Chapters (52)
- Cover
- Margaret Dickinson
- Dedication page
- Contents
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Part Two
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Sow the Seed
- Note
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Copyright page
‘Shut up!’ said the man next to him. ‘He’s here, ain’t he? He must have been doing something. There’s a lot of sky up there. Here, Miss, let me give you a hand.’
The men carefully shuffled position in the boat so that the friendly soldier moved to Kate’s side. ‘Come on, mate, let’s be having you back to good old Blighty.’
They hauled him into the bottom of the boat where he lay with his eyes closed. The sleeve of his pilot’s jacket was ripped open and blood oozed out, mixing with the sea water. Kate took off her scarf and wrapped it round the man’s arm, tying it at the back of his neck in a makeshift sling.
‘Danny, are there any blankets left?’
‘No – we’ve used ’em all.’
‘Here, Miss, take mine,’ said the soldier who had helped pull the airman aboard.
‘The glamour boys get all the attention,’ grumbled the soldier who had already moaned about the RAF.
‘Shut it, will you?’ muttered the friendly one. ‘Else I’ll shut it for you.’
The other sniffed. ‘All the same – the women . . .’
The other man put his mouth close to the grumbling soldier’s ear, but Kate still caught his words. ‘This lass had no need to come and save your miserable hide. Risking her life, she is. So shut it!’
Danny turned the boat around and headed out to sea, the small craft low in the water with the weight. Kate bent over the airman and was relieved to hear a low moan escape his lips. She tapped his face with the flat of her hand, not exactly a slap but sharp enough to try and rouse him.
‘That’s right, Miss,’ the friendly one encouraged. ‘Don’t let ‘im go to sleep. The cold will kill him, else.’
Kate put her mouth close to the airman’s ear, her whole attention now on the injured man. ‘Come on, try to wake up. What’s your name?’
She continued to talk to him, gently tapping his cheek to try to rouse him, while in the sky above, enemy aircraft swooped in again from the west, strafing the beaches and sending the waiting soldiers diving for cover in the dunes. The planes shot off to the east but turned and came back over the water, this time aiming for the small boats loaded with soldiers. Further out to sea, two more planes dropped bombs close to the larger ships waiting for the retreating British Army.
Kate hardly noticed the noise now; she was trying to wrap an already sodden blanket around the airman. She sat down in the bottom of the boat and cradled the man in her lap, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close, rubbing his back to try to warm him.