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Oh, I a Our love is not as big as a wink Or one single hair from a silver mink - But you stayed with

Richard Hillary and Vera Carlisle lay a distance apart on green hay taken froh in the Malvern Hills Richard thought restlessly, Last night straw, tonight hay Straw, seedless and dry, for death Hay, sour and sweet, for life

The Wanderer glared down on theain in its bloated-X face The planet was beco as dreadfully familiar as the face of a clock Soo, Vera had said: "Look, it&039;s half past D"

It wasn&039;t chilly There was an almost warmish breeze froitating

Onethe bore of the Severn rush up its valley, like sohth seal in the Book of Revelation, would utterly outweary the senses But, as Richard was now discovering, the senses do not work that way Experiencing the alinable only makes them more acid-bittenly alive

Or perhaps it was siue poisons, to sleep

Vera had earlier told him her story A London business-machine typist, she had been rescued froh, and had come all the way to the valley of the Severn in a shs as Richard had traed rides across the e of the bore near Deerhurst, she alone of the boat&039;s coo Richard had asked her to tell her story in more detail, but she had protested that she was much too tired She had listened to the static on her transistor wireless for a while, and Richard had said: "Throw that away" She hadn&039;t, but she&039;d turned it off Now she was saying softly: "Oh, I shall never sleep, never My "

Richard rolled over and put his arhtly around her waist, his face above hers, then hesitated

"Go on," she said, looking up at hi pills?"

Richard thought for a moment, then said rather formally: "Even if I did have theled "You&039;re so stiff," she said

He pulled her to hi

"Vera," he said Then hugging her deterled again, ht, but her body relaxed Suddenly her fingers clutched at his back "Go on, try , strong sleeping medicine"

Barbara Katz had first been depressed by the lowness and narrowness of the one little cabin of the "Albatross," but now she was glad of those dimensions because it meant there was always a surface close at hand to brace herself against when the boat rocked or pitched farther than she&039;d been expecting it to And the slightly-arched roof being so low soed down on it deafeningly

The cabin was pitch dark except when lightning blazed in whitely through the four tiny portholes, or when Barbara used her flashlight

Old KKK lay blanket-tied to one of the little bunks with Hester sitting braced at his head and holding the unknown baby Helen stretched out in the other bunk,with seasickness, while Barbara was scrunched in at the foot of that bunk like Hester across froh a trap in the planking of the floor for water So far she hadn&039;t felt any to amount to much

The "Albatross" had al tide lifted it out of the grip of the roves Then it had almost been keeled over by a taller tree After that it had been rather fun, until the storh and wild that everyone except Benjy had been forced below

After a long silence - that is, a long space of listening to nothing but the baby crying and the ti the boat - Barbara asked: "How&039;s Mister K, Hester?"

"He die a little while back, Miss Barbara," the other replied "Hush now, baby, you had your canned ested the information After a while she said: "Hester,and put hih room - and you should lie down in that bunk"

"No, Miss Barbara," Hester replied positively "We don&039;t want to chance his hip get bust again or anything He in good shape now, except he dead, and if he lie soft he stay that way Then we got evidence we took the best care of hi: "Oh Lord, there&039;s a deader in the cabin! I got to get out!"

"Lie down, you crazy nigger!" Hester commanded "Miss Barbara, you hold her!"

There was no need A fresh attack of seasickness stretched Helen out again

A little later the motions of the "Albatross" becaer thu to take some coffee up to Benjy," Barbara said

"No you not, Miss Barbara"

"Yes, I am," Barbara told Hester

When she&039;d cautiously slid aside the little hatch at the back of the cabin and stuck her head out, the first thing she saas Benjy kneeling spread-legged behind the little wheel The clouds had broken overhead, and through the narrow rift the Wanderer shone down in its bull&039;s-head face

She crawled out Wind tore at her from the bow, but it wasn&039;t too bad, so she slid the hatch shut and crawled back to Benjy

He swigged coffee froht and thanked her with a nod

She peered around over the low coa behind the clouds again, showed nothing by its last light but waves that looked very high indeed

"I thought it was getting calmer," she shouted to Benjy over the wind

He pointed toward the bow "I find a mattress," he shouted back, "and tie one end of a rope to it and the other to the front end of this boat and throw her over It hold the boat so she head into the wind and the waves steady-like"

Barbara remembered the name for that: a sea anchor

"Where do you think we are, Benjy?" she shouted

His laughter whooped over the wind "I don&039;t knoe in the Atlantic or the Gulf or what, Miss Barbara, but we still on top!"

Sally Harris and Jake Lesher climbed down fro with cold Beyond the balustrade the wavelets were sinking at a rate alht of the Wanderer in its jaws face, which she called Rin-Tin-Tin

"It&039;s a mess," she told Jake "The furniture&039;s tus in the air The black rug&039;s got waves in it, and all those soaked black drapes make the place look like a storm-tossed mortuary Co to "