The Island Horse by Susan Hughes Read Free Book Online Page B

in his stirrups as the horse’s pumping legs drove them up the side of the dune. The horse and rider crested, and then they were gone.
    Was that my pa? Or is this him on the shore?
    Ellie stood waiting, watching, as the ship tipped and tilted. Maybe it would ride out the storm. Maybe it would not sink further.
    Minutes passed. Her knees gave out, weary with terror, and she sank down on the wet sand. She clutched the hood at her neck, shivering in the rain, and waited for help to come.
    What was taking so long? Where were the men, the lifesavers?
    The man waiting on the shore sat astride his horse, huddled, a wet sentinel.
    The sea was alive, the waves beating the shore so that the island shook again and again. The ship rocked dreadfully. The waves continued to crash over the ship’s deck.
    More lightning, and now Ellie thought she could see people on board — the crew? passengers? — clinging to the rail. The ship was not far away, but the water looked deep. No one could get to shore from there without knowing how to swim, and even then … She remembered the waves hurling them from the
Eagle
to shore, and she shuddered.
    Ellie swept her hair back. Water ran down her face as if she were weeping. She put her hands over her ears. The sound of the wind was too much. The sight of the ship was too much.
    I should leave here. I don’t want to be here.
The words pounded in her head.
    But then, suddenly, there was someone beside her. A small shape in a wet raincoat, with braids poking out the front of the hood. Sarah had come over the dunes. In the raging wind, Ellie had not heard her. Ellie saw Sarah’s horse, Shannon. The horse waited, head bowed in the rain, reins dangling in the sand.
    â€œA rescue,” Sarah cried, raising her voice to be heard. She was not making silly faces now. Her brow was furrowed, her eyes worried. Ellie nodded back. Sarah sank to her knees in the wet sand beside her, and Ellie felt good not to be alone.
    There were two horses coming along the shore, shoulder to shoulder, their heads bobbing, their knees high. They were pulling something that Ellie couldn’t see through the pounding rain. There was a man beside them, gripping the bridle of one. He was bent forward, leaning, as if pulling the horses.
    The waiting man leapt from his horse and ran to meet him.
    Through the gray sheet of rain, Ellie glimpsed a wooden boat emerging from behind the pair of horses. It looked heavy and moved clumsily through the sand. It was a surfboat, perhaps the one from their beach. There were five men alongside the boat as well, pulling.
    Ellie clasped her hands together. They would rescue the people on board! No one would drown, she decided. The ship was wrecked, but the people would be saved!
    The girls stared together at the boat on the beach, at the ship, then back to the beach. Ellie strained to identify the shoremen. The men were urging the horses forward, closer to the water’s edge. The man holding the bridle gestured, and two of the men began detaching the boat from the harness. It was done quickly, and the man moved the horses away.
    Sarah leaned close and shouted, “Is your father there?”
    â€œI don’t know. I can’t tell,” Ellie yelled back. “Is yours?”
    Sarah didn’t respond, seeming not to hear.
    The six men held the rescue boat, three on each side. Its bow was in the water. The waves crashed over and into it. There was a yell, and they all began hauling forward, bending like trees falling. They went out to their knees, their thighs. One wave, two, three.
    Then suddenly, all the men leapt aboard, and quickly each grabbed an oar. Straightaway they began to row.
    â€œPull!” Sarah burst out. “Go on, pull!” Her arms were wrapped tightly around her legs. Her fists were clenched.
    The men pulled on the oars, and, unaware, Ellie leaned with them, bending in time with each stroke. The surfboat began to head offshore