Nicholas Spark Walks on Water Summary

The chapter opens with Purvis telling a story of a ship whose crew and captain went blind from a horrible disease. Jessie questions the story and asks how anyone could know of it if everyone died and the ship was lost at sea. Jessie cannot understand the truth of the story, but can understand the truth in the horror of the story. Jessie asks if there was a cure for the disease, and Ned responds that there was no cure, "[n]o more than there's a cure for man himself." Jessie still wonders why Ned hit him, and wonders if it was to protect him from the others who are disturbed by Jessie's sensitivity to the plight of the slaves. All of the men are again drinking heavily. The ship is sailing in the evening...