A Star Looks Down Read online

  islands, and there was a bridge, but that was further south.

  They would have to keep on; they were bound to reach something sooner

  or later--sooner, she prayed fervently.

  The boat had a roomy, well equipped cabin; she sent the three younger

  children down below and told Marineka to wrap themselves up in blankets

  if there were any.

  "And I'll be down in a few minutes," she promised.

  Dirk had given up messing about with the sails; Beth called to him to

  take her place and followed the children to the cabin, where she

  settled them as comfortably as possible, found some lemonade and

  biscuits, then took off her wet shirt and pulled on a vast knitted

  garment in one of the lockers.

  She took the second one back with her and made Dirk put it on, then

  sent him below to have his share of the food.

  By the time he joined her the rain had blotted out the land and she

  asked him: "Where are we.

  Dirk?

  ' He gave her a sullen look.

  "I don't know-at least, we're in the Grevelingen Krammer.

  Oost Flakkee is on that side, but there aren't any harbours for

  miles.

  ' He sounded near to tears, despite the sullen looks, so she said

  cheerfully: "Then we'd best keep on, hadn't we?

  ' Now that she was getting over her fright, she looked around to see if

  there was anything she could understand in the boat--yachts had

  automatic steering wheels and things like that, and the boeier,

  although it had been adapted from a fishing boat's shape, was

  nevertheless a kind of yacht.

  And surely it wasn't as difficult as all that to get a sail down?

  But even if they succeeded in this, supposing the wind dropped, how

  would they get it up again?

  However did people manage?

  thought Beth desperately and then said aloud: "An engine-there has to

  be an engine.

  Dirk, where is it?

  ' He pointed to a wooden cover on the deck and shrugged his

  shoulders.

  "It's there, but I don't know how it works.

  ' "Then I'll get it going.

  ' She raised her voice above the wind.

  It must be a gale by now, she thought worriedly.

  She had no idea how fast they were sailing now, but at the rate they

  were travelling, it couldn't be long before they reached somewhere.

  A sudden picture, making her feel quite sick, of them being blown into

  the North Sea before she could do anything about it sent her cautiously

  along the deck to the wooden cover, which, after two or three attempts,

  she managed to open.

  She had no idea what kind of engine it might be--not that it would have

  helped much if she had known; it looked a jumble of machinery which

  remained stubbornly silent when she tried one or two experimental

  pokes, but it had to go if only she knew how.

  She replaced the cover and went back to Dirk at the tiller.

  "There must be a chart or something of the sort," she told him.

  "I'm going to have a look for one.

  ' In the cabin the children were curled up together.

  Beth paused to tell them that they were almost at their journey's

  end--a fictitious piece of nonsense which they believed-and started her

  search.

  She found what she was looking for quite quickly and took it

  triumphantly back to Dirk.

  "T'll take the tiller," she told him, 'and you have a look at it for

  me.

  ' To her relief he understood at least some of it.

  All the same it took a very long time before, between them, they had

  puzzled it out and even then she was a little scared to try it.

  But she had to, for the storm was worsening all the time and she had

  the nasty feeling that the mist like rain would make it difficult for

  anyone to see them from the shore.

  She took off the cover once more, and began to poke around.

  Nothing happened; she knelt on the deck, holding on to the rail with

  both hands, and fought a desire to burst into tears.

  If only Alexander were there!

  He would have known what to do and would have done it without fuss, and

  by now they would all have been home and dry--and safe.

  The nightmare trip had lasted for hours; they must have come miles and

  there was nothing to be seen.

  Even as she thought it, she saw land looming out of the grey ness ahead

  of them.

  She flung herself down beside Dirk, shouting urgently above the gale:

  "Dirk, that's land--can't we stop?

  Where is it?

  ' "It's the new dyke, I think, but I don't think we can stop--the

  wind's blowing us through that opening--we'll have to go on.

  ' "But we must.

  Dirk--it's our chance.

  Let's just try.

  ' It was hopeless and dangerous besides; the hoeier, tough though she

  was, shuddered alarmingly when they altered course, caught in a

  cross-wind which almost turned her over.

  With the strength of fear, they got her back on course again and slid

  through the gap, the dyke behind them now, and a waste of grey water

  ahead.

  "I'm going to have another go," said Beth fiercely.

  And this time she was lucky; she hadn't the slightest idea how she had

  done it, but the motor coughed, sighed, coughed again and came alive.

  She stayed by it for a minute, hardly believing her ears, then shouted:

  "Dirk it's going!

  Now we can turn, can't we?

  ' He stared at her from a white face.

  "Uncle Alexander said never.

  .

  we have to alter course very slowly at intervals.

  ' It sounded awful.

  She shuddered at the risks they were taking and pulled herself

  together.

  "What comes after that dyke?

  ' "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 dyke 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 h
er 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

  bumping 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 assured 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

  fashion!

  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 suc
h 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.

  .

  .