Part 28 (1/2)
' ”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.