Hills End by Ivan Southall Page B

boy.’
    They crawled out into the open and the wind had dropped and the rain was slackening. Miss Godwin looked back across the rock pan and it was like a river, a vast, boulder-studded river, and countless tons of water crashed down the face of the bluff in foaming cascades.
    It was terrifying, and she was sure the children were drowned, because she had forbidden them to leave the caves.
    Butch took her arm and they hobbled away into the shattered forest back towards Hills End.

7
In the Morning
    Frances felt bruised. A long time ago she had been kicked by a horse. That was how it felt now all down one side of her. She wasn’t shivering, but she was very cold.
    She was sure it must be morning because she had been lying on this shelf of rock for such a long, long time. It was the longest night of her life. So awfully long.
    Everything was dark, almost silent, but not quite. She could hear water dripping, splashing, gurgling, but she had become so accustomed to those sounds that she had to listen hard to hear them. And then there were the sounds of breathing close by, the deep and slow breathing of young people asleep. So they had slept, after all. She had slept herself, an hour here and an hour there.
    But surely it was morning.
    Slowly she sat up and reached her arm over the side of the ledge and swung it back and forth, but couldn’t touch the water. It seemed that they weren’t going to drown. The water was subsiding. It might even have gone from the cave completely.
    â€˜Is anyone awake?’ she asked quietly, and someone sighed.
    â€˜Is that you, Frances?’
    â€˜Yes, Paul. It’s morning, I think, and the water’s gone down.’
    Paul, too, sat up and reached for Miss Godwin’s torch. ‘Cold, isn’t it?’ He switched the light on and played it over the cave and the others began to stir.
    â€˜Whassup?’
    â€˜What’s happening?’
    â€˜Who’s that?’
    â€˜The water’s gone,’ said Paul. ‘We can get out.’
    Adrian sat up groaning and panting and blinking stupidly at his watch. Adrian was never at his best first thing in the morning. He shook his watch and listened to it.
    â€˜Oh crumbs!’ he groaned. ‘I forgot to wind it… It’s morning, is it?’
    â€˜We think so, but now we don’t know,’ Paul answered impatiently. ‘Surely you could have remembered to wind your watch!’
    â€˜Surely you could have remembered to remind me!’
    â€˜We can find out very easily,’ said Frances. ‘Just collect our things and go out to the entrance. We’ll know if it’s daylight soon enough.’
    â€˜I’m hungry,’ said Harvey. ‘Who’s got something to eat?’
    Gussie sniffed. ‘You’ve eaten almost everything already, you little pig.’
    â€˜I’m a growing boy,’ said Harvey.
    â€˜You ought to be, the way you eat.’
    â€˜Righto,’ said Paul. ‘Frances has the right idea. Let’s take a look at the sun. We’ve got to think about getting home. Our mums and dads will be pretty anxious.’
    â€˜They’ll be out looking for us, most likely.’
    â€˜Yeah. It must be early or they’d be here by now. Perhaps the sun’s not up.’
    â€˜They know where we are, anyway. Miss Godwin will see to that. Gee, I suppose it’s been exciting, really.’
    â€˜Suppose it has. But I’m glad it’s over, aren’t you?’
    â€˜In a way. I’m sure ready for some breakfast.’
    â€˜You’ve got five miles to walk before breakfast.’
    â€˜You would wake that up, wouldn’t you?’
    â€˜Everybody got everything?’
    â€˜I think so. You’ve got Miss Godwin’s stuff, have you, Paul?’
    â€˜Yep.’
    â€˜Well, I suppose we’ll be back in a day or so to take the photographs. We’ll have to ask Miss Godwin to organize it on a