Travis was holding his own for the moment but knew he couldn’t win against Novak’s superior strength. A hard jab landed on Travis’s shoulder, and then as Novak pulled back for another strike, Travis grabbed his right wrist. With a twist he lifted the arm and stepped under it, using a trick he had learned from a wrestling champion, and Novak spun in the air and went crashing down. Travis jerked the pistol from his hand, but even as he did a voice rang out.
“All right, Winslow, drop the gun!”
Travis turned to see Charlie Day standing not ten feet away with the rifle aimed directly at him. He had no chance at all, so he tossed the gun onto the ground. “All right, Charlie,” he said.
“Get away from him.” Day moved over to stand beside Novak, who was getting to his feet.
Novak wiped the blood from his face, eyeing Travis with an odd expression. He picked the gun up, and for a moment Travis thought he would shoot him.
But Novak laughed instead. “Well, you’re the first man that ever put me on my back like that, Winslow.”
“Let me shoot him, Novak!”
“Shut up, Charlie. You’re not shooting nobody.” Novak held the pistol easily in his hand and became aware that the others had gathered and were watching. He studied the group, noting the fear in their eyes, and then he turned his attention back to the tall man in front of him. “Travis, it was a fair fight, but there won’t be no more of it. I’ll kill you if you step out of line again.”
“I believe you would.”
“You know I would. Now, all of you watch what you’re doin’ or you’ll be sorry.”
Novak and Day turned and left. The others gathered around Travis, with everyone talking at once.
“Your face is all cut,” Rena said to Travis.
“I’ve had worse.”
“Come on. I’ll clean you up.”
The two went back to the camp, where Rena got a dish of water and a clean cloth. She began to dab away at the cuts. “I wish we had some kind of antiseptic.”
“Doesn’t amount to anything. I’ll be fine.”
Rena stopped her nursing, suddenly frightened over what could have happened. “You know, I’ve never had a problem like this.”
“I have.” He grinned wryly. “I’ve been in lots of fights.”
“You must be careful, Travis. He’s got a wicked streak in him. He’ll shoot you if you give him an excuse.”
“I don’t think so. I think he’s a better man than the one we see.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe that’s true.” She was quiet for a moment, then said, “You know, Travis, I’ve always been able to solve my own problems. If I couldn’t, I would take them to Dad. I used to have enough self-confidence for ten women, but I don’t have it anymore.”
“That may be a good thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I think God builds our faith by putting us into situations we can’t handle. That’s the way I’ve learned what little I know about the Lord. Maybe God’s getting you ready for something that calls for great faith.”
Rena’s shoulders sagged. “I’m so tired, Travis. I just don’t know anymore. I think the whole thing was a mistake coming out here, bringing these amateurs.” Her voice was bitter, and her hopelessness was evident. She was not the same woman, Travis knew, who had left the States months earlier. He took her hand and held it for a moment, smiling. She met his gaze and noticed how his skin was deeply tanned and without a wrinkle, and his full beard made him look ruggedly handsome. She also saw in his face an approval of her, and more than that, she thought she saw a clear, bold expression of warmth. This brought a flush to her face.
Travis said gently, “You’re growing in grace, I think.”
Rena did not know what to say to this, but the intimacy of the moment was interrupted when she heard Jimmy Townsend calling. She turned and saw the young man running toward them, his face pale.
“What’s wrong, Jimmy?”
“It’s . . . it’s Abigail. She’s having her baby.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, it’s happening now. Where’s Karl?”
“He went fishing. I’ll go get him,” Travis said. Without another word, he turned and plunged off down the beach.
“Come along. You don’t want to leave her alone, Jimmy.”
“No, but Karl’s got to help. He just has to!”
“He will,” Rena said soothingly. “Come on, now. Let’s go see to her.”
****
To Jimmy the minutes crawled by like hours. Karl had come back from the beach and had gone to see Abigail, but the sight of her wan face and her agonizing cries practically destroyed him.
