Through The Storm by Margot Bish Read Free Book Online Page B

others brought Ross to
his feet in a rush. Remembering Maureen’s pain, he climbed
carefully amongst the growing rock pools. He already felt bruised
after hitting the rocks and he did not want a broken arm to add to
his troubles.
    “Jack! Dean!
Anybody? Answer me”. He started to clamber uphill to get a better
view and as he cleared the headland, someone answered.

CHAPTER 8

    “Over
here”.
    Ross looked
around but he couldn’t see anyone.
    “Where?” he
called scrambling in the general direction.
    “Down here”,
the voice came again.
    To Ross’s
amazement, it was Arthur who emerged out of the rain.
    “I’ve got Dean
down here…..I think I’ve stopped the bleeding, but I’ve run out of
bandages”.
    Ross gazed at
Arthur’s shirtless appearance and didn’t need to ask where the
bandages had come from.
    “We should be
keeping him warm and dry”, Arthur continued calmly, “but I’ve only
got my canoe, which isn’t much shelter really”.
    Ross dragged
his eyes from Arthur, and down to the unmoving Dean.
    “My sail”, he
said and turned to fetch it.
    “Bring any
rope, too”, Arthur called.
    To his
amazement, as he slipped down the rocks to the bay, Susan was
wading ashore, bedraggled and soaked to the skin, but no longer
looking pale and frightened. The worst had happened and she now
only had to cope with it. For Susan this was easier than the
imaginings beforehand. Having got over his surprise, Ross was
explaining about Dean while he tried to make his icy fingers undo
the shackles which held the sail to the mast, and the sheet to the
boat. Susan’s reaction amazed Ross even more than seeing her wading
ashore. Turning to her boat, she said, “I’ll get my sail, too. It’s
probably easier to take the whole mast, isn’t it? And if we take
the booms, too we might be able to make a tent. I think it’s easier
to undo the knot in the rope than the shackle, too”. Between them,
they rolled the sails, and putting booms and masts over their
shoulders, Ross led the way back to Dean.
    Dean was
groaning when they got back.
    “Is he worse?”
Ross asked, anxiously.
    “Actually, I
think it’s a good sign,” Arthur said, competently lashing half the
mast to a boom and leaving Susan and Ross to wedge the other lashed
boom and half the mast between some rocks.
    “That’s it.
We’ll use the other mast as a ridge pole”, Arthur said. He frowned
as he gazed at the sails, but it was Susan who said, “How do we
fasten the sails to the mast?”
    Ross was glad
to make a contribution. “We could use those shackles to join the
sails together and then tie the ends using those other bits of
string on the boom”.
    “You mean the
outhaul and the halyards?” Susan said.
    “Er yes”, Ross
agreed.

    WAITING FOR
RESCUE
    The tent worked
pretty well in the sheltered spot Dean and Arthur had landed in,
although Arthur reckoned it wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes out in
the open. Susan’s teeth were chattering as she huddled under a
corner of the sail.
    “I wish we
could start a fire”, she giggled a bit and looked at the others.
“Your teeth are chattering almost as loud as mine. Anyone got any
matches?”
    The storm was
coming round again. The thought of more cold rain to come was
unbearable. She felt a sob rising in her throat, but forced it
down. “I hope we get rescued soon”, and didn’t know if she meant it
for herself or for Dean.
    “Yes. Before
the tide rises”, Arthur said.
    Ross nodded,
but couldn’t at first see what the tide had to do with it. Perhaps
it was just a way to measure time, but then he realised Arthur had
been gazing anxiously at the sheltering cliff, and then out to sea
as he said it. Seaweed and barnacles made a neat line on the cliff
about a metre above their heads. He gulped.
    “How long?” he
asked.
    “About an hour
I think and the water will be around our ankles. We’d have to get
Dean up that cliff before then”.
    They all three
looked down at the semi-conscious bundle