Harbinger of Spring (7 page)

‘
It looks very comfortable, almost luxurious.
’

‘
Come in and have a real look around. I
’
d like your honest opinion about things.
’

‘
Mine? But I don
’
t know a thing about boats.
’

‘
That
’
s why I want your opinion. This is a new layout. About half the people who
’
ll hire this boat or any other on the Broads will be first-timers, so the opinion of someone like you will be valuable. Have a good look around from the woman
’
s point of view. Just imagine it
’
s going to be yours for a week or a fortnight.
’
He grinned.
‘
Don
’
t spare the criticism. Some of the hirers won
’
t, particularly if they
’
ve had bad weather!
’

As Ted went out of the saloon, Sara tried a comfortable
-
looking settee. From a sitting position she could see the gaunt-looking opposite bank of the river quite well without having to crane her neck in the least. To her, that would be important. She tried the dinette area intended for four people and was pleased at the fact that there were four separate chairs, allowing any one person to leave the table without disturbing the others, a thing she had found something of a nuisance on a caravan holiday she had once tried.

A low partition divided the dining area from the galley which Sara thought was very well equipped. There was gaily-patterned crockery, cooking utensils of all kinds and a good supply of cutlery. Leading off a narrow passage were two toilets, a shower compartment and a two-berth cabin. At the end of the passage was a door to another twin cabin and she found the cupboard and drawer space in this more than ample. She went back to the galley again and had a closer look at the stock of cooking equipment and cutlery. Then she gave a little smile. In spite of his efforts Ted had fallen down over one small item.

The tin opener was one of the old-fashioned kind which also did duty as a bottle-opener and corkscrew. Sara had cut her hands on a similar implement more than once.

She mounted the short flight of steps up to the wheel
-
house. A carpet covered the deck which matched the ones below and she wondered about keeping it clean, but decided that on all counts it was preferable to other floor coverings. Glancing without any great interest at the mahogany and chrome steering wheel and the few instruments set on a panel before it, she decided they were not her province. She turned about and approved a settee which would seat four and also the four separate chairs of a weave which looked like wicker, but was something much more
modern
.

Yes, she decided. On this beautiful white and blue trimmed cruiser, you could have a very nice, comfortable, away-from-it-all holiday.

She stepped through a sliding door out on to the narrow deck and went for
’
ard. There was ample sunbathing space and an absence of things to fall over or stub a bare toe against.

It had everything. No
‘
roughing it
‘
here. Not for her, of course. She
’
d want
—
What
did
she want of a holiday? She gave a mental shrug. So far, no holiday had received her full approval. She must be hard to please.

Ted appearing at the wheelhouse window stopped her introspection. She joined him, closing the door behind her.

‘
Well?
’
he asked.

‘
It all looks absolutely super. But I
’
d never be able to work those controls.
’

‘
It
’
s no more difficult than driving a car,
’
he told her.

‘
But no other criticisms?
’

She smiled.
‘
Since you
’
re pressing me there was one small item. You
’
ve got one of those simply terrible,
all-purpose
tin and bottle-openers.
’

He slapped his thigh.
‘
I knew it! My wife checked all the galley stuff over, but I knew it
’
d take a city girl to see a thing like that. I
’
ll have a wall can-opener fixed before morning and put a decent bottle-opener and corkscrew on board. Thanks for telling me.
’

‘
I
’
m delighted to be of service. Will there be anything else?
’

He gave her a quizzical look.
‘
Yes. Take her out on a trial run.
’
]

‘Me?’
Sara was genuinely shocked.
‘
I wouldn
’
t even know how to begin.
’

‘
Neither will fifty per cent of the holidaymakers who step aboard her. Look, I own twelve cruisers of different

sizes and in the height of the holiday season there
’
s about six hours to check them over, have them thoroughly cleaned and hand them over to new arrivals after a little advice and tuition. So you can see how simple everything has to be. Will you let me give you as much instruction as I give to anyone else, then tell me flatly if
you
don
’
t understand anything or if it seems compli
cated?
’

‘
Of course
I will, if it
’
s any help to you.
’

‘
Right.
We
’
ll begin with the galley and the calor
gas
equipment.
’

Sara
followed him down to the saloon. She listened
to his instructions
in the use of gas appliances, then was
a little surprised
when he took her to the shower room, raised
a
floor trap there and gave her some information about the engine and the pump for emptying the bilges. Then he took her on deck and showed her the filler caps for the fuel and fresh water tanks.

‘
This is something one must
not
make a mistake over,
’
he said.
‘
You can realize what an amount of trouble it would cause if .fuel went into the water tank or water into the fuel tank.
’

‘
Surely no one could be quite that stupid.
’

‘
H
’
m, I think I won
’
t answer that one. Now your mooring lines and anchors.
’

Sara satisfied herself that she knew how to use them, then went back with him to the wheelhouse. He showed her how to start and stop the engine and to use the single lever which controlled both the speed and the direction of the propeller.