“Can’t you give her some of that dope Chip found, Karl?”
“It wouldn’t be good at this stage, Jimmy. She has to help push.”
“Oh, I wish we’d never come to this place!” Jimmy muttered under his breath. “What’s going to happen?” he asked Meredith and Rena, who were comforting Abby. “I don’t know anything about having babies. Back home they just take care of it at a hospital and come out and tell the husband when it’s over.”
“Come outside, Jimmy,” Karl instructed.
Something in Karl’s voice startled Jimmy. As they stepped outside, he said, “What’s the matter? Is something wrong?”
“Yes, there’s something wrong,” Karl said as they moved further from the shelter. “The baby is turned the wrong way.”
“What does that mean?” he whispered.
“I’m not an expert, as you know. As a medical student I observed several deliveries and all of them went well, but this one . . .” Benson swallowed hard and ran his hand nervously across his forehead. “I’m no good for this, Jimmy.”
Jimmy grabbed Karl’s arms and practically shouted, “You’ve got to be, Karl. Nobody else around here has even observed a delivery!”
Karl pushed Jimmy’s hands away. “You can’t ask me to do something I can’t do!” he wailed, his voice on the verge of panic. He turned and walked away blindly. Jimmy stood there as helpless and frightened as he’d ever been in his life. He heard a voice and felt a touch and turned to see Pete standing there beside Lanie.
“What’s wrong with Karl?” Pete asked.
“He . . . he says he can’t do it. He can’t help Abigail.”
“But he’s got to!” Pete exclaimed.
“Let me go talk to him,” Lanie said.
“Come along, you’d better go back and be with your wife,” Pete said, taking Jimmy by the arm.
Jimmy was trembling. He loved his wife with all of his heart, and now he feared that he was about to lose her. “She can’t die, Pete. She just can’t!”
****
Abby’s screams drove some of the group far from the camp. Among the crew, only Chip and Oscar were able to bear it. They sat silently by the fire, exchanging haunted glances. Even the tough-minded Oscar said, “I’ve never heard such screams. My wife never carried on like this when she had our son.”
Chip agreed. “Yeah, it’s bad. How long can a woman go on like that?”
For the others, the time dragged by. Karl had disappeared, and no one knew where he was. Meredith and Rena stayed with Abby, trying to comfort her but not really knowing what to do.
Finally Rena, her face drenched with sweat, said, “I’ve got to go find Karl. You stay here, Meredith.”
Rena ran out of the shelter and quickly found Travis. “You’ve got to help me, Travis,” she cried. “I don’t know what’s wrong with Karl, but he’s got to do something!”
“You’re right.” Travis agreed. “Whatever his problems are, they can’t be as bad as what Abby’s going through. Nothing’s more important right now than Abby and that baby.”
They hurried out together in search of Karl and found him five minutes later. He was sitting in the woods, his face pale and covered with sweat. When they approached him, he couldn’t meet their eyes.
Travis grabbed him by the arm. “Karl, I don�
�t know what’s wrong with you, but I’ll tell you this. You’re going to come back with us and do whatever you can to help Abby. If she dies, she’s going to die with you looking right at her.”
“I can’t go back. I just can’t.”
“What’s wrong with you? You’re the one most fitted to help,” Rena cried. “Don’t you care?”
“Don’t I care? Yes, I care! I care too much.”
“What does that mean?” Travis asked in exasperation. “The woman is dying!”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Then why won’t you help her?”
Karl tried to turn away, but Travis kept a firm grip on his arm. His eyes looked haunted and his lips seemed paralyzed.
“You’ve all wondered why I gave up on my dreams of becoming a doctor. All right, I’ll tell you. I had a problem with alcohol, and I let it get in the way of my work. In a drunken state one day, I ordered the wrong medication for a woman who was in labor. She died because of my carelessness—and her baby too. I can never forgive myself as long as I live!”
