Ship of Dreams (28 page)

Slowly, reluctantly, she nodded. "I'll make certain all three boats come back, as well as every boat the
Marine
carries," she promised. "Oh, Kent!" She flung herself into his arms and fastened her mouth on his with the passion of parting for perhaps the last time.

He returned the kiss with equal fervor. "Goodbye, my darling wife. I'll see you soon."

And then he was fitting her into a harness, as Ansel had already done for Addie. Kent knew that, for all his brave words, it was extremely unlikely that he would ever see Della again.

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Kent had just finished buckling her harness when Della was shoved roughly from the other side. "Oh, no you don't!" shouted Francis Cadbury, getting between her and the rail. "If anyone's going down on this ship, it'll be you, you slut!"

The man was clearly drunk, but that made him no less dangerous. He swung at her again, but lost his balance, and Della was able to duck. Before he could make another attempt, Kent put a fist into his face, sending him to the deck in a heap. Immediately, he signaled the men to hoist Della over the side.

She felt the fearful lurch, then looked back. Mr. Cadbury lay sobbing on the deck, crying out broken apologies to his sister Caroline. Kent stood beside him, somberly watching her. He raised one hand in farewell as she was lowered out of sight of him.

Dangling above the pitching boat, so tiny from this height, Della felt her strongest surge of fear since the storm had begun. Not fear for her own safety, though that seemed precarious enough at the moment, but fear that by leaving she had just doomed Kent to founder with the ship. And what might Mr. Cadbury attempt when he recovered?

But then she had no more time for regrets, as the rope holding her went suddenly slack, dropping her more than ten feet—into the sea. As the water closed over her head, she closed her eyes against the sting of salt and clawed for the surface. Before she could reach it under her own power, however, the line yanked her aloft, to again dangle above the lifeboat.

She sputtered and coughed, squinting to see where the boat lay below. Just as she found it, she was dropped again, and again missed the boat to land in the water beside it. This time she saved her effort and merely held her breath until the men winched her out of the sea again for another try.

Only a few feet away, she saw Addie swinging in her own harness for a moment before the crew successfully landed her in the boat. Moments later, Della dropped again, this time smack into the center of the boat, much to her relief, though the landing twisted her left ankle painfully.

"At last!" she cried, and turned to embrace Addie. Just then, a barrelful of water, thrown by the bailers above, drenched them both and half-filled the boat.

"As if we weren't wet enough already!" Della exclaimed, drawing a smile or two from the other women. Picking up a tin pot from the bottom of the boat, she began to bail it back out. A few others joined her efforts, their doleful expressions momentarily lightened.

Mrs. Badger was one of the last to land in the boat, muttering about all the gold she'd had to leave behind. Della was just about to remark sharply on the woman's misplaced priorities, when the great bulk of Mrs. Benbow landed squarely on top of Mrs. Badger, effectively silencing her.

All of the women had apparently been evacuated now, for the next two slings held men—an elderly gentleman and Judge Monson. "I merely wished to send a message," Monson was protesting, looking confusedly up at the
Central America
towering above them.

"They're signalling that this lady behind you is the last to come, Judge, so it's no matter," said one of the oarsmen. "But we'd best head out before any others get it into their heads to try to jump down. We're nearly full as it is."

The moment the last woman reached the boat, the men plied their oars and began the long haul to the
Marine
, which had now drifted so far that it was out of sight. "Wait! My baby!" the woman cried, pointing back at the steamer. Looking up, Della saw that indeed a crewman held a little girl of about two—but the oarsmen were paying no attention.

She grabbed the sleeve of the man nearest her. "We have to go back!" she cried.

"Too late," he grunted. "Someone'll bring the tyke on the next trip."

The woman, a Mrs. Small, sobbed quietly, but there was nothing else to be done, with the wind pushing them away from the steamer even more rapidly than the oars could do. The lifeboat began to leak, though not badly, and Della was almost glad for the excuse to do something.

As the men were occupied with rowing and steering, she organized as many women as there were tins, to bail as they went along. She made certain that Mrs. Small had one of the tins, as she desperately needed the distraction.

"Captain Herndon will make sure your daughter is safe," she assured the woman, praying that the boats would indeed be able to make at least one or two more trips before the
Marine
drifted out of reach.

In fact, it took more than two hours to reach the
Marine
, and Della was sure the distance had widened to at least three miles by that time. One by one, they jumped or were hauled aboard, as the surges of the sea brought the boat nearly level with the deck of the small ship. Della was dismayed to discover that the
Marine'
s deck was awash with nearly a foot of water, with more waves breaking across it all the time.

Captain Burt greeted them, welcoming them aboard his ship. "I can't promise you haven't left one sinking ship for another, but we'll do our level best to get you all safely away."

"But the others?" gasped Addie, at Della's side. "There are hundreds of men still aboard the
Central America
."

"The first two boats have already gone back," the captain assured them. "As this one will, as soon as all are aboard."

"What of your own boats, sir?" asked Della. "Have you sent them as well?"

Sadly, he shook his head. "I've only the one, and it's stove in—and too small, anyway, to survive in a sea like this."

Della swallowed hard. Peering through the rain and mist, she could just barely make out the huge hulk of the steamer, a mere dot on the horizon. At most the boats would manage one more trip before dark—maybe two. And Kent, she knew, would go down with the ship before he would take part in an undignified scramble for safety—which was sure to occur now that the women were off.