‘
Is all clear to you?
’
he asked.

‘
I think so.
’

‘
Good. Start the engine and I
’
ll cast off.
’

He left her for a few seconds, then came back to her side.
‘
Slow ahead, please, and right hand down a little.
’
Sara did as she was told, feeling the same kind of
anxious thrill she always had when driving a strange car. But this was more like a bus, even if it wasn
’
t going so fast. Soon, however, she became aware of the cruiser
’
s almost silent, seemingly effortless progress and she relaxed and began to enjoy the trip. A holiday on one of these wouldn
’
t be so bad, after all. In fact with the right kind of company it could be super.

Ted showed her how to use the reverse gear as a brake, and instructed her in different methods of making an about-turn where a river was too narrow to allow a half circle movement. Then he looked at his watch.

‘
It
’
s almost lunch time. Back to the yard, please.
’

She set the engine to half speed and in less than ten minutes the boatyard came in view. She glanced sideways, half expecting Ted either to take control or give her some further instruction, but he was not even in the wheelhouse.

Sara lowered the speed of the engine. Surely he would come to her assistance? It would be terrible to cause even minor damage to this spanking new boat. She called out to him, but concluded that he couldn
’
t hear her over the noise of the engine. There was nothing for it but to carry on until he did appear.

She cut the speed until she could hardly hear the beat of the engine, but no matter what she did with the rudder the cruiser had a tendency to swing sideways. A little more speed corrected that, but the quay seemed to come towards her with alarming rapidity. Then she realized she was going against a current and that what she had to do was go forward at a good pace and use the reverse at the right moment to prevent a heavy bump against the timber.

She bit her lip and tried the manoeuvre and quite suddenly the cruiser was alongside the quay and Ted was jumping on to it, a mooring rope in his hand. Sara stopped the engine and followed him on to the quay.

‘
You must have nerves of steel,
’
she
told him.
‘
How
could you bear to trust someone like
me to bring in your
new boat without causing damage?
’

‘
I would have been disappointed
if you had bashed
her, of course, but I didn
’
t think you
would. In any
case, that
’
s one of the hazards of
the business—entrust
ing our boats to the hands of strangers.
The boats are
insured, naturally. However, although
we get a lot of
paint scraped off during the season
it
’
s surprising how
little real damage is done. Well, I
’
d
better get along
home to lunch, or else my wife will tell
me off for being
late. The keys are in the car
and
if
you take it into
Wroxham to get that spare tyre
fixed, turn left at the
crossroads and you
’
ll see a big garage
on the right.
’
Sara thanked him and went to
get the car out. She
found the garage easily enough
and left the car there
while she had lunch. After lunch
she wandered about
the shops, conscious that a long
afternoon was before
her and that she had no plans for
filling the time. She
thought of going to Norwich again, but
did not really like
the idea of still more shop window
gazing. She came
back to the crossroads and
looked at the signpost.
Yarmouth, North Walsham, Cromer.

Cromer. Wasn
’
t there
a lifeboat station there? She
had never seen a lifeboat.

The car was ready for her when
she got back to the
garage and after a
little
conversation
with the mechanic,
she took the Yarmouth road. A few
miles further on she
turned towards North Walsham by
a road which twisted
and turned as if it had been
laid
out by
a drunken man.
A few miles from North Walsham she
passed a signpost
which read
W or stead,
and she wondered
if the place had
any connection with
the cloth
of
that name. Really,
except for a somewhat faulty memory
of the list of Kings
and Queens
of
England and the wars
they had fought
she was terribly ignorant about history.

She reached North Walsham and parked for a few minutes in its market square while she had a brief look at the ancient church, then she drove on past the market cross and by twisting, narrow streets out of the town. Half an hour later she came to Cromer and parked on the almost deserted sea-front. The sky was a deceptively clear blue, but the grey-green rollers of the North Sea flung their wave tops high as they dashed against the stone of the cliffs and she could feel the car shudder as gusts of wind struck the side. Far out she could see a small ship lifting its bows high out of the water, then wallowing so deeply that only its masts and funnel were visible.

Sara watched the ship for a while, then got out of the car, thinking to stretch her legs by a walk along the pier to the lifeboat station, but the force of the wind caused her to bend nearly double while her hair streamed out and her dress flapped around her slim legs.

But now for some reason she was determined to see the lifeboat, and as blown spray whipped her cheeks pink she struggled towards the building. She entered it by a small door and found the interior dim after the bright sunlight of the outside. A man wearing a thick blue jersey greeted her.

‘
Good afternoon, miss. A rough old day for sightseeing.
’

‘
Especially if you
’
re not dressed for the part,
’
someone else put in. Sara turned to the sound of the more familiar voice.