Chapter Five

The storm worsened as the evening went on. There was no lightning or thunder, but the rain was torrential and a full gale was blowing. Though Lizzy tried her best to ignore it, it was impossible. Even when she played loud music through her headphones she couldn’t completely shut out the howl of the wind and the noise of the sea, which wasn’t merely grumbling now but roaring like a hundred angry lions. The lights kept dimming too, and every time it happened it made her jump.

Rose went to bed early, and Mum and Dad weren’t far behind her. By half past ten the house was in darkness. Lizzy snuggled under her duvet, shutting her eyes and trying to make herself sleep. But she couldn’t. All she could think about was Kes and Morvyr.

She did doze off eventually; at least she must have done, because when the deafening BANG came she jolted awake and shot upright in bed with a cry of fright. Whatever –?

A second explosion made her scream again. It was a thunderbolt – it must have been! Then her door opened and Mum came in, switching the light on.

‘Lizzy, are you all right?’

Lizzy turned to her, white-faced and terrified. ‘Oh, Mum! Have we been hit by lightning?’

‘No, love! The lifeboat’s been called out. That noise was the maroon rockets – they fire them from the station and they probably exploded right above us.’ Mum went to the window and lifted back the curtain. ‘There are lights going on in lots of houses. What an awful night for a rescue!’

Lizzy was hugely relieved that it hadn’t been a thunderbolt, but her relief was quickly swamped by another fear: for the lifeboat crew, and for whoever was in danger out there on the sea.

She scrambled out of bed and joined Mum at the window. Through the streaming glass they glimpsed two dark figures in waterproofs running past the house. This street was halfway up the cliffside hill; lights were coming on in the rows of houses below them, and over the rooftops Lizzy could see more lights blazing in the lifeboat station building. From the headland the beam of the lighthouse swung slowly in from the sea and over the scene. It made everything look unreal and nightmarish.

Rose ran in then and crowded to the window too, elbowing Lizzy aside. ‘Is it a shout?’ she asked worriedly.

‘What?’ Lizzy was perplexed.

‘A shout – it’s what they call it when the lifeboat goes out. Paul told me. His dad’s in the crew. Oh, I hope he’ll be OK!’

Another man raced past the window, and the headlights of a car rushed along the harbourside road. ‘I want to ring Paul!’ Rose said.

‘No, love, leave him,’ Mum told her. ‘He’s got enough to worry about; he won’t be able to talk to you now.’

‘But –’ Then Rose saw sense. ‘If anything awful happens…’ she finished in a small, scared voice.

‘They know what they’re doing,’ Mum soothed. ‘They’ll be all right. Don’t worry. Look, I don’t suppose anyone wants to go back to sleep, so why don’t I go downstairs and make us all some tea? Then we can listen to the local radio station, and we’ll hear if there’s any news.’

She went out, but Rose and Lizzy stayed at the window. Neither of them said anything, but Rose put an arm round Lizzy’s shoulders. She seemed to be trying to comfort herself.

The girls tried to locate the lifeboat at the end of its floating pontoon; They couldn’t make it out, and certainly didn’t hear the engines starting over the noise of the wind and rain, but they saw a dim glow inside the cockpit, and the brighter white stern light. Moments later the lights began to move steadily as the boat set out for sea.

‘There they go.’ Rose didn’t sound like herself. ‘I wish there was something we could do to help.’

Lizzy nodded. ‘Me too.’ She glanced at her sister. ‘Do you think Paul’s dad’s on board?’

‘I don’t know. Paul says it’s up to the captain – I mean, the coxswain. He picks the crew from whoever shows up. I sort of… hope Mr Treleaven didn’t get there in time.’

From downstairs came the mumble of the radio, and Mr Baxter, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, put his head round the door.

‘You girls all right?’ he asked.

‘We’re fine, Dad,’ Lizzy told him. ‘The lifeboat’s just gone. We saw it.’

‘Well, let’s wish them good luck. Coming for a cup of tea?’

Rose was still staring out of the window, though the lifeboat’s lights had faded into the murky darkness. ‘Come on,’ Lizzy said to her. ‘There’s nothing else to see now.’

Rose hesitated, then nodded and followed her downstairs.

The Baxters drank their tea, then they all went back to bed. Lizzy managed to sleep for a while, but woke as it was starting to get light. It was half past five. The rain had stopped, though the wind still blew gustily. After the uproar of the storm the world seemed astonishingly quiet. Then she heard the sound of a diesel engine approaching.

