Still Raphael.
The ship seemed to heading for us. We kicked and swum away so we weren't directly in the way, and then started waving and shouting at the ship as it came closer. It seemed to slow down, and then stopped completely. The ship then did a miraculous thing. One of its lifeboats was let down and rowed by a couple of the sailors towards us! Hallelujah, it had seen us! We were relieved, to say the least. They pulled us into the boat, and started questioning us.
The sailors asked us why we were out there, floating in the ocean, nearly drowning, all alone, nowhere near an island or any land.
When we gave our reason, they were shocked. The sailors informed us that the storm that wrecked the S.S Dante, and left us out there with no way of getting home was one of the worst that the area had ever seen. We were extremely lucky to be alive.
We were rowed back to the ship, and taken up.
The kind sailors and doctors fed us, bathed us and dressed us in the cleanest clothes we could ever imagine. The ship was huge, the biggest, cleanest and whitest we had ever seen. Gardo and I were amazed. We knew that foreign wanted to help people like us, but not that they were so rich!
Once they cleaned us up, and gave us more clothes to keep, we were taken to see a big, important looking man. He was steering the ship, and later we realised he was the captain.
He was very kind, and asked us where we came from. He needed someone to help him speak to us though.
When we said that we came from the island that the locals only know as "Pala", or "Palawan", the Captain, who everyone called Luke, gasped. His first mate piped in and told us that they had been helping the residents of Jolo and Basilian, and that they were a a tad far northwest of Luzon. When I heard Luzon, my heart ached. That is where we came from, and whenever I hear of it it makes me sad, for we will never be able to return, and I will never see my aunty or cousins again, unless they leave Behala to join us, which is unlikely.
