At this information Nancy’s heart leaped up once more with hope.
“You took that fatal flight, you know, long before we started cleaning up this area,” Major Reed reminded him.
“So the nurse was just telling me. I’ve sort of lost track of time.”
“Big enough for a man to get lost in its jungles—entirely surrounded by reefs. No large boat could get in close to its shores.”
“Plenty like that in this region,” said Major Reed.
“Jim and I passed no others in our life boat as we came south. Then those devils picked us up.”
“He had a nasty wound in his hip. Gangrene ended his misery two days after they put us in the prison camp. I’ve wished a thousand times it could have been me, too.”
Looking down on this wreck of a man, Nancy wondered how he had lived through the ordeal.
“Any Japs on the island where you three got ashore?” asked the major.
“No village there, or camp, nor any sign there’d ever been any. The place was a solid jungle, except for a narrow fringe of beach. But we did find a Jap plane wrecked on the reef. Her crew had evidently all been wiped out by our fire.”
“Was that where you got the information Captain Dale wanted you to bring back to us?”
Vernon nodded. “I brought the Jap papers away in the lining of my coat. Later when they were found on me those fiends stripped me of every rag for fear I might have more of their information hidden in my clothes.” Vernon managed a rueful smile. “That’s why you found me in only a loin cloth.”
“Did Tommy have water and food with him?” Nancy asked.
“You bet. There was a good spring close by. He didn’t need water, but we left him most of our food and medicine, and the supplies we took from the Zero. We put everything right to hand. Poor Tommy was already too miserable to crawl more than a few feet from where we left him.”
Tears were streaming down Nancy’s face, but she stubbornly held to her hopes. She couldn’t give Tommy up now, even after hearing the worst.
“It’s not likely he could be living still. But don’t feel too badly about it, Miss Nancy,” Vernon said kindly. “There’s plenty of things worse than death in this war.”
“I’m afraid we’ve let you talk too much this time,” said Major Reed. “Sleep some more now and we’ll see you again.”