Rena saw the torture in Benson’s face. “That’s in the past, Karl. Now you’ve got a chance to make up for it.”
“I can’t, I’ve told you! Do you know what’s going to have to happen for her to live?” Benson asked slowly, his voice unsteady. “She’ll have to have a caesarean. That baby will never be born normally. If she doesn’t have an operation, they’ll both die.”
Travis said, “Then you’ve got nothing to lose, Karl. She’ll die if you don’t do a caesarean, and maybe she’ll live if you give it a try. Come on. You have no choice.”
“Are you crazy, Travis? A caesarean? Out here? I’ve got no anesthetic, no surgical tools, no nothing!”
“Listen,” Travis said. “You know we have a good assortment of knives, and we’ve got a few supplies in the first-aid kit. Besides that, we have Chip’s anesthetic. I know it’s not what you’d have in a hospital, but it’s better than nothing.” Travis took a deep breath and put his hand on Karl’s shoulder. “We’re all believers. We know that God can help. We’re going to pray right now that God will help you to do what needs to be done.”
Karl stared at Travis for a long time, and then a tear trickled down and into his beard. “It will have to be God who does it.”
“We’ll pray,” Rena encouraged, “and God will give us a victory. You’ll see.”
The three bowed their heads, and Travis and Rena held on to Karl. They prayed fervently, and when they lifted their heads, Karl was a changed man, glowing with optimism. “All right,” he said. “I can guarantee nothing, but I’ll do my best.”
“And God will do His best.” Travis smiled. “Come on. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
New Life
All three returned to the camp, where the air of tension was almost unbearable. The missionaries had returned in groups of two or three, hating the screams but wanting to be nearby if they could be of any assistance. Karl said to them all, “God will have to do a miracle here.”
He started giving orders as authoritatively as any head surgeon. “Pete, I need you to get our best fillet knife and get it as sharp as you can. Lanie, bring me the first-aid kit and make sure the stitching supplies are ready to go.” He turned to Rena and Meredith and said sternly, “You two will help.”
It was not a request, and Rena cringed at the task that lay ahead. She saw that Meredith was also stunned, but she said, “We’ll have to do it, Meredith.”
The two women went into the shelter with Karl while Pete and Lanie ran off on their assignments. Travis joined the others around the fire. He noted that of the various reactions of the group, Professor Dekker seemed the most bothered. His eyes, behind his thick glasses, were puzzled, and he said, “Travis, I don’t have any experience in this. I guess I’ve lived too long away from real life.”
Travis laid his hand on the professor’s shoulder. “Well, you’re getting a dose of real life now.”
“Do you think Karl can help her?”
“I think God can help her, and He’ll use Karl. Don’t you believe that?”
Professor Dekker had lived most of his life alone, never having married, and had devoted himself to the world of scholarship. He had been prepared to lead the missionaries, teaching them daily from his deep understanding of the Scriptures. Now he realized that his world had been turned upside down. “I’ll have to find God in some new way, Travis,” he whispered. “It’s not enough to know the Book about God. We must know God himself.”
Travis smiled. “I think you’re right about that.” He left the professor to his thoughts and went to talk to Oscar, who was cleaning fish. “Need some help, Oscar?”
“No, I could do this in my sleep.” He looked up and said, “I hope the little lady’s all right.”
“I believe with God’s help, she’ll be all right.”
“Look, Travis, I hope you know that me and Chip and Shep, we ain’t in this thing with Cerny. He’s wrong.”
“I knew you weren’t in on it, Oscar, but I appreciate you coming right out and saying it.”
****
Abby’s screams finally quieted and were replaced with the squeal of a newborn. After a moment the baby stopped crying as well. Karl stepped out of the shelter and walked quickly over to Jimmy, who was speaking quietly with Travis.
“How is she, Karl?” Abby’s husband asked.
“She’s going to be all right,” Karl assured him.
“Thank God.”
