Briefly, he directed them to wedge the planks across the front doors of the cottages, using heavy stones and plant pots to hold them in place. It was clear that some water had already entered the properties, but given how quickly the water seemed to be rising, Caroline agreed that it was worth trying to save them from worse flooding.
An old gent came hobbling out of his cottage, bent double over a walking stick. The bottoms of his trousers had been tied up with twine and tucked into wellies, but he still looked sodden. ‘My kitchen’s flooded,’ he told them unhappily.
Joe checked he was unhurt, and then helped him up onto the tractor. ‘I’m taking Mr Faragher back to the shop,’ he told Caroline. ‘He’s wet through and Mrs Newton has a good supply of dry clothes. You’d all best head back as soon as you’re done. I don’t like the look of this.’
Tilly and Grace were further down the lane, struggling to secure a plank across a doorway. ‘I’ll tell the others,’ Caroline promised him as he left, and then waded through muddy water to the last cottage. ‘Joe says we need to leave,’ she told the girls urgently. But they were both staring in the opposite direction. ‘What is it?’
‘That’s Mrs Dymock’s dog!’ Tilly exclaimed, and now Caroline could see the familiar golden Labrador in theswollen river, swimming laboriously against the current. ‘Oh no, poor thing …’
Miraculously, the dog struggled to the bank and clambered out of the river on his own. Seeing the girls, he barked and splashed towards them, causing ripples in the knee-high flood.
‘There, there, soggy old dog. You’re safe now.’ Grace bent to pat the dog’s head, and squinted across the river to Mrs Dymock’s thatched, whitewashed cottage. ‘I don’t believe she would have left her dog behind to drown. Do you think she could still be in there?’
Anxiously, Caroline repeated what Joe had told her about them getting straight back to the shop.
‘Yes, but I bet he didn’t know Mrs Dymock might not have got out.’ Grace shook her head. ‘If there’s even a chance the old lady is still in that cottage, we have to rescue her.’
Tilly looked unenthusiastic but nodded. ‘We ought to check, at least.’
There was a footbridge further along the river. But, to their dismay, the water was already in full flow over it. The Labrador dug his heels, refusing to follow them any further. Scrambling up onto a grassy bank instead, the dog stood there, merely wagging his tail apologetically when Caroline called him down.
‘Oh, leave him,’ Tilly said, shivering.
Thankfully, the water flooding the bridge wasn’t more than knee-high. But the current was forceful. Tilly stumbled several times, getting thoroughly soaked, and Caroline was almost knocked off her feet too. ‘Honestly, we should go back and get Joe,’ she gasped, clutching Grace for support. ‘This isn’t safe.’
‘I know, but look!’ Grace nodded to the cottage, where Caroline could now see a face at an upstairs window. ‘I knew it … That’s Mrs Dymock. She must be cut off by the water. We haven’t got time to go back, Caro. Let’s get her out first.’
Caroline was anxious for the old lady. ‘Yes, all right. But how can we get her back across the bridge? She’s eighty, at least. We can’t ask her to wade through all this icy water.’
‘I’ll carry her,’ Grace told her, grinning. ‘Piggyback-style.’
But when they reached the cottage, Mrs Dymock flatly refused to ride piggyback on Grace’s back. ‘I’m staying here, thank you,’ she said with dignity, leaning out of the upstairs window. ‘You girls should go back while you still can. The ground floor may be flooded, but I doubt the water will reach me up here.’
Tilly was shaking violently, her teeth chattering. ‘Gosh, this water is so cold. I … I wish I could get warm. Can’t we go inside?’
‘We can’t risk opening the front door of the cottage,’ Caroline pointed out unhappily, ‘it would only make the water inside rise higher.’ She rubbed Tilly’s arms to warm her up, and then gave her a quick hug. ‘Maybe Mrs Dymock’s right and we should go back.’ She turned her gaze to Grace, silently urging her to agree. But Grace was deep in thought.
‘There’s a flat roof over the kitchen, with a window into my spare room,’ Mrs Dymock called down helpfully. ‘You can climb up there if you want to get out of the water. I’ll go and open the window for you.’
‘Oh, yes please,’ Tilly moaned, very pale now.
Grace looked up into the driving rain, frustrated. ‘Weneedto get the old lady out of here,’ she whispered to Caroline. ‘If this water rises any further …’ She left the words unspoken.
‘But you heard her.’ Caroline’s nerves were at full strain. ‘She won’t budge, and I don’t think Tilly’s strong enough to go back across that blasted bridge. What else can we do?’
‘You stay here and look after Tilly and Mrs Dymock,’ Grace said decisively. ‘I’m going back to get help. Though not by the road. I bet it’s quicker cross-country.’ She pointed across the wet fields to where a few village roofs could be seen through the rain mist. ‘That way.’
Before Caroline could stop her, Grace had already set off, splashing briskly through the knee-high water. ‘Oh, do be careful!’ she called after her, but her voice was drowned out by the rushing river.
It was almost an hour later when Caroline, sitting with Tilly and Mrs Dymock, finally heard the tractor engine and leapt up. ‘Thank goodness,’ she gasped. She’d begun to fear Grace had lost her way and come to grief in the waterlogged fields. But when she poked her head out of the window, seeing Joe jump down from his tractor on the other side of the footbridge, there was no sign of Grace with him. No doubt she’d sensibly stayed at the village shop to dry off.
‘The water’s gone down a little,’ she told the farmer, ‘so I think you can risk carrying Mrs Dymock out of the front door.’
Joe took Mrs Dymock safely across to the tractor and returned for Tilly, who was still too cold and shaky to walk. ‘Where’s Grace?’ he asked, frowning.
‘Didn’t she send you to find us?’ Caroline asked, her heart stuttering with fear. ‘She set off for the village over an hour ago.’
Joe shook his head, looking grave. ‘That old dog of Mrs Dymock’s turned up at the shop without her, so Mrs Newton sent me to check on her.’ He carried Tilly across the flooded bridge with difficulty, wading through the strong current, with Caroline following close behind. ‘I’ve not seen hide nor hair of Grace.’
