‘Sorry?’
‘Guadeloupe is French even though it is thousands of miles from France.’
Cass tried to return his smile but failed. Why hadn’t she realised how terrifying it all was? Eleanor could have wrapped up the hand-drawn map and given it to Ranulph, surely? But that wouldn’t have assuaged her father’s conscience and she would not have been able to prove herself in any way.
At last, the boat was loaded with provisions and with people. Box upon box, crate upon crate, and every space between was filled with sacks of vegetables and fruit. Cass felt in the way and useless – her place should be filled with someone who could really help, she thought. She also knew she was going to be seasick. She was glad when Ranulph sat down beside her. ‘I have life jackets in my pack if it looks like we need them,’ he said.
She couldn’t decide if this news was reassuring orjust added to her anxiety. Why did Ranulph think they needed life jackets? Then she realised that life jackets were perfectly normal items at home. Everyone wore them on the small boats people used up in Scotland. Looking around, she saw no one here had one. ‘Can’t we put them on now?’
He shook his head. ‘The guys would be insulted. They don’t have the same respect for health and safety as we do. Wearing life vests would make it look as if we don’t trust them to get us there safely.
Cass bit her lip. Did she trust them? Then she realised that it didn’t matter if she trusted them or not; she was in the boat and she was on the journey to Dominica whether she liked it or not.
She closed her eyes and leant next to Ranulph, trying to gain strength from his solid presence. It wasn’t long before she knew she was going be sick, however. She opened her eyes to see if that helped but shut them again quickly. It was bad enough feeling the boat going up and down so violently without seeing it as well. She wished she’d asked Ranulph how long the journey was but it was too late. Maybe it was better not knowing how long the torture would go on for.
Ranulph seemed to guess when she was about to be sick and held on to her as she heaved over the side. He handed her a tissue for afterwards and she realised she felt a little better, although she was freezing cold and shaking. How romantic, she thought as she closed her eyes again, the man I have a huge crush on has just helped me throw up. He’s bound to fall in love with me now!
The sea seemed to calm a little as dawn broke, although Cass still kept her eyes shut. The sickness made her drowsy and being asleep seemed a better way of getting through it.
Although it felt as if the journey lasted yet another lifetime, it was still morning when they arrived at Marie-Galante. Cass’s joy at being able to get off the boat was tempered by the thought that there was another journey to come, although the next one would be much shorter. Then she saw that the boat they were to travel on for the final leg made the one they’d just got off seem huge. And with all the supplies loaded it would sit far deeper in the water. The smallest slop of a wave would surely make it sink.
But at least this time she could embark on her own, although her legs were shaky and she was still shivery. She was aware she was wearing a fleece which presumably belonged to Ranulph. He must have put it on her when she was too out of it to notice. She wasn’t going to give it back now.
CHAPTER SIX
The trip to Dominica was much shorter and the sea calmer than it had been before, although Cass still kept her eyes shut and thought constantly about the buoyancy aids in Ranulph’s backpack. There would surely be time enough to put them on if things deteriorated. She managed to relax a bit into the rhythm of the waves and while she certainly wasn’t enjoying herself, she wasn’t hating it as much as she had earlier.
And then suddenly everyone was jumping out of the boat into the sea and the vessel was being dragged up the beach. Like the rest of the cargo, Cass was lifted and put bodily on to the sand. She promptly fell over.
‘Are you all right?’ said Ranulph politely.
‘Fine,’ said Cass, meaning she was anything but. She’d been in Dominica ten seconds and already she was a burden, not a help. ‘Oh dear, my legs don’t seem to be working.’
They were on a beach at the bottom of some red rocks. It wasn’t far to the top where Cass could see trees and people moving about; she could feel hot sun on her shoulders. It made her dizzy.
‘You’ll be OK in a couple of minutes,’ said Ranulph.‘Take this.’ He handed her a bag of limes. She wondered what she was supposed to do with them.
As she regained her balance, she realised the beach was covered in fallen trees. She looked up to the mountains beyond and realised that none of the trees had leaves on them. Many of the trees had been blown over but the others had been stripped of all their foliage. It was shocking. This was what hurricanes did, she realised, they savaged everything in their path. She braced herself mentally and followed the trail of people making their way up the rocks.
‘Bastian lives up there,’ said Ranulph. ‘Very handy that the boats come in just here.’
It took a while to clamber up the path, past the fallen trees that people had already hacked at with machetes to clear a route. Ranulph turned to give her a hand up, but she shook her head. She couldn’t go on being someone who needed looking after now. She walked on to what would have been some sort of lawn in normal times. She had arrived.
She put down her bag of limes, took off her daypack and then swung her backpack down. She looked around for someone she could identify as a suitable recipient for the first aid kit which was taking up most of the space in it. She had some quite sophisticated equipment that could be really useful. A few moments later she realised that this was a ridiculous thought. The people around her were fishermen whom she had travelled with, or local people. It was hard to tell of course but she realised the chances of a doctor or a nurse living next door to where they were heading were tiny.
She looked at Ranulph, who was already laughing with another man and sawing at some branches that still blocked the road. Getting the path clear was the priority.
Cass was aware that to prevent herself being a complete waste of space, she had to do something. There was no one to tell her what to do; she had to work it out for herself. After a moment’s thought, she decided the boxes that had come up from the boat needed organising. She wasn’t entirely sure this would be useful, but it was something she could do.
She had lined up the last box when Ranulph came over with a bunch of bananas.
‘Have some breakfast. There’s someone in the house making cornmeal porridge.’ He handed her one of the bananas, which was small and fat.
‘I feel I should be useful,’ she said, taking the banana. ‘And not sit around eating breakfast. Besides,’ she added, ‘I haven’t met Bastian. I don’t feel I should go into his house until I have.’
At that moment a tall man with dark hair and an emerging beard came over. ‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Did I hear my name just now?’ He gave a wide, welcoming grin.
‘You’re the famous Bastian I’ve heard so much about? I’m Howard’s daughter, Cass,’ she said. ‘I’ve brought the map.’
