Chapter 15 #2
“Be careful, Papa!” Penelope called out to him from the shelter of the doorway as he crossed the yard.
He then mounted his horse and galloped through the wind and rain toward the top of the ridge.
He paused there briefly to gaze below, but saw nothing through the raging storm.
His horse nickered, and Adam had to urge the reluctant steed down the road to the lowlands.
When he reached the marsh, Adam called out to Madeline and Diana, but heard no reply.
The wind howled like a great beast as it gusted over the tall grasses.
The rain stung his face like steel pellets.
He continued along the road toward the river, until he decided to cross over a dale to check one of the hay barns.
Within minutes, he noticed his mount was struggling to manage his footing across the wet grass. The closer they came to the river, the deeper the puddles became until they were sloshing through soggy ground and sinking into the mud.
It was clear to Adam that the water was not draining fast enough into the ditches. He gazed uneasily up at the darkening sky, the clouds showing no sign of retreat. He called out Madeline’s name again, then Diana’s, and searched the vast landscape with squinting, burning eyes.
Though his first concern was to find each of them unharmed, he could not deny the hope that he would find Madeline before Diana did.
He continued toward the river and soon realized that his horse was up to his knees in water, struggling now with each step.
A slow panic began to grow inside Adam. He stopped on the marsh and peered through the storm toward the river. Perhaps one of the dykes had given way.
“Madeline! Diana!”
He spotted a hay barn in the distance and wondered if they might have gone there to seek shelter. Madeline was smart. She would take Diana there if she found her.
“Let’s go, boy, just a little farther.”
Suddenly his horse slumped beneath him and Adam tumbled off, splashing into ice-cold salt water. The shock of it set his heart racing. The next thing he knew, he was struggling to keep his head above water and touch bottom in what appeared to be a flooded ditch.
His horse snorted and whinnied. A few frenzied seconds of panic passed, then they both managed to stagger out of the trench. Still up to his knees in muddy water, Adam pulled himself onto his horse. He shivered with a chill, then called out, “Madeline!”
He heard a cry from somewhere in the distance. “Madeline!” he called out again.
At last he spotted her, galloping across the swampy ground with John Metcalf and Charlie, and he thanked God for keeping them safe. He started off toward them.
“Adam! Help!” Madeline shouted. “It’s Diana! She’s been hurt! Terribly hurt!”
The words struck him like a mallet. He rode to meet them on dryer ground. “Where is she?”
Dear God, whatever had happened to Diana tonight, it was his doing and he would never be able to forget it.
“She’s in one of the hay barns!” Madeline turned to point toward the center of the marsh. “I couldn’t get her out! The wind took the roof off and it collapsed on her! She’s not conscious!”
He heard the terror in Madeline’s voice, felt it in his own chest. All he could do was urge his horse onward. “Let’s go. We’ve got to get her out of there before this whole marsh floods.”
John rode up beside Adam. “It’s flooding? You’re drenched, sir!”
“I went for an accidental swim. We all will, if we don’t reach high ground soon.”
By the time they crossed the marsh to where Diana was trapped, the entire ground had flooded knee-deep. John and Adam leaped off their horses.
“Where is she?” Adam asked.
Madeline slid off her horse and splashed into the water, which was littered with limp blades of grass and weeds. She gasped at the shock of the chill. “She’s this way!”
Gathering her heavy, wet skirts in her fists, Madeline waded toward the barn door and went into what remained of the damaged structure.
She pointed. “There!”
Adam saw the vivid color of Diana’s blue skirt peeking out from beneath some debris and draping over the side of the loft. He felt a sickening wash of dread. The rest of her was hidden beneath the fallen roof. At least she was not in danger of drowning, he told himself, as he climbed the ladder.
John followed close behind. Carefully they tossed boards and planks aside until they could reach her. Adam touched her arm. “Diana!”
She didn’t move. He found the pulse at her wrist. “She’s alive!”
He and John pulled broken pieces of wood off her, most of them small shingles and splintered planks. When he uncovered her face, he saw that it was scratched and cut. One larger beam had pinned her leg and was not so easy to move.
“John, can you reach the end of it?”
John moved a few more planks out of the way and crawled to Diana’s feet. “Yes, sir, Mr. Coates.”
“When I say go, we’ll lift at the same time. Are you ready?” They each gripped a section of the beam. “Go!”
Groaning at the impossible effort, they pulled the beam off her leg and tossed it aside. Adam scrambled to see where Diana was injured.
He lifted her skirts. Her leg was twisted, her stocking soaked in blood. “This doesn’t look good. We must get her home. Help me, John, that’s it, take her arms. Madeline! Bring my horse!”
They handed Diana down like a heavy, limp doll. A few minutes later, Adam was high on his horse, cradling Diana in his arms. The others mounted and they started off across the sodden marsh toward the ridge.
“John, will you fetch the doctor? Do you know where he lives?”
“Yes, sir!”
Without hesitation, John pushed ahead, struggling over the flooded ground to the uplands, finally reaching the road and disappearing over the hill.
Charlie rode behind Adam and Madeline, all of them keeping their heads down, protecting their faces from the driving wind and rain. It was dusk now, growing darker by the minute.
“Will she be all right?” Madeline asked.
Adam shifted Diana in his arms. “I don’t know. All we can do is pray.”
They walked their horses along a fence, reaching the edge of the marsh. The road to the uplands was at last within reach.
Suddenly a low, thunderous roar stopped all of them in their tracks.
Charlie, behind them, called out, “Papa, what is that noise?”
They could see little through the gray, turbulent dusk, but the noise continued, like the terrifying rumble of the sea.
Adam turned in the saddle. “Hurry, Charlie, we’ve got to reach the road!”
His son was farther back, his horse laboring through the shallow waters that had gradually covered the entire marsh around them. “Dante can’t go any faster!” he replied.
“Try!”
They all continued toward the road. Adam was the first to reach dry, higher ground, with Madeline not far behind.
“Madeline, take my horse with Diana and go home. I must help Charlie.”
“But I cannot leave you here!”
“You must. Your sister’s life depends on it.”
Madeline reluctantly changed places with him.
Charlie called out, “Papa!”
Both Adam and Madeline turned toward the marsh. From their height just above, they saw a wave sweeping toward them at great speed from the river, taking with it whatever stood in its path: hay, fence rails, cattle and sheep. The dykes had all but disappeared beneath the great tidal surge.
Panic welled up in Adam as he watched his youngest son turn to look over his shoulder. Adam ran down the hill. “Ride, Charlie! Ride!”
He heard Madeline call out to him, but he couldn’t stop. He ran splashing into the water just as the wave swept up behind Charlie and lifted both him and his horse off their feet.