I’ll go and have a word with Lieutenant Kendall.’
‘I have no intention of waiting here while you go off for a discussion with your friends. This girl needs urgent medical attention if she’s to survive and I mean to ensure she receives it.’
Her raised voice pursued the coast guard as he hurried away heading for a group of uniformed men standing on the beach, looking out to where the vessel on the offshore rocks was being unmercifully pounded to pieces by the relentless sea.
There were no visible signs of life on board the wrecked vessel and as the coast guard approached the group of fellow officers, two of them waded into the sea to retrieve the body of a man floating face down in the water, arms outstretched to his sides, being washed in with the tide.
The coast guard who had been with Alice and Percy spoke to a young man wearing the uniform of a lieutenant of the Royal Navy, pointing back the way he had come. Heads turned to look in the direction of Alice and the lieutenant, accompanied by two coast guards, began hurrying towards her.
When he arrived, the lieutenant looked at the wet and dishevelled girl kneeling beside the prostrate survivor and was no more impressed with her than the other man had been.
Addressing her, he said, ‘Coast Guard Pascoe says the young girl is a survivor from the wrecked vessel and he found you and your companion searching her….’
‘Then Coast Guard Pascoe has a vivid imagination,’ Alice retorted. ‘The state of the girl’s clothing makes a search unnecessary . The sea and rocks have not left her with enough to even satisfy decency. Percy and I found her among rocks at the far end of the beach, she is still alive – but only just. If she is not seen by a doctor very soon she’ll no longer be a survivor and will join the line of bodies farther along the beach.’
As had the coastguard who had been first to reach her, the Royal Navy lieutenant realised that Alice was not just another local young woman intent upon plunder and he reacted immediately . Turning to the coastguard with him, he said, ‘Pascoe, collect a few men and something to support the girl then carry her to the top of the cliff.’
Turning back to Alice, he said, ‘I am Lieutenant Jory Kendall, the officer in charge of the North Cornwall coast guard. Where do you want the girl taken? I’ll have a doctor sent for but he can’t treat her out here in this weather.’
‘Have her carried to the rectory at Trethevy. I’ll go with her and settle her in a spare room.’
‘The rectory? I was not aware of a church at Trethevy.’
‘It has been unused for many years, at least, as a place of worship, but my brother has been appointed rector there and it will soon be serving its original purpose once more.’
Her reply satisfied a number of the naval lieutenant’s unasked questions, but he had more. ‘Why are you here and not your brother? This is hardly the place for a woman – a woman like you – in such circumstances.’
‘My brother needed to go to Tavistock yesterday and will not be back until tomorrow. Had he realised what would be happening he would never have gone, not that it would have made anydifference. I would still have been on the beach with him. But we are wasting time, this girl needs help – and quickly.’
Stung by his implication that she, as a woman, had no place at the scene of a shipwreck, she added, ‘Had I not been here I doubt whether the young girl would have had any chance of survival – but what exactly do you and your men hope to achieve now you are here?’
‘We came in the hope of rescuing crewmen from the stranded ship if at all possible – but there doesn’t appear to be anything we can do. There is very little of the ship left, it has taken such a pounding from the storm. It is also part of my duty to ensure that anything coming ashore is saved for the vessel’s rightful owners and is not stolen.’
‘You have arrived too late to save everything ,’
‘I have no intention of waiting here while you go off for a discussion with your friends. This girl needs urgent medical attention if she’s to survive and I mean to ensure she receives it.’
Her raised voice pursued the coast guard as he hurried away heading for a group of uniformed men standing on the beach, looking out to where the vessel on the offshore rocks was being unmercifully pounded to pieces by the relentless sea.
There were no visible signs of life on board the wrecked vessel and as the coast guard approached the group of fellow officers, two of them waded into the sea to retrieve the body of a man floating face down in the water, arms outstretched to his sides, being washed in with the tide.
The coast guard who had been with Alice and Percy spoke to a young man wearing the uniform of a lieutenant of the Royal Navy, pointing back the way he had come. Heads turned to look in the direction of Alice and the lieutenant, accompanied by two coast guards, began hurrying towards her.
When he arrived, the lieutenant looked at the wet and dishevelled girl kneeling beside the prostrate survivor and was no more impressed with her than the other man had been.
Addressing her, he said, ‘Coast Guard Pascoe says the young girl is a survivor from the wrecked vessel and he found you and your companion searching her….’
‘Then Coast Guard Pascoe has a vivid imagination,’ Alice retorted. ‘The state of the girl’s clothing makes a search unnecessary . The sea and rocks have not left her with enough to even satisfy decency. Percy and I found her among rocks at the far end of the beach, she is still alive – but only just. If she is not seen by a doctor very soon she’ll no longer be a survivor and will join the line of bodies farther along the beach.’
As had the coastguard who had been first to reach her, the Royal Navy lieutenant realised that Alice was not just another local young woman intent upon plunder and he reacted immediately . Turning to the coastguard with him, he said, ‘Pascoe, collect a few men and something to support the girl then carry her to the top of the cliff.’
Turning back to Alice, he said, ‘I am Lieutenant Jory Kendall, the officer in charge of the North Cornwall coast guard. Where do you want the girl taken? I’ll have a doctor sent for but he can’t treat her out here in this weather.’
‘Have her carried to the rectory at Trethevy. I’ll go with her and settle her in a spare room.’
‘The rectory? I was not aware of a church at Trethevy.’
‘It has been unused for many years, at least, as a place of worship, but my brother has been appointed rector there and it will soon be serving its original purpose once more.’
Her reply satisfied a number of the naval lieutenant’s unasked questions, but he had more. ‘Why are you here and not your brother? This is hardly the place for a woman – a woman like you – in such circumstances.’
‘My brother needed to go to Tavistock yesterday and will not be back until tomorrow. Had he realised what would be happening he would never have gone, not that it would have made anydifference. I would still have been on the beach with him. But we are wasting time, this girl needs help – and quickly.’
Stung by his implication that she, as a woman, had no place at the scene of a shipwreck, she added, ‘Had I not been here I doubt whether the young girl would have had any chance of survival – but what exactly do you and your men hope to achieve now you are here?’
‘We came in the hope of rescuing crewmen from the stranded ship if at all possible – but there doesn’t appear to be anything we can do. There is very little of the ship left, it has taken such a pounding from the storm. It is also part of my duty to ensure that anything coming ashore is saved for the vessel’s rightful owners and is not stolen.’
‘You have arrived too late to save everything ,’
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