Partners (29 page)

And then he made Gillian pray, too, and her heart was helped and strengthened by the child's faith.

"Now," said Noel, "I think we better go over there behind us to that inlet. Reuben said that was a nice place. It's a long point out into the water where you can see the sun rise on one side and set on the other, and perhaps there will be a moon there and it will be nice. Reuben knows that place, and maybe he'll come to find us. Then we can lie down and go to sleep. I am very tired, sister."

So they rounded the dunes and walked out onto the long point of land. They found a nice high place where they could lie down behind a lot of piles driven into the sand for the water to break against.

"This is nice," said Noel. "Even the lighthouse people can't see us when they come out of their door on the beach. Only I guess their light can reach over here, because it's up so high."

So Noel nestled against his sister, and very soon he was asleep. And Gillian, feeling very secure and utterly worn by the happening of the morning and the long walk and anxiety, lay down beside him, and soon she herself was fast asleep.

Then the sun began to slide down to the west and cast long shadows on the sand and a rosy glow over everything. It sank lower and lower till it touched the ocean's rim and took a dip into its bright waters. And then the sea began to take notice and switched its tides. Slowly, slowly, step by step, the little foamy edges of the sea crept up higher and higher on the point of land where they lay.

And over on the other side where the sun had been that morning, a silver moon came looming up, a silver thread at a time, until it was a whole round disc casting a silver path out across the water, as if it would lure travelers that way.

But Gillian and Noel were lying with their backs that way and did not notice, for they were still fast asleep. And now the darkness furtively crept along, like a great veil flung everywhere, until the waters grew so bright that the land was illuminated also, except in hidden places.

And then, the revolving light from the lighthouse was suddenly flung out and whirled long pointing fingers of gold across the heavens. They searched out the darkest corners and touched lightly the eyelids of the sleepers to warn them of the tiny waves that were creeping nearer, nearer to them on either side, lit with silver on one side and crimson and gold on the other. Creeping up closer and closer.

The darkness was all about them now like a pall, and there were no noises to disturb them except the soft subtle swish of the water, in a dull roar like a distant menace breaking high and near, ever nearer.

The child stirred restlessly in his sleep, kicking out and stretching, turning his cramped limbs. At last he came awake.

"Gillian! Gillian!" he cried. "Where are we? Reuben, are you out there in the night? Gillian! Oh, you're there! Gillian, I'm cold! So very cold!"

Gillian stirred.

"Cold, darling! Oh, why, put on your sweater! Where is it? There it is here under my hand. Put it on quick, dear! Why, it's night! Have we slept so long?"

"I'm hungry, Gillian! Will there be enough for me to have another cracker? Where is the box of crackers, sister? Oh, here they are. But the box is wet, Gillian. How did it get all wet? And the crackers! They are wet, too! And Gillian, I'm afraid of those funny long fingers of light. It hurts the blackness, it is so sharp!"

"It's just the light from the lighthouse, Noel. Have you forgotten how you brought me here?"

"Oh, yes, I remember. But Gillian, my foot is all wet and cold. And the water is making a funny sound like a big wave when Reuben lifts me up. Oh, Gillian! There's a big wave coming! Look! How did we get way out here in the ocean? And there's waves on your side, too!"

Gillian sprang to her feet and looked about her bewildered and saw by the light of the long bright fingers across the sky that they were indeed in the midst of the waters.

"What is it, Gillian? Has something happened?" asked the terrified child.

"It's the tide, I suppose, Noel!" said Gillian in a trembling voice that sought to be controlled.

"But didn't our God hear us when we prayed?" asked Noel.

"Yes, God always hears," said the sister, casting frightened eyes about. "He holds the sea in the hollow of His hand, the Bible says. You mustn't be afraid. We'll just trust in Him."

"Then do you think Reuben will be coming pretty soon? Will our God send him to help us?"

Gillian mustered all her courage and said tenderly: "Yes, Noel, I'm sure He'll send him, or else--He'll come Himself."

