“He’s not resisting?” Emma asked.
Her father watched for a few more seconds. “He appears compliant.”
“Is there anyone else? The missing crewman?”
“It doesn’t appear so.”
He handed the binoculars to Emma while the men on the beach cheered. She focused on the lifeboat, which was no easy task as it crested steep swells like mountaintops and descended into the troughs, out of view. Where was the captain? At last, she spotted him seated at the stern, hunched over, his head bowed, hugging himself, probably chilled to the bone.
She and her father waited anxiously, in grim silence, for the lifeboat to reach shore. Again, minutes felt like hours.
“Damn!” Her father lowered his binoculars. “They’ve capsized!”
Emma strode forward, desperately scanning the waves. When she finally caught sight of the surfboat, it was overturned and sliding up a giant swell. Then it plunged forward while crewmen bobbed about in the waves. They were less than two hundred feet away. The men onthe beach quickly pushed the second lifeboat into the surf and rowed frantically to their rescue.
Two men were pulled from the sea, but where were the others? Emma covered her mouth with both hands to stifle a sob.
Just then, a third man was hauled into the boat. Emma’s keen gaze searched the ocean for the last two, still unaccounted for.
“There!” She pointed. “Twenty yards to the left!”
A man was floating on the swells and dragging another. Suddenly, the lifeboat was thrust onto the beach by a massive breaker. Joshua and Larry jumped out and dragged it farther onto the sand, while three others dashed into the surf to meet the swimmer, who was washed onto the shore only to be dragged back out by the undertow. Thankfully, on the next wave, he was tossed onto the beach again.
It was the ship’s captain. He crawled on all fours until two men hooked their arms under his and dragged him on his knees.
The second man, unconscious, was also dragged clear of the breakers. It was Ezra, the oldest member of the rescue crew.
The world went silent in Emma’s ears. She ran to where the men had laid Ezra on his back. They all crowded around.
Emma’s father dropped to his knees and put his ear close to Ezra’s nose. “He’s breathing.” He slapped him lightly on the cheeks until Ezra opened his eyes, coughed, and sputtered.
“Thank goodness.” Emma then turned to the captain, who had collapsed onto his back, his forearm resting across his eyes. While the others tended to Ezra, she hurried to the captain with a blanket, dropped to her knees beside him, and covered him with it. “Are you all right, sir? Can I do anything for you?”
He gave no answer.
“You’re safe now,” she told him. “We took your crew to the rescue station, where we have food and shelter.”
He shook his head as if he didn’t want to share in any of that. He merely lay with his arm over his face. For a moment, Emma feared he was in a state of shock or mental paralysis, but then he sat up abruptly,tossed the blanket aside, and stared at her, unseeing, as if he were staring into an abyss. His clothes—black trousers and a black wool turtleneck—were sopping wet. His jet-black hair dripped onto his broad shoulders, and suddenly he began to shiver uncontrollably.
He turned a piercing gaze to Ezra, who, with help from the men, was rising unsteadily to his feet.
“Your man’s alive,” the captain said shakily.
“Yes,” Emma replied. “Thanks to you.”
Her father came striding across the sand just then. “Good morning, sir. I’m John Clarkson, superintendent of Sable Island.” He offered his hand to the captain, who allowed her father to pull him to his feet.
Emma quickly snatched the discarded blanket off the sand.
“Oliver Harris. Captain of theBelvedereout of Britain.”
“Thank you for what you did out there,” her father said. “You saved a life.”
Captain Harris bit back a response, then staggered slightly as if he were about to collapse. Emma grabbed hold of his arm.
“I don’t deserve gratitude,” he tersely replied. “I bear full responsibility for what happened here.”
“It was a bad storm,” her father assured him. “The worst we’ve seen in years. And you’re not the first to run aground on these shoals.”