Travis’s arm went around Jimmy, for it was obvious he was so shaken he could barely stand up.
“Thank you for what you’ve done, Karl. I am so grateful.”
Everyone gathered around Karl, and as Travis saw the new confidence in the man’s face, he realized he had passed some sort of test within himself. He’s going to be a better man because of this, Travis thought.
“Can I see her, Doc?” Jimmy said.
“Yes, of course. Go on in. And congratulations! You have a fine baby boy.”
Meredith came up to Karl and said, “You did a wonderful job, Karl.”
“And so did you,” he replied, “but you know, it was really God who did it.”
“Yes, I’ll say amen to that.”
Travis saw that the group was relieved and a sense of well-being enveloped them. The crisis had almost destroyed them, but now they were rejoicing together in God’s goodness. Travis breathed a prayer of thanks for the outcome, then went to see about Novak. On his way, he ran across Lars Olsen, who looked at him cautiously.
“How’s the lady?” Lars asked.
“She’s doing fine. Where’s Cerny?”
“What do you want with him, Travis?”
“Just to talk.”
“All right, but he’s pretty sore. He’s down the beach a ways. Try not to stir him up.”
Travis nodded, then walked on quickly down the shore until he reached Novak. The sailor was sitting on a rock staring moodily out at the sea. When Travis came closer, he called out the man’s name and sat down next to him.
“Abigail’s all right,” Travis began, “and the baby too. It’s a boy. Just thought you’d like to know.”
“That’s good,” he grunted. His face was battered, and there was a look that Travis could not identify in his eyes. “You cut me up pretty bad, Winslow.”
“Sorry about that. You and I shouldn’t fight.”
“I meant what I said,” Novak came back. “Don’t challenge me, and don’t come at me again.”
“I’ll do what I have to do to keep peace on this island. We all have to live together.”
“Sure we do, and someone’s gotta make the rules. I’ve been bossed around all my life, Winslow, but I’m better fitted for living in this place than any of those weakling preachers.”
“Physically you’re the strongest, Cerny, but there’s more to life than that.”
“Not to me there ain’t.”
Travis had prayed much for this big man. He was a
rough individual on the surface, but there had to be more to him than met the eye. Travis hesitated, then said, “One of these days, Cerny, you’re going to be old, and you’ll lose your strength. You won’t be the strongest anymore.”
“I don’t think about things like getting old.”
“No, we never do. But we should. The time’s going to come when you’re going to need more than the strength of your arms.”
Cerny smiled, his battered lips twisting cynically. “You gonna preach to me?”
“No—no preaching. I just want you to know that if it weren’t for Jesus, I’d probably be dead.”
“Save the sermon.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that.”
Cerny stood up. “I don’t want to hear no more about God.” He stalked off down the beach, not giving Travis a chance to answer.
Travis watched as the figure of the bulky man grew small. “Lord,” he said, “I pray you’ll bring that stubborn man to his knees—whatever it takes.”
****
It was close to the end of March, two weeks after the birth of the baby, whom the parents had named Michael. All the missionaries helped with the newcomer in whatever way they could while Abigail recovered from the traumatic birth. Despite the severity of her experience, she did recover quickly. She was able to nurse the baby without any problem and was tremendously proud of her son. Jimmy was as proud as a man could be, and neither of them could let Karl pass without giving him a word of thanks and praise.
Karl repeatedly said to Travis, “I wish they’d be quiet about it.”
“I don’t think they can,” Travis always responded with a smile. “It meant so much to all of us. You’ve become a better man, and I’m proud of you too.”
Travis himself had been drained by the crisis. He was thankful that Cerny had kept to himself lately, not offering any more insults. But Travis continued to pray for him and sought others to join with him. Early one morning he got up, ate breakfast, and prepared to leave camp.
Rena was up early too and asked him where he was going.
“I just need to get away for a while.”
“Let me go with you,” she said.
The Royal Handmaid Page 21
