So close to the ties of blood, we are rarely surprised when we hear of a man or a woman who has been saved from death by the courage and self-sacrifice of another member of the family.
But when a double rescue takes place, and when the parties to it are thousands of miles apart, and neither one even aware of his role in it, then it is an incident which belongs in the chronicles of the strange and the incredible.
It was in the winter of 1940. The pretty submarine C-23 was at rest far beneath the surface of the water. And in his bunk, Officer Ian Scott lay fast asleep, dreaming.
Somehow, he found himself in a munitions plant in London. In the room before him, a young girl was hard at work.
Why, it's Nell. It's my sister, Nell.
Scott came quickly up behind her, but then suddenly he stopped. The girl was no longer working. She was asleep, her head on the table.
Near her, a thin tongue of flame was creeping closer and closer.
Good Lord, fire. Nell, wake up. The plant's on fire.
In desperation, Scott seized her arm and shook it violently, and she raised her head. But just at that moment...
Officer Scott awoke, the sound of the explosion still crashing in his ears. And now, as his mind cleared, he became aware of the air around him.
Petrol fumes. The whole submarine's filled with them. We've got to get to the surface or we're lost.
Around him, other members of the crew were lying in their bunk sleeping. As a result of the fumes, some had already slipped into a deep coma.
But by shouting and shaking and mishaping, Officer Scott managed to arouse three of them, and working with maniacal speed, they brought the vessel to the surface, to the fresh, sweet, life-giving air.
You know, you chaps ought to be grateful to my sister, Nell. If I hadn't dreamed about her, and if that explosion in my dream hadn't awakened me when it did, the whole lot of us would have been dead pigeons.
You really ought to thank her. It was another two months before Officer Scott did get home on leave. And among those who greeted him with greatest warmth was his sister, Nell.
For, as she said, not only was she glad to see him, but she had a very special reason to be grateful to him. Grateful? What did I do?
Just saved my life, that's all. It was about two months ago, I was working at the plant. I got so sleepy I couldn't hold my head up. I left my table and went to the restroom and fell asleep.
And I dreamed about you. You were lying in a submarine, and you looked as if you were dead. But you weren't really dead at all.
I, I was in a coma, perhaps?
Perhaps. Anyway, I tried to wake you and I couldn't. And then there was a terrific explosion.
In your dream?
No, no, it was in the plant. I woke up and I found out that the whole billing shop where I work, you know, that it had been blown sky high. Thirty-six women were killed. I'd have been one of them if I'd been working.
After that, Ames Scott told his sister of his own dream, of the role she had played in saving his life. And then the two of them stared at each other in blank amazement.
For what theory can be offered to explain this remarkable coincidence? The mere fact that it occurred leads us to realize how scanty is the scientific knowledge which would make comprehensible stories such as this. Stories incredible but true.
True.