“You want some seaweed?” Emily said. She reached into the water and pulled up a handful of slimy green stuff.

“Ugh. Maybe later. Do you think we’re really the only ones who made it? We should look for the others.”

Courchene put Raymond on his back, and we clambered over the wet rocks. We saw no one.

But then we heard shouting.

“Hey!”

We got ourselves to a taller boulder.

From a rock not too far away, Tanaka and Duffy waved.

My heart filled with more joy that I’d thought I would ever feel again. Had they followed us into the cave last night?

They had come through. That was so lucky. Captain Lee, who’d lived on these waters all his life, would surely be here too, or maybe still on the other side of the island. But what about Ting-Yan and Horace? There was no way we all could have survived—it was too much to ask of Tin Hau or any other god, even at their most benevolent.

Duffy pointed upward. I looked. At the top of the cliff stood Ting-Yan and Horace. They shouted and waved and pointed toward the east side of the Island.

Duffy translated what she heard. “Boat. On the other side.”

“Friend or foe?” I asked.

Ting-Yan and Horace’s voices echoed down the steep cliff face. “Swim! Other side!”

Though we were stiff and cold and hungry, we got back into the water one more time. Ting-Yan and Horace seemed happy about the boat, so maybe it was a friendly one. And if not, well, at least we wouldn’t die of exposure. We swam again through the cave. In daylight, the rocks were a pale tan colour. How had they seemed so dark at night? The cave too seemed shorter, and the swim not so hard. On the other side a little Tanka boat bobbed. We were helped aboard by an ancient fisher lady and a very strong little girl, who couldn’t have been more than five. They gave us tea, congee with dried scallops in it, and blankets. I didn’t think I’d ever eaten such a delicious breakfast. We sipped in silence and watched Ting-Yan and Horace descend the rock face down to where we were.

“Granny Tang,” said Ting-Yan, as she stepped aboard. “I can’t imagine better luck than this.”

“Where is Captain Lee?” I asked her, as she accepted a cup of tea from the little girl.

Her look of elation became a look of deep grief. “Old Lee couldn’t swim,” she said. “And he didn’t want to leave his boat. He went down with the Oolong.”

“He couldn’t swim?”

“It’s not so uncommon, for that generation,” she said. She sipped her tea to show she wasn’t ready to say more.

CHAPTER 49CARP’S EYE

October 14, 1942