Chapter 16
Billy’s recovery wasn’t rapid. For days, he lay on his own personal equator, drifting neither to the north or the south. But he didn’t get hiccups like the ones who’d died. And he continued to pass fluids. These were good signs, Doctor Roberts told Alf. They proved he was destined for life.
Alf knew Billy’s healing wasn’t magic. Yet the crystal water marked a turning point in the epidemic. As they headed towards the milder Cape climate, the sea rolled and swelled like a proud man’s chest. The wind bore them valiantly across the waves. With strong south-easterlies and no fresh outbreaks of typhus, Doctor Roberts was confident they’d left death behind. Though he wasn’t taking any chances. They would sail into Table Bay under a yellow quarantine flag.
The mood in steerage remain
