Page 42 of One Bed for the Bluestocking
“Yes, well, you’ve enough experience with the Hebridean weather to know that it will change in five minutes.”
Nathaniel gave her a speaking look.“Fine.But I insist that you have some of my water.”
Kate was already flipping to a fresh sheet of her pad, eager to document the chicks as they moved about the nest.“Fine.”
But, of course, Kate did not drink from Nathaniel’s canteen, even as the sun beat down and a dry, dusty wind kicked up.She wasn’t about to inconvenience him due to her own carelessness.And it seemed that, in his zeal to observe the eaglets, Nathaniel forgot all about it.
By late afternoon, Kate’s mouth was parched and her temples pounded with a headache.But she didn’t utter a word of complaint.They would be off the mountain soon enough, and she could refill her canteen at the loch.
Finally, the time came to depart.And that was when the real disaster occurred.Nathaniel was packing his rucksack, preparing to head down to their camp.He had placed his notebook, in which he had recorded two and a half weeks’ worth of detailed observations about the eagles, on the rock beside him.
That was when a gust of wind kicked up, sending the notebook tumbling over the edge of the cliff.
“Gah!”Nathaniel lunged for it, but he wasn’t quick enough.Kate watched, her heart in her throat, as the observations that were to be the making of Nathaniel’s career plunged out of sight.
“Hellfire and—” He bit back a curse as he peered over the edge of the cliff.
Kate sprang to her feet and came to stand beside him.“Nat!All your notes…”
“I know,” he said, his voice grim.
Kate shook herself.“Come on.It’s not as if they fell into the loch.Your notes are somewhere down there, and we’re going to find them!”
They hurried down the mountain, picking their way across a field strewn with rocks to the base of the cliffs.By now, Kate’s head was really throbbing, and she was starting to feel a bit dizzy.But she wasn’t about to bother Nathaniel about it.Not when he was faced with the prospect of all his painstaking research being lost!
They searched amongst the rocks for a half hour.By this time, the sun was starting to slant low.Soon, the light would be gone.And, as luck would have it, dark clouds were gathering overhead.After a dry, windy day, it looked like they were in for a rainy night.
Nathaniel said nothing, but Kate could read the despair on his face.“Come,” he said, his voice weary.“We’d best head back.We don’t want to be out here once the sun?—”
“Wait!”Kate scrambled over a large rock, almost losing her footing, as her head was starting to swim.She raised a shaking finger.“There it is!”
Surely enough, there was the familiar brown leather notebook wedged in the narrow opening behind a boulder.
Nathaniel hurried to her side.“You’re right!”He squeezed her arm.“You’re brilliant.I could kiss you right now.”
Kate laughed awkwardly.Her head was growing fuzzy enough that the wordsGo right aheadwere on the tip of her tongue.But she managed to control herself.
Nathaniel was peeling off his jacket.“I’ll see if I can reach it.”
It quickly became clear that he could not.The fissure was narrow, and the notebook was a good foot beyond his fingertips.Kate tried, too, but her arm was shorter than his.
She could almost slip inside the narrow gap.Almost.She didn’t quite fit, but it was a very near thing.
They tried everything.Their rope proved ineffectual as a lasso.Kate’s sketchpad was slim enough to slip into the crack, but too floppy to move the book.As thunder rumbled in the distance, Kate couldn’t help but lament their luck at being stuck on one of the few treeless islands in all of Britain.Were Nathaniel’s notes going to be ruined for want of a stick?
“It’s no use,” Nathaniel said at last.“We might as well go back to the shieling.”
“What?No!”She seized his wrist.“We can’t give up!”
His voice was resigned.“There’s a storm rolling in.There’s no point in getting soaked to the bone.I’ll just have to reproduce my notes as best I can, and?—”
“Absolutely not!”Kate cried.“There’s something else we can try.”
In truth, there was one thing they had not tried in order to retrieve the notebook.One approach she had shrunk from.
But Nathaniel was on the cusp of losing all his research!It was the key to securing the Natural History professorship.She knew how much gaining that position would mean to him.He had confessed how he felt like the family disappointment, how much he hated to make his parents worry about him.
Kate could never allow his dreams to be dashed.
