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Put the words in correct order. 1. you, inside, the, come, would, you, night, spent, out






1. you, inside, the, come, would, you, night, spent, out. If, never.

2. victim, seemed, perfect, Chris, a, like.

3. clustered, looked, dozen. It/together, fireflies, of, at, like, first.

4. loud, cry, made, A, out, three, crash, all, them, of.

5. us, cloud, The, around, shimmering, spread.

 

DEATH ON THE RIVER

by Simeon Booker

" Lord, help us! " Susie, 15, black, frightened, determined to live, shouted in the darkness. She reached for a block of wood but missed, and sank beneath the water. She struggled, fought, splashed her arms about. There was so much to live for — her black Union troops and her own soldier husband, Edward.

The water was cold, almost freezing. A few miles away, across the river, the First South Carolina Volunteers were poised this Christmas Eve for battle with the Confederates. Behind Susie was Hilton Head, base for the Union troops. Susie tried to hold her breath. She didn't know how to swim, and anyhow, the long muslin dress that clung so tightly made free leg movement impossible.

For the second time she came frantically to the surface. She tried to think clearly. She had endured many hardships, risked her life many times in the two years of this bloody Civil War. But never like this. Looking about, she spied a sail pole. Struggling to reach the floating object, she lunged. She felt her hands touch wood and she grabbed the pole, clinging with all the strength she could command.

" Help us, Lord, " she prayed again as she bobbed up and down in the water.

As she regained some strength, she looked around in the water for the others who had been passengers on the boat when it left Hilton Head for the seaport of Beaufort, South Carolina. The boat had capsized suddenly, throwing everybody overboard. There was Mrs. Walker, a corporal's wife who was traveling with her two-year-old child; a discharged soldier whose name Susie didn't remember; there were two ladies, Mrs. Seabrooke and grief-stricken Mrs. Lizzie Brown. Tears still drenched Mrs. Brown's eyes. Her wounded husband had died only days before.

Susie had been at Hilton Head as a nurse working with battle-wounded Union troops. There was so much to do, she had delayed her journey to rejoin her own regiment. If Susie had immediately booked passage on the day she arrived at the base, she would not have been on the boat that capsized. But as an army nurse, she volunteered her services where they were needed.

Clutching the wooden pole, Susie called out in the darkness. " Are you out there? " She heard no answer. Then she saw Mrs. Walker holding on to a piece of wood with one hand and her crying baby with the other. Susie thought of swimming to the rescue, but even if she had known how to swim, the current of the water was too strong. 'The Lord will help us! " Susie shouted to the woman. Susie was one woman who believed in the Lord and religion, even though she was just fifteen years old.

Susie and the other woman continued to shout for help. When Mrs. Walker's arm became too weak to support the baby, she held it by her teeth, throwing her body over the piece of wood.

Every time a government boat passed within shouting distance, Susie yelled and screamed. But it was Christmas and the boat crews, celebrating one day of relaxation in a long, cruel war, didn't hear.

She knew that it wasn't the mettle of the women in the Union Army to give up. She fought on. Holding her breath for what seemed minutes, she gave a tremendous shout, a despairing cry, " Lord, help us! " She struck out with the fury of wanting to live.

On shore, an old lady gently rocked on her back porch. Weren't those cries for help out there on the river? She spoke to her son, who was inside. " I think some poor souls are cast away, " she said.

" I don't think so, Mother. I saw some soldiers going up the river just now. You know this is Christmas. You heard them having a good time."

The old lady persisted. There was a difference between cries of distress and cries of joy. " Go out and see, " the woman reasoned, " just to be sure."

To satisfy his mother, the son went outside and listened in the darkness. His mother was right. Somebody was out there in trouble. Quickly, he summoned a rescue boat.

After an hour in the water, Susie's body was rigid with cold. When she saw an approaching boat, she cried out weakly.

" We're coming! " she heard a voice call.

Finally, Susie was lifted exhausted aboard the boat. A white man covered her in a blanket and carried her below deck. Almost blinded with cold and fright, Susie tried to remain conscious. She wanted to be sure the other passengers were rescued. Mrs. Walker, she learned, had been brought aboard, but her baby had drowned. The soldier, too, had drowned. The other women were never found.

Later, Susie discovered it had been friends who had saved her. The old woman on the shore was a friend of her husband's in Darien, Georgia, a woman she hadn't seen in years.

'Thank you, Lord, " Susie prayed over and over. Even in her pain, she wanted the Lord to know she was thankful.

Her escape from death by drowning wasn't simply Susie's good luck. She lived because she had refused, in the face of overwhelming odds, to give up.

Susie King Taylor, as a woman, a nurse and a teacher, would go on to become an unforgettable Civil War heroine, bringing hope and faith to thousands of newly freed black people.

Glossary:

determine – встановлювати, вирішувати

frantic – скажений

endure – терпіти, витримати

hardship – скрута, негаразд

lunge – напасти, зробити вихід

drench – промокнути вщент, змочити

rejoin – повернути, приєднатись

regiment – загін

capsize – перевернути

mettle – темперамент, характер, хоробрість

persist – опиратись

rigid – суворий

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