Just then, Virginia Birch, who had been on the first lifeboat, accosted them. "Oh, I can't tell you how happy I am to see you both! Was Billy well when you left him? When I saw a few men on this boat, I hoped ... But the others will be returning soon, I'm certain."

Della and Addie embraced her in turn. "He was working hard, alongside the others, when we saw him last," Della assured her. "I have no doubt—What on earth?" A muffled chirp had sounded from the bodice of Virginia's dress.

"Oh! I'd nearly forgotten him." She reached into her bosom and pulled out her little canary, bedraggled and wet, but still with a bright eye. "I wonder if there might be a cage aboard?"

"You brought your canary?" Addie and Della asked in unison.

Virginia giggled. "Billy said the same, that I was being unforgivably foolish when so much was at stake, but I couldn't bear to leave him in his cage to drown."

A few queries yielded a small cage among the cargo of the ship, and Virginia placed the bird inside. Immediately he began to sing, cheering all hearts around them.

"Billy may think you were foolish, Virginia, but I thank you," Della said with a smile.

Worry returned soon enough, as they waited for the first lifeboat to return, every woman hoping to see her own husband aboard it. Another hour passed before they were able to descry a small vessel coming toward them. To their surprise, it contained three or four women, as well as a dozen men.

"We weren't the last after all," Della commented. Then, "Look, Mrs. Small! One of the women has your little girl. I knew she wouldn't be left behind." Mrs. Small hurried to the rail, and her two-year-old daughter was the first passenger of the boat to be handed aboard the
Marine
.

Della stood silent, arms linked with Addie and Virginia. None of their husbands were aboard the boat. "But there are two more yet to come," said Della encouragingly, and the others nodded bravely.

Mr. Ashby, the chief engineer, was among the passengers on the first returning boat, and the moment he was aboard the
Marine
he began exhorting Captain Burt to work the brig closer to the sinking steamer.

"I've been trying these hours past," the captain replied,"but with only one intact sail, she won't tack against the wind."

Ashby argued with him, offering him five hundred dollars if he would comply, but it was clear to everyone that the captain was telling the truth, however they might wish otherwise. By now, another lifeboat was seen returning through the flying spray, and the women again crowded the rail, with renewed hope. This boat held only men, but barely more than a dozen.

One steerage woman spotted her own husband and cried out with relief, but Della swallowed hard. Kent was not aboard, nor were Billy Birch, Ansel Easton, or Robert Patterson. Their vigil continued.

By now, most of the women, even those whose husbands had not yet arrived, had retired belowdecks, out of the wind and spray. Mary Patterson, after seeing her husband was not in the second boat, joined the others below, weeping. Della, Addie and Virginia, however, remained at the rail, their eyes straining into the darkening mist.

The first boat, manned by the boatswain John Black, headed back for a third trip, though Della overheard him say to an oarsmen that they would now have five miles to row. The
Central America
had disappeared from view nearly an hour before. Mr. Ashby was shouting for volunteers to take another boat back, but no one stepped forward.

Della touched his arm. "I'll row."

He stared at her in disbelief for a moment, then turned back to the other men as though she hadn't spoken. "I need three more men!" When still no one responded, he cried, "For God's sake, please help me to save more lives!"

The oarsmen, utterly exhausted, refused. When Ashby appealed to the steerage men who had been rescued, there was some grumbling, and one said, "Damned if I will. I'm as good as the first class passengers, and I'll not risk my neck to save them."

"I will," Della said again, more loudly, hoping at least to shame a few men into going. Still no one paid any attention, though Virginia and Addie regarded her admiringly.

"Look! Another boat!" someone shouted, and they all turned.

The daylight was failing, but Della strained her eyes to pick out the faces of the men aboard. For a moment, her heart leapt at the sight of a tall, dark-haired man, but when he turned his head she felt a sharp stab of disappointment. It wasn't Kent. Like the last, this boat held only a handful of men, none of whom she knew.

The last two boats, with no one to man them, were now tied to the brig. "There will be one more boat." Della tried to sound encouraging, but with so little hope in her own heart, she doubted she was successful.

Just then, one of the men from the third boat approached them. "Mrs. Easton?" he asked.

Addie looked up fearfully. "Yes?"

"Your husband gave me this note for you." He extended a folded scrap of blue paper.

Thanking him, Addie quickly scanned its contents. "Oh! Oh, Captain Burt!" She hurried over to where he stood, Della and Virginia following close behind. "Captain, please, please do send one of your own boats back—just one boat."

"My dear Mrs. Easton," he replied, "I wish I could, but in such a sea as this and in the darkness, even a sound boat could not make the trip."

"But they may all die before morning," she implored. "Anything—ten thousand dollars, my husband offers, if you will send another boat." She pulled some bills out of her husband's coat, which he had put on her just before she left the steamer.

Captain Burt regarded her sadly. "My dear, dear lady, if I could send it, one should go without a cent of money. But a boat such as we have would not live a moment. I've given orders to tack around in a circle as best we can, and we will try to take the brig nearer the steamer. She will probably float until the morning."

Addie turned away in despair, and Della put her arm around her to lead her away. "Would you like to go below until the last boat returns?" she asked, but Addie shook her head.

Virginia, swaying from exhaustion and days of seasickness, did make her way down the stairs, leaving Della and Addie as the only women on deck. Shoulder to shoulder, they sat staring into the gathering darkness.

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CHAPTER 18

Under the water it rumbled on, Still louder and more dread: