Read Online The White Horse of Zennor by Michael Morpurgo - Free Book Online Page B

one and lay beside him, eyeing him wistfully before lumbering off to make room for the next. Each of them was different and he found he could tell at once the old from the young and the female from the male. Later, sitting cross-legged on the rocks and surrounded entirely by the inquisitive seals, William tasted raw fish for the first time, pulling away the flesh with his teeth as if he had been doing it all his life. He began to murmur seal noises in an attempt to thank them for their gift and they responded with great hoots of excitement and affection. By the time he was escorted back to the safety of the shore he could no longer doubt that he was one of them.
    * * *
    The notepad he left behind on his bed the next afternoon read simply: ‘Gone to sea, where I belong.’ His mother found it that evening when she came in from the fields at dusk. The Coastguard and the villagers were alerted and the search began. They searched the cliffs and the sea shore from Zennor Head to Wicca Pool and beyond, but in vain. An air-sea rescue helicopter flew low over the coast until the darkness drove it away. But the family returned to the search at first light and it was William’s father who found the bundle of clothes hidden in the rocks below Trevail Cliffs. The pain was deep enough already, so he decided to tell no one of his discovery, but buried them himself in a corner of the cornfield below the chapel. He wept as he did so, as much out of remorse as for his son’s lost life.
    Some weeks later they held a memorial service in the church, attended by everyone in the village except Sam whom no one had seen since William’s disappearance. The Parochial Church Council was inspired to offer a space on the church wall for a memorial tablet for William, and they offered to finance it themselves. Itshould be left to the family they said, to word it as they wished.
    Months later Sam was hauling in his nets off Wicca Pool. The fishing had been poor and he expected his nets to be empty once again. But as he began hauling it was clear he had struck it rich and his heart rose in anticipation of a full catch at last. It took all his strength to pull the net up through the water. His arms ached as he strained to find the reserves he would need to haul it in. He had stopped hauling for a moment to regain his strength, his feet braced on the deck against the pitch and toss of the boat, when he heard a voice behind him.
    â€˜Sam,’ it said, quietly.
    He turned instantly, a chill of fear creeping up his spine. It was William Tregerthen, his head and shoulders showing above the gunwale of the boat.
    â€˜Billy?’ said Sam. ‘Billy Tregerthen? Is it you, dear lad? Are you real, Billy? Is it really you?’ William smiled at him to reassure him. ‘I’ve not had a drink since the day you died, Billy, honest I haven’t. Told myself I never would again, not after what I did to you.’ He screwed uphis eyes. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I must be dreaming. You’re dead and drowned. I know you are.’
    â€˜I’m not dead and I’m not drowned, Sam,’ William said. ‘I’m living with the seals where I belong. You were right, Sam, right all along. I can swim like a seal, and I live like a seal. You can’t limp in the water, Sam.’
    â€˜Are you really alive, dear lad?’ said Sam. ‘After all this time? You weren’t drowned like they said?’
    â€˜I’m alive, Sam, and I want you to let your nets down,’ William said. ‘There’s one of my seals caught up in it and there’s no fish there I promise you. Let them down, Sam, please, before you hurt him.’
    Sam let the nets go gently hand over hand until the weight was gone.
    â€˜Thank you Sam,’ said William. ‘You’re a kind man, the only kind man I’ve ever known. Will you do something more for me?’ Sam nodded, quite unable to speak any more. ‘Will you tell my