‘But surely she must have been here while it was still light,’ Briony protested.
‘That’s true,’ he agreed. ‘We may as well cease trying to figure it out, because we won’t know the explanation until we find her.’
He stopped the car on the gravel sweep before the school. And here everything was a scene of activity. Senga, assisted by a few of the other teachers, was organising the older girls into search groups.
The two boys were out of the back of the car in a trice and went to get their instructions. Blane went forward to speak to Senga and more slowly Briony got out of the car. As she did so she caught sight of the book of ballads lying on the Seat of the car. She picked it up and put it into one of the pockets of her jacket.
As she stood beside the car she saw Senga turn her head for a moment, fix her with an angry stare, and then return her attention to Blane once more. In her heart Briony could not blame the girl for this deliberate cut. She knew that had she been in Senga’s place she would have felt the same.
She heard Blane speak of the disused quarry, and heard Senga say that it had been searched and that Sandra was not there.
It was not long before Briony found herself one of a small party setting out on the search. They followed in single file a path which was invisible to her, but which apparently these girls, shining their torches before them, were able to make out. In spite of their guidance Briony found herself stumbling and wandering from the path, and once or twice when she struck her foot against an outcrop of rock, she would have fallen had not one of the girls grasped her by the arm and held her up. At length, feeling she was holding them back, she told the girls to go ahead and that she would keep up with them as well as she could.
It could hardly have been a more difficult night for the search, Briony was thinking as she edged along in the wake of the others. A chill wind was blowing which carried away the voices of the girls ahead, so that when they called out instructions to her she had great difficulty in making out what they were saying. Clouds scudded across the sky, occasionally revealing a rather pale and watery moon, but when these closed in again the going seemed even more difficult than before. Gradually she became a little separated from the girls in front who were edging forward confidently, flashing their torches from side to side.
Briony, following more slowly, tried to imitate them. She cast her torch in wide sweeps over the gorse and boulder-strewn wilderness, and as she did so she thought she detected a silvery gleam behind a clump of bracken.
Cautiously she made her way around a large granite boulder that was in her way, only to discover that the gleam she had seen was the reflection of the moon shining for an instant on Sandra’s bicycle. And to her amazement she found the child lying curled up on the ground beside her bicycle fast asleep.
She had great difficulty awakening Sandra, but eventually she sat up looking very dazed. ‘Oh, I knew you’d find me,’ she said at last, and burst into tears and sobbed on Briony’s shoulder.
Briony helped her to her feet and seated her upon the boulder. She put her jacket about the child’s shoulders. She felt in the pocket and took out the flask. ‘Here, try to take a little of this,’ she urged as she unscrewed the cap and poured out some hot coffee. But Sandra’s hands were icy and her teeth were chattering. Briony had to help her to steady the plastic cup and hold it up to her lips. Sandra was able to take a few sips and then seemed a little better.
‘What happened to you? We’ve all been so worried,’ Briony asked.
‘I don’t know what happened,’ Sandra replied in a dazed fashion. ‘Not really. I was cycling along the road, and I looked over my shoulder for an instant. Next moment the cycle struck a big stone and I was thrown over the handlebars and landed right on my head. The next thing I remember I was walking through the moors carrying the bicycle, but no matter how hard I tried I could get no nearer to the school.’
‘Carrying your bicycle!’ exclaimed Briony. ‘But why did you do that? It could have been collected later.’
‘I didn’t think of that. I was afraid to lose it,’ Sandra explained. ‘Because it’s very small, but it was very expensive and Daddy would be furious if I lost it.’
‘I see,’ said Briony.
‘I walked and walked and then I felt very tired and I thought I’d lie down for just a little while. But I must have slept for a long time, because it’s dark now.’ And Sandra burst into tears once more.
Briony soothed her as well as she could, but as she spoke her mind was on the problem of getting her back to the school. In the few minutes since she had found Sandra, the searchers had moved on quite a distance. She could see their lights flashing across the ground, but when she called they could not hear her.
‘I think the best thing we could do is to try to get back to the school ourselves,’ she said at last. ‘Lean on me, and we’ll go along very slowly.’
But she quickly found out that this plan wasn’t going to work. Sandra seemed incapable of taking any steady course. She spun around and staggered, and before they had taken more than a few steps had fallen to the ground.
As Briony helped her to her feet, she said anxiously, ‘I’m afraid you’re badly concussed. The best thing would be for you to stay here. Sit on this boulder. Very soon, when the searchers are coming back on their way towards the school, they’ll see you. But they may be a little while, so I’d better try to get back to the school and get help for you right away.’ As she spoke she took off her cap of Aran wool and placed it on the child’s head, knowing that the pale colour would be clearly visible to the searchers. ‘You’ll stay here and not move, won’t you? And you won’t fall asleep whatever you do,’ she urged, as she flashed on her torch. The beam was rather weaker, but she hoped it would enable her to get back to the school.
‘I won’t budge,’ Sandra promised. ‘But please, do you think you could leave the torch with me? The moon has come out again, and you’ll be able to see your way. And if I had some light I wouldn’t feel so frightened. And I can always flash it on if I hear them coming.’
