A Star Looks Down Part 28

' "There's Schouwen Duiveland that way I think we're nearer there than anywhere else.

There's a place called Brouwershaven a harbour.

' She said resolutely: "OK, we'll go there.

Would you recognize it?

' He thought about it.

"I think perhaps I'm not sure; I sailed this way with my father, but it was a long time ago it's a long way.

' "You can say that again, but at least we know where we're going.

' She gave him an encouraging smile.

"I'm going to see how the others are.

' Incredibly, they were sleeping, worn out with fright and excitement.

Beth collected some more biscuits and took them back to Dirk and huddled beside him again.

She wasn't frightened any more; the storm was just as fierce as ever and she had no idea how they would be able to sail into a harbour without coming to grief; she didn't know how to stop the engine and neither of them knew how to get the sails down; all the same, she wasn't scared.

She munched a biscuit and thought about the profess or.

She had lost all count of time when Dirk shouted: "There is the little island, and the d.y.k.e they were building we have to go round that point of land you can just see.

' "Good do you think we could turn a little?

I can't see any harbour, though, is it hidden?

' "It faces the other way.

' He gave her a scared look.

"It will be difficult.

' The understatement of the year!

All the same she said briskly: "Alter course.

Dirk, we're almost at the point.

' The harbour entrance was so narrow that they almost missed it, and for a few moments Beth thought that the stout little boat would be blown past it.

Desperately she made her way to the motor and turned all the levers she could see.

The diesel, more by good luck than anything else, stopped and in the nick of time the boeier, with billowing sails, swept into the harbour.

But they were going much too fast; she could see the little town, built tidily on either side of the harbour which ran into its heart, and alarmingly close.

They would have to stop, but after coming all that way, the idea of b.u.mping into one of the yachts berthed on either side of them was unthinkable.

She clawed her way to the mast and pulled and tugged, not knowing what she was doing, but to such good effect that the sails came hurtling down in a great untidy heap and they floundered to a stop, close enough to a stout motor cruiser so that she could lean over the side and hang on while Dirk made fast.

It wasn't perhaps quite the way to berth, but it would serve--and they were going to get help; they had stopped exactly in front of the police station, an impressive building which spelled security and safety and perhaps a hot drink.

There was a large policeman, wrapped in oilskins, crossing the cobbles, to come to a halt on the harbour side and shout down to them.

Dirk answered him at some length and the man jumped down, made the boat fast with sea manlike expertise, grinned at Beth and went below to the children.

He carried Alberdina up on deck while Beth collected Hubert and Marineka, spoke to Dirk again, and led the way over to the police station, where he ushered them into a waiting room and went to fetch someone else--a more senior man, Beth surmised, who, heaven be praised, spoke English.

Before she had finished telling him what had happened, the first man was back again with a tray of hot coffee and thick slices of bread and cheese.

Swallowing the scalding drink, she thought she had never tasted anything so good.

"If the children could be got warm?

' she asked, 'and could we telephone their mother?

' "At once, miss.

' The two men smiled at her in a fatherly way.

"Would you wish to speak, or shall we do it for you?

It is perhaps not good that the children talk to their mother.

They are tired.

' "Well, if you wouldn't mind--if you could explain.

I can't speak Dutch and although Mevrouw Thor becke speaks English, it would be easier.

' The older man nodded.

"I go now," he a.s.sured her.

"There is a stove in the other room, if you will take the children there and ask for anything you would wish for.

' It was so cosily safe she could have gone to sleep there and then, but first the children had to be dried and warmed and cuddled a little.

She turned from rubbing Alberdina's small icy feet to find the policeman back again.

"There was a Profess or van Zeust on the telephone," he told her, 'these children's uncle, is it not?

I have told him all, and he comes to fetch you back to Willemstad.

' He paused, looking at her.

"I warn you that he is exceedA STAR LOOKS DOWN 205 ingly angry, miss.

He said his words "the stupid, idiotic little fool, I could kill her!"

' He shrugged enormous shoulders.

"He does not mean that, of course naturally, he was worried, and when a man is worried he says such things.

Now you will all have more coffee, for you, miss, do not look well.

It is perhaps the shock of sailing the boeier through such a bad storm.

' Beth wanted to tell him that she hadn't sailed it; she hadn't known how, but it would be a waste of time and only lead to a lot more questions time enough to explain when Alexander arrived.

Perhaps by the time he did, he would have got over his anger.

She saw the Citroen tearing along the road on the other side of the harbour long before the others did.

It disappeared from sight for a few moments and then snapped into view, to stop dead in front of the police station, and all her worst fears were realized.

The profess or wasn't just angry, he was in a white hot rage, all the more frightening because of the calm of his face.

He strode in, made himself known to the Commandant, answered the children's cries of delight in a warm, perfectly normal voice, and gave her a look of such bottled-up fury that she quailed.

It was only after a short conversation with the two policemen, and the briefest of colloquies with Dirk, that he spoke to her.

They were leaving the building, the three elder children in front, Alberdina between them, when he said in a low, furious voice: "You little idiot, Elizabeth, endangering all your lives in such a foolhardy fas.h.i.+on!

What was your purpose--what did you hope to gain from such a hair-brained scheme?

And why tell Dirk that you could handle a boat and persuade him.

' She could think of nothing to say and she couldn't take refuge behind a ten-year-old boy, even though he was wholly to blame.

She looked stonily ahead of her and didn't say a word, and neither, after his outburst, did the profess or.

She sat in the back of the car, with Alberdina on her lap and the other two beside her, half asleep now, and Dirk sat with his uncle, talking earnestly.

The profess or drove very fast, his temper once more under control, talking very little; mostly questions to Dirk.

Only as they reached Willemstad did he say to them all: "Your mother has been very frightened.

You are to be good and quiet, all of you, and do exactly as you are told, and you must all be very tired and hungry.

Supper and bed, I think, and you can tell her all about it in the morning.

' He led the way into the old house, calling out something Beth couldn't understand in a cheerful voice, and Mar tina Thor becke came running down the stairs, laughing and crying and trying to embrace all four of her children at once.

But presently she asked questions, answered briefly by her brother, and then, at great length, by Dirk, and when the profess or would have hushed the boy, his mother shook her head and bade him go on, and Beth, standing quietly behind the others, saw the look Mevrouw Thor becke shot at her and wondered what Dirk was saying.

Only when Maartje appeared and took the children away with her did Mevrouw Thor becke speak to Beth.

"What is this that Dirk tells me, Elizabeth--he told the same story to his uncle.

Why would you do such a dreadful thing--to risk their lives.

' She choked back a sob.

"Thank heaven Alexander was here, on the point of leaving for Utrecht hospital to perform an urgent operation, and now thanks to you, the patient may be dead.

' The profess or had crossed to where Beth was standing.

He took her cold hands in his and said gently: "Beth, will you not tell us what happened?

You had some reason.

' Why, she wondered wearily, were they so sure that it was her fault, and why had Alexander been so cruelly angry with her?

She pulled her hands away and said in a wooden little voice: "Dirk told you--I've nothing to add to that.

I'm very sorry about your patient.

I hope you'll still be in time.

' She didn't look at either of them but went upstairs to her room, feeling suddenly exhausted.

It seemed hours later when Mevrouw Thor becke knocked and came in.

She said at once: "Alexander left at once to go to Utrecht, but he wants to talk to you.