‘That’s all for this time,’ Danny shouted. ‘We can only take fifteen at a time.’

‘Can’t we hang on to the side, mate?’ one of the soldiers still waiting shouted.

‘Sorry,’ Danny said firmly. ‘We’ll capsize and then we’ll get no one off. We’ll be back as soon as we can . . .’ he promised, but the look on the faces of those still waiting up to their necks in the water tore at Kate’s heart.

Those they had taken on board sat hunched and silent. Their faces were streaked with oil and many had at least four days’ growth of beard on their chins. One had a dirty handkerchief tied around one eye, another was only in his vest and underpants and all were wet through and shivering.

Kate opened one of the boxes and passed some bread and cheese and apples round. ‘I’m sorry we’ve nothing hot,’ she apologized.

A young soldier – no more than a boy, he seemed to Kate – wolfed the food, stuffing the bread into his mouth.

‘How – how long have you been without food?’

‘Three days, Miss. We’ve been on the beach for two, wading out into the water when it looked like a ship was coming, then back to the dunes again when the enemy planes came over . . .’

Suddenly Kate’s hand seemed frozen on the tiller as a dreadful fear clutched her. This could happen on our beaches! The thought terrified her.

She shuddered, thinking of the peaceful tranquillity of the beach at home; she couldn’t imagine Fleethaven Point becoming a place of death with guns blasting and soldiers fleeing for their lives into the dunes and bodies floating in the sea . . .

We can’t let it happen, she thought suddenly. We have to help stop it happening – Danny and I. We must.

Until this moment the war had seemed far away; unreal. Oh, they’d read the papers, but it hadn’t really affected their small community.

Now – off the beaches of Dunkirk – it was very real.

On their fourth trip back to the lines of waiting men, Danny shouted. ‘Give us a hand here, Kate, this one can’t help himself. He’s about had it.’

‘Here – hold this,’ she asked one of the soldiers already in the boat.

‘Anything you say, Cap’n.’ The soldier’s face was black with oil, and his clothes were saturated, but he still managed a grin as she handed the tiller over to him and moved down the boat to help Danny.

The man Danny was trying to bring aboard was in a semi-conscious state, almost sinking under the water. ‘Give him a shove up, will ya, mate?’ Danny asked the man waiting next to him.

‘Shouldn’t bother,’ put in one of the soldiers already in the boat. ‘He’s only RAF. Where are they, that’s what I’d like to know? Ain’t seen one of our planes all day.’