She scrambled out of bed and reached the window in time to see an ambulance drive along the harbour road. It was heading for the lifeboat station – Lizzy’s heart skipped, and she ran across to Rose’s room. Rose was awake, and when Lizzy told her about the ambulance, her eyes widened with alarm.

‘Quick, let’s go back – I want to look out from your window!’

The two girls hurried to Lizzy’s room, and Rose flung the window open, letting in a whirling gust of wind. Leaning precariously out, she peered towards the lifeboat station.

‘I can’t see where the ambulance went… Oh! Lizzy, the lifeboat’s back! I can just make out the orange top and that radar thing!’

Lizzy squeezed in to look too, and saw a bright splash of colour amid the dull greys of the morning. ‘Whoo!’ she said. ‘What a relief – bet you’re glad!’

‘You bet I am – but what about the ambulance? Someone must be hurt! What if –’

‘It’s probably the people they rescued. Rose, be careful – you’ll fall out of the window!’

There were noises on the landing, and Mum and Dad appeared, looking sleepy-eyed.

‘They’re back, they’re safe!’ Rose told them. ‘But an ambulance just went past – Mum, I want to go to the lifeboat station and see what’s happened!’ She saw Mum hesitate and added, ‘Please – it’s light now, and the rain’s stopped!’

‘We-ell…’

‘Tell you what,’ said Dad. ‘Give it half an hour – time for the ambulance crew to do what they have to – and then you can go. But you mustn’t get in anyone’s way, all right?’

‘Of course I won’t! I’ll get dressed.’ Rose ran out of the room. Dad called, ‘Not now, Rose! In half an hour!’ but she didn’t answer.

Rose was jumping with impatience by the time half an hour had passed and she could leave for the lifeboat station. Lizzy went with her. Mum and Dad had been reluctant to let her, but Rose chimed in on Lizzy’s side and at last they gave way.

‘I’m glad you came,’ Rose said as they hurried along the street, heads down against the wind. ‘If Paul’s not there, I don’t know anyone else, and if I have to just stand there out of the way with no one to talk to, I think I’ll explode!’

There was a small crowd around the lifeboat station. The ambulance had gone, but the coastguards were there, and a police car, and the harbour master and several fishermen. The lifeboat itself was back at its mooring, tilting and swaying with the swell,and beyond the harbour the sea was a mass of tumbling white horses.

Rose saw Paul standing by the wall of the station building, and ran to him. ‘Paul! Did your dad go out? Is he all right?’

Paul smiled broadly. ‘He’s fine. Some of them were a bit seasick, though.’

‘What happened? We saw the ambulance from Lizzy’s window.’

‘It was for the guys they rescued. They’re the crew of a French fishing trawler; they lost their rudder, then started taking on water. The trawler sank, but the lifeboat got everyone off.’

Rose let out her breath in a huge, huffing sigh. ‘It must have been really hairy! So who got hurt?’

‘They’ve taken all the crew to hospital, of course, just to check them out. But apparently one guy fell overboard. They got him out of the water but he’s unconscious and they don’t know how bad he is yet.’ Paul frowned. ‘There was something a bit weird about it…’

Lizzy felt a sudden inward shiver that she couldn’t explain. ‘What do you mean, weird?’ she asked.

‘Nobody on the lifeboat can speak much French, so they weren’t exactly sure what the trawlermen said, but it looks as if no one really knows anything about this guy.’

‘What, he was a new crew member, you mean?’ asked Rose.

‘I suppose so. But Dad said they didn’t even know his name. And that’s not the only thing. When he went overboard, no one saw it happen. But, when the lifeboat got a line to the trawler, a whole lot of dolphins suddenly appeared and started jumping around, like they were trying to attract attention. They were making a huge fuss, so the cox turned the searchlight on them, and there in the middle of them was this French guy!’

Lizzy and Rose both stared at him in astonishment, then Lizzy whispered, ‘The dolphins were helping him?’

‘Looks like it. They found him and held him up till he was rescued.’

‘Wow!’ said Rose, awed. ‘I’ve heard stories about dolphins doing things like that, but… Wow!’ She looked at Lizzy. ‘Isn’t that amazing?’

Lizzy was staring at the lifeboat. She wanted to ask, how many dolphins were there? Did one have a silver streak on its back? Above all, did they know, somehow, who the mysterious Frenchman was? But, if she asked, there would be too much to explain. So she just said:

‘Yes. Amazing…’