Briony hesitated, wondering if she would be able to manage without it, then seeing how distressed the child was she reluctantly agreed.
‘You’ll be as quick as you can, won’t you, because I feel terrible,’ quavered Sandra.
The school could be seen for miles around, especially on this evening when every window was illuminated. She could easily find her way, Briony told herself. With a reassuring wave of the hand she set off as quickly as she could.
But very soon clouds rolled up again and she found herself feeling her way in the darkness, edging forward carefully, and sometimes even kneeling down to feel the path with her hands.
Matters were not too bad as long as the school was in sight, but after a while she descended into a shallow hollow from which it was no longer visible. Quickly she found she was wandering around in circles, making no progress, and she decided that she had better climb to a higher point from which she could see the landmark of the school once more. It would be well worth while making a detour for the sake of having it in sight.
Off to the east was a point of higher ground, and as the moon came out again she ran forward, hoping to get to the top of the rise by its light. Here the ground was gravelly. Her foot slipped on the uneven moving surface and she found herself hurled forward and downwards. She suffered scratches, but came to no real harm, and to her surprise she found herself on a fairly even track which was partially overgrown with grasses and weeds but seemed to be leading towards the school. Here, walking was much easier than on the higher ground, and as she went forward she found she was making far more progress than she had previously done.
The track began to cut into the ground and to widen, and after a while she could feel the firmness of a good surface beneath the rubber soles of her boots. She seemed to be on a paved road which was curving in the direction of the school and she felt certain that she was doing the right thing in following it. This was perhaps a way that had led t
owards the back of Latireston House in the days when horses and carts were in use and which was now no longer necessary when everything was delivered by van or car.
But as the level of the road sank ever more deeply she found that it was becoming difficult to see her way and that she had to go forward cautiously.
Suddenly the moon shone out very brightly and Briony stood still in alarm. She discovered she was standing on a great block of stone and that a short distance ahead was a sharp fall—not very deep but enough to have caused a nasty accident and broken bones should she have gone any further.
And now she knew where she was! The track had led her into the disused quarry. She found herself in the middle of a shallow bowl with stone rising in ledges on all sides. And as she turned to look back she saw that the narrow road had passed close to the edge of a wide pool which glimmered a sinister silver-grey in the moonlight.
She would have to retrace her steps. But even as she realised this, the moon became clouded and she found herself standing in darkness. She would wait until she had light again before setting out on the return journey.
Unfortunately as the night progressed the patches of moonlight became less frequent, and eventually she had to admit to herself that the moon had set. There was nothing for it but to remain in the spot in which she found herself until the first light of morning.
She settled herself on a ledge of stone to wait. But as she ceased to be active she quickly discovered how keenly cold the night had become. She was wearing only slacks and a sweater, and as time passed she grew more and more chilled. In desperation she shouted as loudly as she could, but soon realised that the enclosed bowl like shape of the shallow quarry was holding her voice and that it was not reaching up to the moor where the searchers were probably returning now to the school.
The main thing was not to panic, she told herself firmly. By this time they would have found Sandra, and Blane would be occupied in getting her back to the school. It would be some time before it was discovered that she, in her turn, was missing.
What a misfortune this was! Briony felt she would never be able to live down the frustrations and humiliations of this night. She had made one mistake after another. All she hoped now was that it would not be Blane who would find her. She shrank from meeting the regard of those vivid blue eyes. Far better that it should be Senga, no matter how cutting her remarks might be!
She leaned back against the wall of stone and closed her eyes, and in spite of the cruel cold which seemed to bite into her very bones, through sheer exhaustion she fell into a light doze.
Suddenly she was awake, aware that she had heard some strange sound.
She listened intently. Yes, there it was again—a curious tapping noise. As she stirred, it ceased immediately, but soon afterwards she heard it again. And as she watched, her eyes glued on the spot from which the sound seemed to come, she saw faintly perceptible in the darkness, the shape of antlers. So it was a deer she had heard! The tapping noise was the sound of its sharp hooves on the stony surface of the quarry. It would be sure to come nearer, she reflected, because she had often read of how inquisitive deer are. They will investigate anything that seems strange to them.
Then another thought struck her. Autumn is the only time of the year when a deer will attack a human being. Better perhaps not to let it come too close, lest, startled, it might strike at her with those great branching antlers.
She reached out her hand, and her fingers fell upon some pebbles. She threw these in the direction of the animal and at the same time gave a loud shout, and to her relief she heard it bound away.
After that she shouted again and again, but eventually gave up and leaned back against the wall of rock once more. All her senses seemed numbed with cold and eventually she slept once more.
Next time she opened her eyes she found herself looking straight into Blane’s face.
‘So this is where you’ve been while I was searching for you!’ was his remark. He lifted her down from her perch on the ledge of rock and set her on one of the great slabs of stone of which the quarry was composed. Then, taking off his jacket, he wrapped it around her. ‘My turn now,’ he remarked with a smile.
