They couldn’t see a thing. The moon was full, but a thick fog had rolled in and visibility was practically nil.
“Keep shouting so we can find you!” Lucas cried. “You sound very close!”
“God damn it, hurry up!” yelled Andre. “The water’s freezing!”
They heard Priest let out a whoop. “Hang on, Andre! We’re coming!”
They shouted back and forth for a few moments, and then the boat came drifting out of the fog with Lucas standing up in the prow, peering intently into the water. He spotted them and within seconds, they were being pulled over the side. Verne was at the oars and Devries lay in the bottom of the boat, unconscious.
“I was beginning to think you drowned,” said Lucas.
“I almost did,” said Finn, gasping for breath. “Andre kept me afloat.”
“I saw you both go over,” Lucas said. “You can thank Jules here for the boat. I think maybe one or two others got away, as well, but we lost them in the fog. There was a rush for the lifeboats when the boilers blew and most of them were caught in the explosion. This one was literally blown off the ship and Jules swam for it. We managed to pull Devries out, but he’s in pretty bad shape. We looked for other survivors, but with the ship going down so fast and the fire and the fog…” His voice trailed off.
“How the hell did you get out of the cabin?” Finn said, looking at Verne.
The author grinned weakly. “I have some slight skill with a lockpick,” he said. “In all the excitement, you seemed to have forgotten that.” His clothing was completely soaked and he was shivering in the cold night air. The heavy fog wasn’t making things any easier.
“Christ, it all happened so fast,” said Finn.
Andre flopped down in the bottom of the boat. “Ned spotted it first,” she said. “He’d been keeping his eyes peeled for it ever since Farragut announced that reward for whoever saw it first. Several of the men were cleaning the forecastle gun and they were able to bring it into action almost immediately. I think they had time for two shots, three at the very most.”
“Can we do anything about Devries?” said Finn.
Lucas shook his head. “I think he’s got internal injuries. He’s hanging on, but we haven’t got anything aboard the boat to help him with. We don’t even have any fresh water.”
“Speaking of water,” Andre said, “has anyone noticed this boat is leaking?”
They all exchanged glances. They were all thinking the same thing. The three of them could escape by clocking out, but that would still leave Verne and Devries. They couldn’t simply abandon them.
“Quiet,” said Verne. “Do you hear something?”
They fell silent, listening.
Lucas frowned. “No, I-”
“Listen!”
This time, they heard it. Somewhere, off in the mist, someone was singing.
“So I grabbed ‘er and I kissed ‘er, bent ‘er down across me knee,
And I said to ‘er, me bonny, this is how it’s going to be,
If you want to love a sailor man, then best learn to be true,
For if you daily round behind his back, he’ll beat you black and blue-”
“It’s Ned!” said Andre.
“So I struck ‘er on the bottom, kept it up til she cried, ‘Hold!’
She gazed up at me so tearfully, yet saucy and so bold,
Says she, ‘In ports across the sea, I know you wasn’t true,
So if you love those foreign wenches, I’ll go down for half your crew.’ “