CHAPTER ELEVEN   AT SEA

That journey across the Pacific was a never-to-be-forgotten experience. Though the intensive training of the last busy weeks was over there was still plenty of routine in their lives. “Abandon ship” drills were part of every day’s program. They never knew when they were coming, nor whether, this time, it was the real thing. Every nurse, swathed in her Mae West, must be standing at attention by the lifeboat assigned her when the Colonel passed for inspection. Nor did his inspection stop there, but their quarters must always be tidied so as to bear the scrutiny of those piercing gray eyes.

The soldiers laughed at the women when they appeared with the most unexpected items to be taken along just in case this life drill was the real thing. Ida Hall invariably came out wearing dark glasses while Mabel always brought a rubber bathing cap.

“I’ve got to protect my permanent from the salt water,” she explained, when a young sergeant asked if she was going swimming. “I figure I won’t get another wave any time soon.”

Nancy had a horror of being adrift without lights and water, so always had her flashlight and a well-filled canteen.

“If I forget everything else I hope I won’t leave my knife behind,” said Janice. “I may need it to slay sharks or cut up fish to eat.”

Though they got what fun they could from this serious business, it gave Nancy a feeling of safety to know that everything had been so carefully planned for their welfare. She couldn’t help wondering at times, however, if Tini’s wilfulness had really supplied the enemy with information they sought about the convoy. She had caught only occasional glimpses of Major Reed, but at no time was there opportunity to speak with him privately, so her curiosity about the whole matter had to be stilled.

Every time she looked across at the great flotilla of ships to port and starboard, fore and aft, her sense of security grew stronger. She was never weary of watching the sea and those other ships.

In spite of their drills and regulations they had much real leisure, which was most welcome after so many weeks of rigorous training. Most of the small discomforts of the crowded transport could be endured, but Nancy did feel the pinch of their limited water supply. With so much water all about them it seemed strange to be rationed on water, but on such a packed ship the water supply was a real problem.

They had to line up for the bathroom, then each nurse was allowed only a basin full of water for bathing and clothes washing. The girls had to dodge about their cabins to avoid the lines of clothes constantly drying. However, most of them stayed in their cabins only for sleeping and dressing, so could make the best of what could not be helped.

For dinner the first evening they changed to their summer beige suits, for there was to be dancing afterward. There were numberless men for every girl, so none lacked for partners. Nancy was surprised about ten o’clock that first evening to glance around and discover Major Reed asking her for the next dance. This was the first time he had spoken to her since Tini had vanished from their midst.

“Oh, you!” she exclaimed eagerly.

She gave him her hand and they moved on to the floor, but the place was so packed it was like trying to dance on a dime.

Nancy laughed and said, “It’s impossible!”

“And the air’s thick enough to slice,” he added. “Why endure it when there’s so much grand fresh air on deck?”

“Do let’s go outside,” agreed Nancy. “I’ve been wondering what the stars are like out there.”

They escaped to the deck by a side door and finally worked their way to the prow. The black-out on the ship made the spangle of stars a thousand times more brilliant than Nancy had ever seen them. They stood at the rail a few minutes, watching the brilliant points of light swim crazily in a dome of purple velvet.

“Abandon Ship” Drills Were Held Every Day

“I can hardly wait to see the southern cross,” said Nancy.

“A wonderful sight,” he told her. “Two of the stars point toward the south pole, as Polaris indicates the north.”

“You’ve been down under before?” she asked eagerly.

“I came out in the late spring, before Pearl Harbor, a civilian then. I remember I was sight-seeing at Pago Pago about the middle of May.”

“I’ve never been any farther than New York by steamer,” Nancy confessed. “I didn’t dare hope I’d really make it down here—right where I want most to go.”

“Things do work out sometimes,” he said with deep content. “They have for me.”

They fell silent a moment while they watched the other darkened ships moving across the wide expanse.

After an interval he said in a low tone, “Miss Dale, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to thank you for your cooperation.”

“There was nothing else I could do.”

“Of course. But you did it more tactfully and successfully than many others would have.”

“Naturally I’ve been curious to know what really happened the other night when I went to Miss Hauser about Tini.”

“It’s a long story that goes way back,” he began, and glanced around once more to be sure no one else was in hearing distance. “You’ve helped us trap two of a ring we’ve been trailing a long time.”

“Oh, Major Reed, really?”

“Their specialty has been getting in with women in the service, not only nurses, but WACs, WAVES, and even Red Cross workers, to worm information from them by subtle tricks at which they’re very adept.”

“And Tini Hoffman’s temperament made her a gold mine for them, I should think.”

“Exactly. We took some great chances letting her stay as long as she did, but it proved to be worth it in the end.”

“Then you did spring the trap Miss Hauser spoke of?”

“Indeed we did. We had had a plainclothes man watching Tini ever since we got to port, but without you on the inside even he might have failed.”

“Oh!” breathed Nancy, just beginning to realize fully how important had been her position.

“We had had an eye on this woman who posed under the name of Mrs. Webber, before. She serves as the sister of any of the ring who have girls coming into the port.”

“I see,” said Nancy. “She looked capable of such a post—a hard-looking sister!”

“Tini got in such a dither to see Mrs. Webber that night, because Carl said he was flying out to see her before she left. She was to meet him for lunch at the Chinese restaurant next noon—then alert orders came and she couldn’t get out, so she thought she had to go to Mrs. Webber so Carl could understand why she broke the date.”

“Then Tini was not really crooked—a spy,” said Nancy in a tone of relief. She couldn’t bear to think that, even of Tini.

