We rowed, as mindless as machines; not thinking, not feeling, only doing our mechanical work without falter or hesitation. Only the occasional groan from the Captain reminded us that we were earth men and not lost souls journeying over the river Styx. I even took a turn at the oars and found that I could rest my weight with reasonable comfort on my undamaged thigh and keep pace with the rest of them. I watched the Lieutenant at the boat’s helm and saw him as a frightened man. His face and body seemed turned to stone. Only his eyes moved, and they were alive with dread. He looked at only two things—the Captain and the horizon ahead.
I had never before thought of the possibility of the Captain getting hurt or killed like the rest of us. Perhaps, like the Indians, I believed, without knowing
