The Skylark's Secret, стр. 42

Flora, 1941

The rumblings of war continued but they remained beyond the horizon, a far-off storm out across the ocean. Flora gave thanks daily for the hills cradling the loch that gave shelter to those she loved. In the east, Norway fell to German occupation and Hitler was said to be gathering troops along Russia’s borders; to the south, beyond the towering walls of the Scottish mountains, English and Scottish cities were being shaken by the Luftwaffe’s bombs as the Blitz rained terror from the skies, while their inhabitants remained defiant in the face of the onslaught.

The secluded waters of Loch Ewe still provided a safe haven for the ships of the British fleet, kept secret from the enemy, as well as for merchant ships that gathered there before they made the hazardous journey across the Atlantic to fetch supplies back to Britain from America. But then, one short night in June, that sense of security was shattered.

It was the urgent sound of a whistle from the anti-aircraft battery below the Ardtuath Estate that wrenched Flora from her sleep. As she surfaced from the depths of her dreams, she became aware of the insistent thrum of an aircraft engine drawing ever closer. She hurried to the window and drew back a corner of the blackout. A waning crescent moon cast its light across the water, adding its dim glow to the beam of a searchlight that swept the blackness of the sky. Suddenly, curtains of tracer fire flooded the darkness. Against their glare, she could see the vast barrel of the ack-ack gun turning skywards as its crew set their bearings. With a flash and a boom that shook the floorboards beneath her bare feet, anti-aircraft rounds illuminated the scene. Four planes swooped and then banked sharply, evading the shells that exploded around them. The gunners reset their bearings, following the course of the Junkers as they flew above the ships that lay at anchor in the bay below. They fired again, and the air reverberated with the thud and boom of more shells as the guns at Tournaig sprang into action too.

One of the planes took a hit, lurching and then wheeling off to the north-west, and then another shell exploded close to a second plane that also swerved off towards the Minch, a pall of black smoke obscuring its tail.

It looked as if the gun batteries had managed to disperse the attack but then, to Flora’s horror, a fifth plane appeared, its engines silenced, coming in on a flight path that was straight and low while the ack-ack guns were trained on the decoys elsewhere. It let loose its bombs over the ships out in the bay. The explosions made the walls of the cottage shudder and sent a plume of smoke and water high into the air above the loch. Then all the remaining planes banked and turned, climbing rapidly into the night sky, the sound of their engines fading as they fled. She peered into the darkness, straining her eyes for any glimpse of flames.

As the guns fell silent, she padded to the front door, opening it a crack and peering out. Her father and brother appeared in the hallway behind her in their pyjamas.

‘What’s the damage?’ Ruaridh asked.

‘It’s too dark, I can’t see clearly. But thankfully the bombs don’t seem to have made a direct hit. I can’t see anything’s been set on fire, at least.’

‘Best shut that door, lass,’ her father said. ‘You don’t want to be standing there if those planes come back for a second go.’ He turned to Ruaridh. ‘Looks like Jerry has discovered what Loch Ewe’s been hiding. Perhaps we’d better get that Anderson shelter built after all.’

Alec came to find Flora at the base the next day and they walked along the shore a little way. ‘I just wanted to make sure you were all all right,’ he said. ‘No damage done at the cottage? The bomb blast brought down a chunk of the ceiling in the dining room at the house. Ma was quite shaken, but my father is more annoyed about the cost of replacing the plasterwork and where on earth he’s going to find someone who can restore such intricate cornicing these days.’

‘Have you heard what happened?’ Flora asked.

Alec nodded. ‘One of the supply ships had a near miss, which did some damage, although luckily there were no casualties.’ He grinned. ‘Looks like Jerry mistook his target in the dark, because the only thing to take a direct hit were the rocks at the top of the island where the boom net is fixed. Their shape makes them look a bit like a boat.’ His attention was caught by something in the sky towards the far horizon, and his expression grew serious.

Following his gaze, Flora shielded her eyes with her hand, just able to make out a dark speck against the dazzle of sunshine. ‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘A buzzard? Or an eagle, maybe?’

He shook his head. ‘An eagle doesn’t fly in a dead straight line like that. It could be a reconnaissance plane. I need to go and report it, in case the lookouts haven’t radioed it in already. Tell your dad you’d best take shelter tonight. I reckon last night was just the beginning.’

Sure enough, over the next weeks German planes reappeared sporadically in the summer skies over Loch Ewe. Mostly they came at night and were seen off by the ack-ack guns, whose crews became adept at chasing away the attackers. But one afternoon, when Flora was returning from driving the commander from the base at Aultbea to the officer’s quarters down the loch at Pool House, she had to pull in and take cover beneath the branches of a pine tree when a lone German plane swooped from out of nowhere over the loch.

She pressed a hand to her mouth in horror as