"Oh--wouldn't that be wonderful!" said the child. "I'd like that. But I'd like Reuben to be here, too, wouldn't you, Gillian?"

"Yes, that would be nice," said Gillian as she cast her eyes almost hopelessly about her in the darkness. "Come, Noel, we must try to get back to land! We must walk away from the lighthouse. We will try first to find the little wrecked boat where we sat down awhile. Then we can sit down and look toward the lighthouse and get our bearings. Come. Take my hand so we won't get separated in the darkness!"

So they started out. But no matter which way they walked they kept coming to the water, and after they had gone about and about they realized there was water all around them, and it was coming nearer and nearer, with the great thundering waves rising tempestuously every now and then.

Suddenly Noel looked up at his sister, with a watery little smile.

"I guess it will be God that comes, Gillian. But don't you think it would be nice to eat the rest of the crackers while we wait for Him? I've got an awful funny empty feeling in my tummy."

"Why, yes," said Gillian, suddenly rousing from her horror and realizing she must not let the child suffer.

"Let's eat the crackers. You may divide them, but don't give me more than one at a time; I like to eat slowly."

"Yes, we will eat slowly," said Noel, and he handed out a soggy cracker.

And so in the strength of that bread they went on with their hopeless walking, and each minute the water seemed to be drawing nearer, inch by inch.

 

 

 

 

 

As Reuben spun along the smooth white road, the moon was coming up, and the long rays from the lighthouse searchlight shot across his path. He could envision a picture of that long narrow point jutting out into the sea. Even now, perhaps the water was rolling in and covering it from view. And those two he loved, were they out there in peril?

Oh, would it be too late when he got there to do any good? Would they have been washed into the sea? How could that frail girl stand against the buffeting of the waves? And the little child! The brave, true little boy! He would be blown away with a breath from that monster, the sea. His body was not strong enough, even though his courage was great, to withstand the shock of even one of those waves. Gillian would have to hold him, and she was not able! How could the two brave the fierceness of the incoming tide?

If only he hadn't gone to that wedding! If only he hadn't gone to the Glindenwold affair before that, and had stayed with the two whom God had sent him to protect! The memory of those two gatherings he had attended would stay with him always as something that did not belong in his life.

As he thought back, he fairly seemed to grudge those times spent away when he might have been with the two he had come to love so keenly!

These thoughts tumbled through his mind in wild disorder as he drove furiously through the silver night, with those long lights slashing out into the darkness seeming to point at him mockingly.

Then far behind him he heard the sound of a motor. The police were coming. At least he was doing all he could, and if the ones they sought were not here and were not in the sea, then where else could they search? Would the police have any other possible suggestions?

Vaguely in the back of his mind he wondered if they had done anything about that worthless uncle who had made all this trouble, but he brushed the thought away as he might have a fly that annoyed in this breathless struggle with death for the lives of the two who were beloved.

Then he came to the old ship where they had sat down to rest, and there he stopped his car, for the water was not far away. There was something dark at the far end of that old boat, hanging over the edge of the gunwale, waving lazily back and forth. He stooped to feel it and lifted it as its shape grew familiar. It was an old brown sweater that he had seen Gillian wear sometimes. Was he deceived? This was only moonlight in which he was seeing it! As he lifted it, something seemed to weigh it down. It jingled as he raised it higher. He put his hand in the pocket, and there was Gillian's little change purse. He had seen it many times in her hand!

Frantically he flung it into the car. There, at least, was proof she had been here! And then he dashed into the water before him, flinging off his own sweater and shoes as he went. He plunged through the water with great strides, deeper and deeper, around to the right where he knew that long point of water jutted, feeling his way in the darkness, waiting now and again for the long fingers of light to come his way and make the distance more clear.

Suddenly as he drew nearer to where he thought that inlet might be, he heard a voice soft and sweet and clear even above the wildness of the waters:

 

"Step by step I'll follow Jesus,

Hour by hour I'm in His care,

Day by day He walks beside me,

Through the years I'll know He's there.