“No—just foolish when it comes to a realization of the danger she might have placed this convoy in.”

“Did that have anything to do with the delay in our leaving?”

“I’m afraid it did.”

“But you haven’t told me just what did happen down there in room 705.”

“We had placed a dictaphone in Mrs. Webber’s room while she was out, and let Tini have her say, to get the record, before we went in to take them both into custody. Fortunately Tini mentioned the name of the place she was to meet Carl next noon, and it was a simple matter for the FBI to be there to pick him up. He had shaved his small mustache, but otherwise the description you first gave, served an excellent purpose.”

“Well, what do you know about that?” Nancy said in wonder.

How little she had dreamed when she went into the service that she would become involved in such a plot!

“I was so miserable over the whole business,” she added after an interval, “but Tini was always placed right under my nose. I couldn’t help knowing the awful things she did.”

“We placed her close to you deliberately. We knew you were entirely to be trusted,” he said.

She flushed in the darkness and after a moment murmured, “Thank you, Major Reed. I’ll try never to betray that trust.”

“Miss Hauser told me one of your roommates asked about Miss Hoffman after she had been gone a half day, so I presume you gave no hint of what you knew to the others.”

“No, I didn’t. Tini had given herself a bad enough name. There was no use making it worse.”

“You have a wise head on your shoulders, Nancy.”

Her pulse quickened as he called her by her first name.

“No, Tini’s not really a traitor—just one of those thoughtless, self-willed people, who can do as much harm as a real spy,” said the major, “and you’d be surprised, Nancy, to know how many of those are crippling our war effort.”

Nancy sighed. “We really do walk a narrow plank over dangerous waters, don’t we?”

“Indeed we do!” he agreed. “But for everyone who would betray us there’s millions loyal to the core, like you.”

“I appreciate your telling me just what happened. Naturally I’ve been wondering, but hadn’t dared ask.”

“You have a right to know if anyone does. Such service as you’ve rendered never brings medals, Nancy—we have to keep too quiet about these undercover activities.”

“At least I’m glad it’s all over, and we don’t have anyone else like Tini in our unit. They’re a grand bunch—all of them.”

“Are you telling me!” he exclaimed.

Nancy lifted her head, feeling a wonderful sense of freedom as she drank in great gulps of the clean, fresh air. “My, it’s great to be here—on our way!” she said.

“It really is,” he agreed. Then he hastened to ask, “Say, Nancy, have you seen the sick bay?”

“You mean there’s a hospital aboard?”

“Almost inactive now. But it’ll be jammed on the return trip.”

“How do you find it?”

“I’ll take you down and show you through right after breakfast tomorrow,” he suggested.

“Oh, that would be swell!”

Nancy went to sleep that night with a feeling of eager anticipation for the morning. Sleeping was a tight squeeze amid all their possessions. Several times during the night Nancy was vaguely aware of Mabel giving her a shove and ordering, “Keep to your side, gal!” But on the whole she got the best sleep she had had in three nights.

When she remarked about resting so well Mabel said, “Yeah, I believe you could sleep through storms, fire and torpedoes.”

Nancy’s visit to the sick bay was really her first preview of the seriousness of overseas life. Here were careful preparations for looking after those who were giving their blood in battle, and must be taken home for recovery. The sick bay was really a miniature hospital.

“They’ve thought of everything that might possibly be needed to help our men,” explained Major Reed to the nurses, for Nancy had asked to bring her three roommates along. “This operating room alone seems a miracle to me.”

“Looks about like any other to me,” said Nancy.

“It’s so built that any jolt or tilting is overcome before it reaches the operator’s hand.”

“I’ve heard of such marvels,” said Nancy with deep interest. “Much like the floating studios which radio companies use to counteract sound.”

“Something of the same idea,” said Major Reed.

They were shown the laboratory, a small pharmacy and some contagious wards. The double-deck bunks were hung from stanchions. There were dental chairs and protected sections for psycho-neurotic cases. In fact, everything was there to make a miniature hospital.

“Maybe we’ll get a chance to work in one of these on the way back,” said Shorty.

“This one will probably be in use before we get over,” Major Reed told them. “Among so many passengers there’ll no doubt be some who will need attention on the way.”

“If you need help let us know,” said Nancy when they thanked the young doctor who had shown them through.

So the carefree days slipped by. The air was bracing; the food excellent. Nancy felt her skirts grow a bit tighter at the waist, and knew she was gaining weight. She didn’t object, for she was sure much hard work and a rationed diet would soon reduce her to the old measurements.

There were games of all sorts, long walks along the decks, new acquaintances to broaden life’s horizon, and every night dancing for those who liked the bright lights of indoors. Nancy and whoever she happened to be with, generally chose the deck with its stars and glimpses of their convoy. There was a hilarious celebration when they crossed the equator and another when they crossed the international date line. They began to feel then that they were truly in another sort of life. Before reaching port they had left the budding summer of their own hemisphere for the approaching winter of this strange southern world.

Then one noon Nancy and Mabel stood at the rail and saw their first flying fish.

“We’re approaching land!” Nancy exclaimed eagerly.

“And look—there’re terns skimming the froth in our wake,” Mabel noticed.

An hour later planes came out to meet them, circling overhead, like guardian wings to watch them safely into port. And then at last their first glimpse of a foreign shore. Then a few minutes later the word went round, identifying the harbor in which they would land.

“It’s Sydney, they say, Mabel!” cried Nancy joyously. “I can hardly believe we’ve really reached Australia.”