The ripples subsided, and in another moment Camley was alone on the glassy sea. The lifeboat was swamped but afloat.

There was much to be done. Bailing, repairs, rowing, even sending up a flare or two. But there was little strength left for that right now, so Camley settled down in his seat, propping his head on a gunwale, and watched the rising sun.

“Astonishing…” he muttered, “that the word could contain such beauty and such savagery, within mere minutes of each other.”

A friendly but uncertain dawn greeted him from over the horizon.