 

"He can still the mighty tempest,

He can calm the troubled sea,

He the waters trod, He's the Son of God,

He's the one who always walks with me."

 

That was Noel's voice, and that was the strange little chorus he had sung that first Sunday when they had had their Sunday school together. The tune had stayed with him, some of the words, too, and he found them echoed in his memory!

He swam along heavily, hampered by his garments, wet of course to the skin; but his face was wet with tears, whose saltness was more bitter than the sea. The little child who had led him back to God was out there somewhere in the water, singing to guide him to him.

And was Gillian there, too?

A few more strokes, strong and nerved by hope, brought him to their side, as they stood in water that already reached almost to the child's neck. Gillian was there beside him, with her arms firmly clasped about him! Praise God she was still alive! Would he ever doubt God again?!

And then the child's voice changed from song into glad rejoicing.

"He's come! My Reuben's come! God sent him. God didn't need to come Himself just now. He's sent my Reuben! I knew He'd hear our prayer!"

And then Reuben lifted himself up on the shelf of sand beside them and raised the child to his shoulder and placed the other arm about the swaying girl, who was almost overpowered with the mighty physical effort it had taken to keep the little boy from drowning; she had known she could last only a moment or two longer, for she felt her limbs trembling, and to withstand another shock of waters coming like a torrent above her and keep that darling little head above them seemed a physical impossibility.

And then suddenly this strong arm about her! Had the Lord come Himself to take them home to Himself?

Her head fell back against Reuben's shoulder, and the lights were suddenly blacked out. The waves and the sea itself were gone, and there was only this strong arm and the sense that Noel was somehow safe!

Then Reuben himself began to pray and to wonder just how he was going to save them both without help. He could not leave either one and come back for the other. Gillian was limp now in his arms, and Noel would be beyond his depth if he tried to put him down.

And then he called aloud, out of the midst of his prayer, "God, O, my God, hear my cry! For Thy Son's sake, save us all!"

It is doubtful if the lifeguards understood that prayer, but they heard the voice of distress calling for help, and they were out there not far away with their boat, obedient to the telephone call. Straight to the place of need their boat came as if guided from above.

The police arrived just as the Coast Guard brought them all to land. They wrapped Gillian in blankets from the guard house and administered restoratives. They bundled Noel in another blanket. But Reuben put on the sweater he had shed when he plunged into the water, and said he was all right, he wanted to get his people home. He would come back and thank the Coast Guard the next day.

At last they were on their way home. Too dazed to realize that the terror of the sea was gone and they were safe in Reuben's care, safe because God had sent him to care for them.

Then poor Aunt Ettie, her dinner just at the spoiling point, heard a car outside, in fact two cars, and came tremblingly to the door to watch two forms sheathed in blankets being brought in by several men.

It was Reuben who strode up the steps with Gillian in his arms and commanded Aunt Ettie to spread out something thick and warm on the bed so that he could lay her down.

But it was Aunt Ettie who took charge immediately and put them all out, giving Gillian a thorough rubdown and putting her into a hot nightgown and bathrobe and then into a warm bed. But Reuben had gone at once to Noel, as he knew Gillian would want him to do, and gave him all the care he needed. At last he was warm and dry and clothed in royal comfort. Then in his new little bathrobe he insisted on going out to thank the policeman and to tell them about that long time of waiting, "Before our God answered our prayer and sent our Reuben to help us, and then sent the boat you telephoned for, just in time to get us away before we drifted out to sea. We think He is a good God."

And then more than one of the rough policemen, as they listened, brushed tears away from their eyes. They watched the child and thought God must have sent a little angel down when He sent Noel to earth.

Then Aunt Ettie bustled around and got cups of coffee and doughnuts for the men, and fed Gillian and Noel and Reuben with hot soup and all the good things she had got ready for them.