‘What—what’s that?’ she asked, confused.
‘I don’t know if you remember,’ he remarked, ‘but you gave Sandra your jacket—and your cap too, come to think of it. That’s how we found her. That pale-coloured cap of yours helped us to spot her.’
She tried to smile, but her face was stiff and to her mortification tears of exhaustion rolled down her cheeks.
‘And now I’m going to leave you here for a while,’ he told her. ‘The girls have gone back to the school—they’re quite done in after their night’s exertions. Senga and the other teachers are pretty exhausted too. I sent Johnny and Andy back as soon as Sandra was discovered—I had no idea at that time that you were missing. I’ll bring the car nearer, and then I’ll be able to get you safely home, without having to disturb any of the others.’
‘Go ahead,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m perfectly all right, now that I know you’ve found me.’
But once his footsteps had receded, every minute seemed an hour until his return.
He carried her to the car and laid her along the back seat. Immediately, without a word, he took his place at the wheel and they set off.
After a while Briony said in a small voice, ‘I seem to have given you a lot of trouble.’
She sensed rather than saw his face break into a grim smile. ‘You’re much too valuable an asset to the Lennox Riding School to be left to perish in a quarry.’
This reply was so unexpected that at once Briony’s fighting spirit reasserted itself. ‘Thanks,’ she said huffily. ‘I’m glad to know I’m of some value to you.’
He laughed outright. ‘Were you really expecting a courtly compliment? Surely, Briony, you know me better than that, by this time!’
‘All the same,’ she answered snappishly, ‘it wouldn’t have done the Lennox Riding School much good if one of its wealthier pupils were lost. And if it hadn’t been for me, she mightn’t have been found at all.’
He considered this for a moment, then shook his head. ‘You’re wrong. She would have been found all right, but not as quickly.’
‘I see.’ She felt her ire rise at this nonchalant attitude. ‘In other words I was wasting my time. I might as well have stayed at home and done nothing.’ She turned her head around and looked out at the greyness beyond the window.
‘Now you’re talking nonsense!’ he said, a slight irritation edging his voice. ‘You did very well. There’s no need to make a song and dance about it. We don’t go in for heroics in this part of the country, you know. The people have a hard life and have learned to contend with it, without setting themselves up as heroes or heroines.’
Briony’s temper came to boiling-point, and she began to twist at the handle of the door. ‘Let me out! Let me out!’ Her voice was muffled with anger. ‘I’ll walk the rest of the way.’
‘You’re a bit too late with the heroics!’
And feeling incredibly foolish, she saw that he was pulling up at the gate of Amulree.
He reached in and lifted her out of the back seat. Light blazed from the little cottage windows as he carried her along the narrow short path. Immediately the door was thrown open and in the burst of light, Briony saw that the bright Highland colouring had faded from Hettie’s cheeks, and that her face looked grey and aged. ‘What happened?’ she cried as Briony was carried into the living-room.
‘It’s quite all right, Mrs. Gillies,’ Blane answered quietly. ‘There are no bones broken, and apart from a few bruises and the fact that she’s quite worn out, she’s all right. But she’s had to spend the night in the open, and I think you should send for the doctor right away. Now tell me, where does she sleep?’
Hettie pointed up the narrow stairs and he carried her up, and with great difficulty managed to negotiate the narrow strip of hall and to get Briony into her bedroom and l
ay her down on the soft mattress.
And now Briony made an attempt to thank him. ‘You’ve been really wonderful to me. I don’t know how to thank you. I’m so sorry about everything and—’
But he interrupted her stumbling efforts to make amends. ‘Cheer up,’ he said. ‘The night is over at last, and it’s not likely you’ll have to go through anything like this again—at least, I hope, not for a long time.’ With a wave of his hand he turned away and she heard his footsteps run down the stairs.
But the night was not over yet—at least not as far as she was concerned, for, to her horror, she could hear Hettie’s voice quite clearly, raised in battle.
‘And now, if you’re quite finished with my godchild,’ she was saying belligerently, ‘you can get out of this house!’
Whatever Blane replied to this was inaudible to Briony, because his voice was low and measured. But once again she could hear Hettie’s voice raised shrilly, ‘I’ve made up my mind about one thing—she’ll never work for you again. When she’s recovered I’ll make it my business to see that she keeps away from the Lennox Riding School!’
CHAPTER NINE
For the next few days Briony felt too ill to care much about anything.
Hettie proved a tower of strength. She did not spare herself, but laboured up the narrow stairs to Briony’s room with hot-water bottles and bowls of nourishing soup.
But rapidly Briony recovered—she had youth and good health on her side, and soon she was receiving visitors. Annie Skinner arrived to survey the invalid and to assure her that she looked terrible. Hettie’s friends from the dressmaking class called, with little presents and words of sympathy. A gift she valued especially was a bedjacket of quilted apricot-coloured fabric edged with white fur. She got a flood of get-well cards from her young pupils and two very comic ones from Johnny and Andy. But not a single word from Blane.
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