said.
“Good,” I whispered. “Listen. We’ve got to get off here. Now. There’s not a chance in the world of finding that plane with the information you’ve got, and when they begin to find it out it’s going to be murder. And even if we could locate it, they’d probably kill us anyway. So we’ve got to swim for it. Maybe we make it, maybe we drown; but it’s better than this. How about it?”
“How far?” she asked quietly.
“About nine miles.”
“I can swim about a hundred yards, in calm water.”
“That’s all right. I’m pretty good at it, and we’ll have a life belt. It’s our only chance.”
The big eyes looked at me gravely, without fear. “All right,” she whispered.
“Fine,” I said. “Now, I’m going back on deck. As soon as I’m up there, Barfield will probably come back down here and turn in. Wait about five minutes, and then come on deck yourself. If he tries to stop you, make a gagging sound and pretend to be seasick. Say you’ve got to have fresh air. Now look—” I pulled the curtain back a little so she could see straight through to the companionway. “There’s the life belt, on top of the icebox. He won’t see it, because I’ll turn the light out before I go back up. When you’re on the step, grab it fast and hug it to you and come on up in a hurry. Don’t try to put it on. Just hold it. The minute you step out onto the bridge deck, head for the rail, and go right over the side. By the time Barclay sees you’ve got a life belt it’ll be too late. Got it?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Good,” I whispered. “See you in the water. Better take your shoes off before you start up. And go for the lee rail.”
“Which one is that?”
I grinned. “The one downhill.”
She nodded. “Thank you for everything,” she said softly. She thought we were going to drown.
I put my hand against her cheek. “We’ll make it,” I said. Just touching her brought back that intense longing to take her in my arms. I stood up abruptly and turned away.
I went back on deck after turning out the lamp over the chart table. It was very dark at first. Barfield growled something and I heard him going below. I sat down in the cockpit, on Barclay’s right and as near him as I dared.
“Have a nice conference?” he asked with urbane humor.
“Very nice,” I answered.
“She really didn’t know what he was doing, did she?”
“No.”
“Curiously enough, I rather believe her. The possibility didn’t occur to me, however, until I was telling you about it. Macaulay was an odd one, and there was a good chance he didn’t want her to know about it. Or anyone else. Came from a rather prominent family.”
“She did?”
“No. Macaulay. She was a show girl. Danced in a cabaret.”
My eyes were becoming accustomed to the darkness now. I looked astern and could still see the faint glow over the city. Involuntarily, I shuddered. There was a lot of dark water between here and the shore.
But we could make it. One life belt will support two people if they don’t try to stand on it or fight the water. We’d each hold an end of it and I could tow her, resting when I was tired. The sky was clear; even if we couldn’t see the glow of the city from down there in the water, we’d have Polaris to orient us until dawn and after that the sun. All we had to do, anyway, was go with the sea and wind and we’d hit the beach eventually.
“You’d best stretch out and get some sleep,” Barclay said. “I should like to be relieved at six.”
I had to be careful not to arouse suspicion. “All right,” I said. “In a minute.” If he got an inkling of what we were up to they wouldn’t let her on deck until we were a hundred miles at sea.
I thought of the hours we’d be in the water and wished longingly for one last cigarette, but did not light it because it would momentarily destroy night vision. Things were going to happen fast, and I had to find her there in the water before she could become frightened and cry out. I waited, trying not to tense up. She should be coming up any moment now. Suppose Barfield stopped her?
“Did she tell you where the plane was?” Barclay asked.
“Yes,” I said. I repeated what