This is a continuation of the post A Rescue Mission.
Eli could do nothing. The waves of the fierce sea lifted him up and dropped him down again. Surrounded by darkness, he could see nothing.
“Patrick!” He shouted to his friend who had been at his side moments ago, but there was no answer.
With the ship gone and no one to help, Eli reasoned that death was near. “This will be how my life ends,” he thought to himself.
As he rose on the next wave, he saw a faint light. Not knowing if it was real or his imagination, he swept the water from his eyes.
There it was again. It seemed to be growing brighter.
“Eli!” a voice called above the howling wind.
“I’m here! Help!”
The outline of a boat appeared nearby. An unknown figure tugged at the oars. To Eli it looked as though the man’s face radiated light. Why it was, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he wasn’t alone. That gave him hope. When the boat was close by, he realized it was Josiah who skillfully steered the boat through the churning sea. Then a pair of powerful hand gripped Eli and lifted him into the boat. Shaken by the near-death experience, he said nothing.
Josiah rushed to the flailing oars and turned the boat into the wind to keep it from being swamped by the breaking waves. Huddled in the bow of the boat Eli found Patrick and four other figures. All were dripping wet and shivering. Eli was glad to see his friends, but understood they were not yet out of danger.
Throughout the night Josiah worked the oars. Eli, Patrick, and the others took turns bailing out the water with a wooden bucket. At times it seemed to pour into the boat faster than they could dump it overboard. The night seemed to go on forever, but before dawn the storm died down. It was as if the angry waves went to sleep, and so did the exhausted children.
The next thing Eli remembered was the sound of water lapping against the wooden boat. He opened his eyes to find a clear morning sky. Patrick and the others were still asleep, but where was Josiah?
“Patrick, wake up,” Eli shook his friend. “Josiah is gone.”
The boys jumped up and called for their friend, “Josiah, Josiah!” But there was no sign of him. The only thing in sight was the vast ocean that stretched out in all directions.
The shouting woke the other children. Ellen stood on unsteady legs and joined the search. She had large brown eyes that curved slightly downward giving her a permanent sad expression. Her long hair was twisted and knotted from the salty sea water.
“Where did he go?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” Eli searched the water expecting to find a trace of the brave man that had rescued his friends and him hour ago.
“He must have fallen overboard,” said Ellen’s sister Mary as she brushed a lock of sandy hair from her round face with its upturned nose.
“It doesn’t make sense that Josiah would have fallen overboard. If he did, we would have heard him call for help,” said Patrick.
Eli nodded. He couldn’t make sense of it. How was it the sailor had disappeared. Then he remembered something about Josiah’s face just before he was plucked from the water.
“Is there a lantern in the boat?” asked Eli as he kneeled down to search under the bench seats.
“I don’t think so,” Patrick looked under a piece of sail cloth in the stern of the boat but found nothing.
“It’s daytime. Why do you need a lantern?” Ellen asked.
“Did anyone else notice a light in the boat last night?” Eli recalled seeing Josiah clearly in the darkness.
“Now that you mention it, I do remember a light last night,” said Patrick. “It surrounded Josiah as if he was glowing.”
“I saw it too,” Mary added.
“Do you think he was sent to rescue us?” said Eli with a raised brow.
“What do you mean?” Patrick stared at his friend.
“Do you think Josiah was an angel?”
There was a long pause. Then Ellen broke the silence.
“You’re right. I think he was an angel.”
The other heads nodded in agreement.
“He kept us from drowning, but now what? We are in the middle of the ocean with no food or water,” Patrick continued. “Unless a ship finds us soon, we are as good as dead.”
All eyes turned to Eli as if he had an answer to their situation.
“I don’t know,” he said with a frown.
“And what about the others? Are they all gone?” Tears welled up in Ellen’s sad eyes.
Eli thought about his mother. The last time he saw her she was pulling Patrick’s sleepy twin brothers from their hammocks. Eli turned to the boys now huddled together in the lifeboat. He always found it difficult to tell one from the other. Even now they sat quietly, both wearing the same sad expression. Being a few years younger, the boys were still in a state of shock. Now, with the others turning to him, it seemed as if a weight had been put on his shoulders. He felt it was up to him to get everyone to safety, but he was helpless to do anything.
As the boat drifted along the warm morning sun dried the children’s clothing. But the day grew hot until Eli’s throat was drier than his clothes. The twins too complained they were thirsty.
“Don’t drink the sea water,” he warned. “The salt will just make you thirstier.”
All day they sat and waited, even Ellen’s and Mary’s chatting gave way to grim silence. When the sun set Eli felt a sense of hopelessness. “How long could they survive?” he wondered.
As the night past Eli drifted in and out of sleep. Strange dreams filled his head until he woke with a start. He looked out over the ocean for any signs of rescue but found nothing. When he looked into Patrick’s eyes, he found a hopelessness that caused his spirit to sink lower. Again, the tropical sun tortured the helpless victims in the tiny boat. By afternoon Eli could hardly think of anything except his parched tongue and throat. Then Patrick let out a shout that gave him renewed hope.
“Land!” he called out with a hoarse voice barely above a whisper.
Everyone jumped up to find the outline of an island in the distance. An hour later the boat was caught by the surf and pushed up onto a deserted beach.
They had made it safely to shore, but where were they? And would they find anyone to help them?
To be continued.
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Read Psalm 139:7-10