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“You know when the Major was asking everyone if they had seen you, Henry was the one that told him he had seen you on the deck drawing. Lucky thing he did too.” Barbara Mason proudly remarked. “The Major took off running up those steps and we all had to tackle him, and just to get him to put on that rope. Then when the rope went slack, we thought the knot slipped and he had went overboard along with you.” She admitted sadly. “We all felt like we lost two family members last night, so you can imagine how relieved we all are to know that you are both okay.” Barbara suggested as she hugged Anna again.

“Henry saved my life by telling the Major about me being on the deck. I’ll have to thank him.” Anna told Barbara, but thinking more about how Major Marsh had risked his life for her, and marveling at the words Barbara told her about the events. She wondered if he would have done the same thing for any other person on the ship, but she’d never know the answer to that.

Anna left Barbara and headed toward her trunk to find a comb and some dry clothes. After hanging the partitions around her, she poured some of the clean rainwater from the bucket she had picked up on the deck, into the bowl and grabbed a cloth from her trunk and washed off. It felt good to clean up after sleeping in wet clothes all night long and to comb her hair again. Her hair was so long and thick, that it was still a little damp from last night’s rain, and so she left it hanging down after she combed it, instead putting it into a bun. What did it matter? It was the way she always wore it at home.

Anna dug through the trunk found one of the pairs of her brother’s breeches that she had packed along with one of his shirts. She normally used these clothes for horseback riding, but today she’d wear them to help with the clean up on the ship. Once dressed, she came out of the partition only to hear a few giggles from the other women still in the between-decks.