVES A LIFE
Fifty seconds is not a lot of time but Sally had taken her chutetraining seriously. In just that many seconds she did several things.She pulled her ripcord, waited breathless, then felt the pull of theopening chute.
Finding that she was facing the wind, she turned herself about. Lookingdown, she judged that she would hit the water only fifty yards or sofrom Major Storm's rapidly vanishing plane. Catching the raft by itsedges she held it before her and waited. Ten seconds later, as thelapping waves reached for her, she did a sort of swan dive and landedflat with the raft beneath her.
"Four-point landing." She laughed in spite of the seriousness of thesituation, freeing herself from her parachute harness.
Rearing up on her elbows, she looked for the plane.
"Gone!" she cried in dismay.
Just then she saw a hand go up. Silent Storm was doing his best.
Throwing herself flat on the raft and using her hands for paddles, shethrew all her strength into an effort to reach him.
Even so, weakened by his efforts and the pain his back gave him, he hadgone down once before she reached him.
A brief struggle followed, and then he lay on the raft and stared up atthe sky.
"You--you shouldn't have done it." He talked with difficulty. "I'mreally not worth it. Shouldn't have gone up. But flying somehow getsinto your blood."
"I know," she replied quietly. "It's all right. I wouldn't have missedthis for anything. Somehow I thought that parachuting was a good thingto know. Now I'm sure of it. You'll be fine when you get your breath.Danny will send out a motorboat."
They were both wet to the skin. That didn't matter too much. There was awarm land breeze from the shore. Stripping off their sodden jackets,they allowed their thin cotton shirts to bag and flutter in the breeze.
"I've often dreamed of being on the sea in one of these rubber rafts,"he mused. "Men have lived in them for weeks."
"It wouldn't be bad if the weather were always like this." She leanedback in lazy comfort.
"It's rather rough on me, this experience," he said at last.
"It's too bad you lost your plane."
"Oh! It's not that. I could buy another. Thing is, I've really proved tomyself that I'm no good for flying. I went out cold right up in the air.I came out of it in time to save myself, but not my ship. Even so, if ithadn't been for you I'd have drowned."
"You're too important to be taking such needless chances." There was anote of kindness in her voice.
"Yes. I suppose you're right, but I have so wanted to be back there inthe islands with my friends, fighting it out with those unspeakableJaps. I kept sort of kidding myself along, but now--"
"Now you know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
"Ah! So you're a preacher?" He laughed good-naturedly. "Well, I don'tmind. What's the rest of the sermon?"
"You'll have to make new friends where you are. You've made somealready. I am one of them, 'one of the least of these.'"
"Far from that. One of the greatest. I prize your friendship."
"Thanks."
"But you have asked to be sent away, on a ship."
"I'll come back, I hope."
"Oh, yes." His voice rose. "I meant to tell you. It's more than halfarranged already. There's a new type of fighting ship going out with aconvoy in a day or two. She's a small airplane carrier built speciallyfor convoy duty.
"But," he hastened to add, "you'll not whisper a word of this."
"Of course not."
To herself she thought: "That must be Danny's ship. Wouldn't it bewonderful if I were to sail on his ship!"
This hope was lost for the time, at least, for Storm went on: "This isthe ship's maiden voyage. She will carry a crew, all men. But if allgoes well on the following trip it is planned to use some women nursesand a number of WAVES for secretarial work, storekeepers, radio andcommunications."
"A testing trip?"
"Exactly. I have already put in a word for you. I hated that for Iwanted both Nancy and yourself on my own force. But there's that secretradio."
"Yes, there's the radio," she agreed with enthusiasm. "We'll work it outtogether. I have two sets. I've already written C. K. asking permissionto leave one with you in case I am sent across. That way, we can try itout."
"It's good of you to suggest it, but don't hope for too much. There is alot of radio silence when you're on convoy duty. It's necessary, youknow."
"That's just it," she exclaimed. "If we get in a really tight place anddon't dare use the regular radio we can switch to our secret radio. Youcould stand by with your set at regular hours, couldn't you?"
"Certainly."
"Then it's all arranged. Don't you see, if you and I can work out thissecret radio, if it turns out to be a really big thing, it will make upfor the other things you want to do and can't!"
"You're wonderful!" he exclaimed. "We'll do things together!"
"Look!" she exclaimed. "Here's a small flashlight attached to the boat,yes, and a fish line with artificial bait attached!"
"We're all set for a long sail," he laughed. "At least the flashlightwill come in handy for signaling our rescuers. It's getting dark."
Sally tried the flashlight. It worked. The line and tackle too was triedand with rather startling results.
After unwinding the line Sally propped herself up on her knees, thengave the bright nickel spinner a fling well out over the dusky bluewaters. She drew it in, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
"Ah!" he murmured. "I see you are a fisherman."
"Not an expert," was her modest comment, "My father loves to fish. I gowith him to the lakes sometimes. We cast for pike and bass and sometimesa big land-locked salmon."
"Then there's a battle."
"A wonderful battle. I love it!"
She gave the spinner one more fling, this time far out from the boat.Scarcely had she begun speeding up her pull, when suddenly she all butpitched head foremost into the sea.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, seizing her by the waist and pulling her back. "Notso fast!"
"He--help!" she exclaimed. "I've got something big!"
Reaching around her he grasped the line and together they pulled.
"Now!" he breathed. "I'll pull and you roll in the line. Now!"
He heaved away and she rolled line. The fish came, sometimes slowly,sometimes faster. A quarter of the line was in, half, two thirds, andthen--
"Oh! Give him line!" she exclaimed. "He'll have us both in the water."
They gave him line, then started pulling in. Three times this wasrepeated. At last, apparently worn-out, the fish came all the way in.
"Give us a light," Storm said, as the fish came close to the boat."Let's see what we have." She switched on the small flashlight. "Ah! Asmall tuna! A beauty!" he breathed. "We must have him."
"A small one!" she exclaimed.
"Perhaps twenty pounds."
"How big is a big one?"
"Five hundred pounds is a nice size. We--"
"Watch out!" His words rang out sharply.
She dodged back. There had been a sudden white flash in the water. Thenthe line gave a great yank.
"A shark! A bad one!" he exclaimed again. "He got our fish--"
"No, the fish is still there. Pull him in quick!"
The fish came flapping into the boat.
"All here but the tail," was his comment. "Baked tuna is not half bad.We'll have a feast."
For a time after that they sat watching the waters.
The shark did not return. The night really settled down. The city'slights painted a many-colored picture against the wall of darknessbeyond, and all was still.
Out of that stillness came the chug-chug of a motorboat.
"They're coming for us," she said huskily. She did not know whether tobe glad or sorry.
"It's nice to have been with you," he said when, an hour later, he leth
er out of a taxi at her hotel door. "Thanks for saving my life and allthat."
"It's been fun," she said. "It really has. Think I'll resign from theWAVES and join the life guards."
"Oh, yes!" he exclaimed, with one foot on the running board. "Don'tforget we have one more dinner date. Our tuna catch must be honored.Shall we say tomorrow evening?"
"That will be fine."
"Then it's a date."
"If I hear from C. K. and have his permission," she added, "I'll bringover the secret radio."
"Good! You can give me a few lessons regarding its operation."
"And we'll have a listen-in at the sub wolf-packs."
"If that's what it is. And here's hoping."
"Here's hoping!"
"Good night!"
"Good night!" His taxi rolled away.
"It's a strange world," she thought as she walked up the marble steps.