Lifeboat Page #8

Kovac, looks as if you've

stepped out of your class this time.

See you, Rittenhouse. What have you got?

I've got...

That was my pot.

You couldn't possibly beat me.

- have a full house.

- And I had four deuces.

- How do I know you had four deuces?

- You ought to know.

You made the cards,

didn't you?

And you marked'em too!

They are crooked,

and you are crooked!

It's raining.

- t's raining!

- t's raining!

Get the sail.!

- Here.

- That's right.

I was at the wheel when she hit.

My watch

was just about over...

and I was goin'down

for some hotjava.

When she keeled over...

the siren was screamin'...

like a human being

she was screamin'...

right to the end.

Oh, you should've heard

the sound of the rain...

drummin' on the canvas.

Most beautiful sound

you ever heard in your life.

I looked up...

a couple of drops...

fell right on my lips.

Hey, Joe.

What's the matter?

Why have you

stopped playin'?

Come on.

Heat it up.

Give it the HarryJames.

Gee, Rosie.

You're an armful.

An armful of honey, that's what you are.

Say, Rosie, I'm thirsty.

How about a drink?

Set'em up, Pete.

Nice tall ones...

plenty of ice.

Here's to you,

Rosie baby.

What is it, Gus?

Willi's got some water.

That's right, Gus.

I just had a tall one,

plenty of ice.

Sure, Gus. Sure.

- But Willi only had water.

- That's right.

Uh, I guess

I'll get back to Rosie.

Willi, where'd you get the water?

- You've been holdin' out on us.

- You mustn't wake up the others.

They are tired.

Well, what about you?

- Ain't you tired?

- No.

Me neither.

I feel fine...

except my right foot's asleep.

I can hardly feel it.

Willi, tell me.

Do you think I should

write to Rosie, tell her about it?

Or should I wait till I see her?

- Wait till you see her.

- Yeah, but...

I can't walk in on her

gimpy and all like this...

without no...

warning, can I?

I got to find some way to...

- To break it to her gentle.

- t'll be all right.

Okay.

- So long, Willi.

- Good-bye, Gus.

I'll never forget

what you done for me.

If there's anything I can ever

do for you, just let me know.

There is something

you can do for me.

Remember

your name is Schmidt.

Uh, you like it better

than Smith?

Much better.

- You'd better hurry, Gus. She's waiting.

- Okay.

- That water you was drinkin'...

- Rosie's waiting for you.

- Why didn't you share it with the rest of us?

- Shh.!

You mustn't wake them.

- Okay, Willi.

- Why don't you go after Rosie?

She's waiting for you at Roseland.

There. Do you see the lights?

Help!

Stanley!

Help.!

Stanley?

Stanley!

Willi, he's got...

Help!

H- H-Help!

- Where's Gus?

- He's gone over.

- No use, Stan...

- Gus.!

- He went under.

- Gus.!

Willi, what is it?

What's happened?

- Schmidt went over the side.

- He was calling my name.

- That's what woke me.

- You can't imagine how painful it was to me.

All night long, to watch him...

turning and suffering

and nothing I could do for him.

- Why didn't you stop rowing?

- Why should I?

- To help him!

- The best way to help him was to let him go.

I had no right to stop him,

even if I wanted to.

A poor cripple dying

of hunger and thirst...

what good could life be

to a man like that?

He was trying to tell me something.

If I could only remember.

He's better off now,

out of his trouble.

- Something about water.

- He was in agony from thirst.

I wanted to cry,

but the tears wouldn't come.

No, how could they?

If I remember rightly, tears are water...

with a trace of sodium chloride.

- sn't that so, Willi?

- Ja.

What about sweat?

What's the chemical

composition of sweat?

Water... with a trace

of something or other.

Now, I remember.

Gus said

Willi had some water.

Yeah.

Right under his shirt!

Quite so.

I took the precaution of filling the flask

from the water breakers...

before the storm, just in case of emergency.

And I had food tablets

and energy pills too.

Everybody on the U-boat has them.

You should be grateful to me

for having the foresight to think ahead.

To survive, one must have a plan.

But there's nothing

to worry about.

Soon we'll reach

the supply ship...

and then we'll all have

food and water.

- Too bad Schmidt couldn't have waited.

- You!

Please, don't...

Please, Miss Alice!

To my dying day,

I'll never understand Willi...

or what he did.

First, he tried to kill us all

with his torpedoes.

Nevertheless, we fished him

out of the sea...

took him aboard,

shared everything we had with him.

You would've thought

he'd been grateful.

All he could do

was to plot against us.

Then he...

he let poor old Gus

die of thirst.

What do you do

with people like that?

Maybe one of us

ought to try to row.

Where to?

What for?

Nah.

When we killed the German,

we killed our motor.

No. We still got a motor.

Eh? Who?

Nah.

We're through.

Are you afraid?

No. I don't think so.

If we had got out of it, l...

I was going to

ask you to marry me.

What do you think

you'd have said?

I think I would've said yes.

Well, then, whatever happens...

I'd like you to marry me.

Congratulations.

Well, that's settled.

And what now, little men?

I've been a widower for 18 years.

We never had any children.

All I leave behind me...

is a great many

millions of dollars.

I hope they do

somebody some good.

So, we're all going

to fold up and die...

just because that

ersatz superman is gone.

My only regret is...

that in the end...

I joined a mob.

Baloney.

We weren't a mob

when we killed him.

We were a mob

when we sat around...

prisoners of the man

we'd saved...

kowtowing to him,

obeying him...

practically heiling him...

because he was kind enough and strong

enough to take us to a concentration camp!

Good grief, look at you.

Rittenhouse,

C.J. Rittenhouse...

self-made man.

Made of what?

As long as you're sitting there,

thinking of your last will and testament...

I'll write your epitaph for you now.

"Ritt, he quit."

That goes for you too, Narcissus.

It's a good thing there's room on that

chest of yours for another letter...

"Q" for quitter!

And you, Joe...

it's all right for you to look up

and trust in somebody.

How about giving him a hand?

What's the matter with us?

We not only let the Nazi

do our rowing for us, but our thinking!

Ye Gods and little fishes.

Fishes.

Ye Gods.

We haven't got

energy pills...

but the ocean's full of them...

millions of fish swimming around.

- Well, why don't we catch some?

- We tried that.

- We have no bait.

- Sure, we have... bait...

- By Cartier.

- Are you kidding?

Kidding, my foot.

I'm starving.

Well, what are you

waiting around for?

Where's the fish line?

Bait your line, chum.

Not only food, but oil.

We can squeeze the fish for oil.

It's better than water.

I can recommend the bait.

I ought to know. I bit on it myself.

I've never eaten raw fish before.

I have. It's not bad.

We'd better not count our chickens

before they're hatched.

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