An Unsinkable Love

chapter 13


Eldon blinked. Had he imagined a rescue ship? No, it really was there. As shivers racked his body his mind started to function again and he began to determine the best course of action. The crewmen in his lifeboat rowed frantically toward the ship and Eldon saw other boats converging on the leviathan. The rescue ship glowed with hundreds of lights and figures ran to and fro tossing ladders and nets over railings and out hull doors.

He watched as the first Titanic lifeboat drew up at the base of the new ship. Passengers jockeyed for position and climbed the rope ladders clattering against the side. He surveyed the other heavily laden lifeboats then the scant dozen occupants of his own. All eyes were on the rescue. It wouldn't do to be associated with the boat full of cowardly crewmen, and the even more cowardly man who disguised himself as a woman to escape the sinking ship. Before he talked himself out of it, he took a deep breath and slipped over the side.

Eldon never knew cold could hurt so badly. His throat seemed to close up as the glacial water lapped under his chin.

Before he lost all feeling, he swam a few strokes to a nearby lifeboat and lunged up, grabbing the rope looped along the gunwale. He managed to croak, "Help me!" loud enough to get a passenger's attention and was quickly pulled aboard. He sat on the plank floor of the boat, his head barely above the sides, and looked across. The men in the lifeboat he'd abandoned were oblivious to his desertion.

103

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

Someone laid a coat over his shoulders and he clutched at it with blue, stiff hands. He'd taken a calculated risk, but then, that was the kind he excelled at. Eldon started to smile, but his frostbitten face refused to move.

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104

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson