She closed her eyes to it, and so, the next instant, against her purpose, she had put out her hand, which had met his own and which he held.

Then it was that, from behind her closed eyes, the right word came.

"Wait!" It was the word of his own distress and entreaty, the word for both of them, all they had left, their plank now on the great sea.
Their hands were locked, and thus she said it again.

"Wait.

Wait." She kept her eyes shut, but her hand, she knew, helped her meaning--which after a minute she was aware his own had absorbed.