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? Good God, you’re drenched.”
“I went for a 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, the surface 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, she 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 saygo,we’ll lift at the same time. 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 and her stocking was soaked in blood. “This doesn’t look good. We have to 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.”
