Part 26 (2/2)

'Can you see him?' he asked breathlessly.

'Nothing.' Hal was still waving his phone about. 'Got it. Got a signal.'

Freddie pulled with all his might on his oars as he heard Hal speaking down the phone. 'h.e.l.lo? Yeah, there's a man just fallen off the cliff at Tide Cove ... I'm in a boat ... no, it's a rowing boat ... about two minutes ago he fell. We're on our way to see if we can find him but I think we'll need the lifeboat ... yeah, I'll hang on but I might lose the signal ... h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo?' He looked at the phone. 's.h.i.+t. Lost signal.'

'Are they coming?' asked Freddie breathlessly.

'She said she was going to put me through but-' His phone rang. 'h.e.l.lo? Yes it was me who rang you ... we need the lifeboat and an ambulance ... I'm Hal Chandler ... my dad's the mechanic on the Trevay lifeboat ... h.e.l.lo ? h.e.l.lo?'

Hal threw the handset into the bottom of the boat in frustration. 'The signal keeps going.'

'They'll get here,' said Freddie, his arms straining with effort. 'I know they will.'

For the next few minutes, neither boy spoke to the other. Freddie was trying to ignore the pain in his shoulders in an effort to keep the boat moving forwards, and Hal was kneeling in the prow of the boat, scanning the rolling sea.

'I see him,' he shouted suddenly.

Freddie drew the boat alongside the man, not knowing whether he wanted to see what lay there. 'Is he breathing?' he asked Hal.

'He's face up, anyway,' said Hal.

Bravely he put his hand in the water and pulled at the man's jacket, bringing him closer to the boat. 'All right, mate?' he said fearfully. 'We got you.'

There was no response.

Freddie turned and looked over his shoulder at the man's face. It was pallid, the eyelids puffy and closed. A good week's worth of grey stubble covered his jowls and a frond of red seaweed had caught in it. 'Is he dead?'

'I don't know,' said Hal shakily.

'Keep his head out of the water until the lifeboat comes,' Freddie ordered.

'I'm trying.' But Hal didn't know how much longer he could hold on.

Jesse was just a minute away from the office when he felt his pager vibrate in his pocket just as he saw Mickey das.h.i.+ng towards him.

His face was etched with anxiety.

'We got a shout on the lifeboat, Jesse.'

'Not a boat in trouble, not in this weather the water's as still as anything.'

'There's a body in the water. But, Jesse, it's the boys.'

Jesse's heart froze. 'What do you mean?'

'They made the call.'

All thoughts of lorries, John Dory and maths tutors fled his mind.

He and Mickey raced to the lifeboat station.

Freddie thought he could hear something. An engine coming fast from around the corner of the headland. He looked over his shoulder and, with a shout, said, 'It's them. They're here.' In crazy relief he stood up and started to wave and shout. 'We're over here! Dad, we're over here!'

'Sit down,' shouted Hal. 'You're tipping the boat, I can't keep hold of him.'

The Spirit of Trevay in its orange and blue livery, had never looked more wonderful as it approached the boys and the drowned man. At the helm was Jesse. 'There they are,' He slowed the powerful engines and expertly brought the boat alongside the small rowing boat.

Leaving the engines idling, and shouting orders to the crew, Jesse climbed up on deck and leant over the side. He saw the white faces of Freddie and Hal staring up from the little boat.

'Are you boys all right?' he called.

'We're fine, Dad,' said Freddie with a sob of relief. 'It's this bloke, he fell off the cliff.'

Hal was still hanging on to the man's jacket and valiantly keeping his head out of the water.

Jesse, thanking a G.o.d he wasn't sure existed that the two boys weren't harmed, took a look at the casualty. His heart skipped a beat and he involuntarily swore.

Mickey was up on deck now and scanning the rowing boat for Hal.

'Hal!' he called. 'You're OK?'

'Yes, Dad.'

'What you got there?'

'This man just fell off the cliff,' Hal called back, tears coming in shock and in the relief of seeing his father. 'I've been holding him. I don't know if he's dead.'

Mickey was first to clamber down into the wooden boat and take the weight of the man from Hal. 'It's all right. I've got 'im. You can let go now.'

When Mickey could see the man's face he frowned. 'Jesse,' he shouted. 'It's your'n brother. 'Tis Grant.'

Jesse was feeling an old sickness in his stomach, a sixth sense that the past was about to collide with the present. 'Are you sure?' he asked.

'Yeah, I'm sure.'

Mickey had a toughness that his wiry frame belied. Swinging Grant's body round in the water, he managed to get his hands under his arms and haul his dead weight into the bottom of the little boat.

'Is he dead?' asked Jesse, who as c.o.xswain would never leave the lifeboat.

'Give me a minute,' said Mickey. He put his ear to the man's nose to see if he could hear or feel any breath. It was hard to tell with the soft breeze playing around the two boats. He put a hand inside the collar of Grant's camouflage jacket and felt the cold neck for a pulse.

Jesse and the boys waited.

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