Tam pushed his untouched breakfast towards Chips, who, with his mouth full, nodded his thanks.
‘You should eat – worrying won’t help,’ said Skeet. ‘Maybe the children are slowing them down on the way back.’
Tam shook his head. ‘Thom is in trouble. They’ve been caught. We’ll be sailing without them,’ he replied, and climbed to the crowsnest for the fourth time since first light to stare over the dunes. Suddenly, as if by magic, Jandamarra appeared on the beach. He was alone, and though prepared for disappointment, Tam’s heart sank. By the time he and Pickle had rowed the gig ashore, Jandamarra’s friends had emerged from the dunes with Sassy at their side. Sassy embraced the two Aborigines and stepped into the boat with Jandamarra, Sassy waving good-bye to her friends all the while she was ferried to Misty.
Captain and crew listened anxiously while Jandamarra told of how he had watched the search party break in successfully, but had seen no sign of them since. He was also concerned that Laughing Jack was preparing the canoes to attack Misty.
‘Either that or he’ll board “The Executioner” and blow us out of the water from the sea,’ added Jobey.
Sassy turned to Capt. Albern. ‘If you can’t save Chantal and Max, I want to go back. I can’t leave them by themselves. Anyway, once Laughing Jack’s got me, maybe he’ll let your crew go.’
‘There’s still a chance they might all escape,’ replied the captain. ‘Remember Jandamarra has a plan.’
‘But we don’t have the weapons to fight,’ said Skeet.
‘Fear is our weapon,’ said Jandamarra. ‘Something the pirates will fear enough to abandon the camp in a panic for long enough for both the children and your shipmates to flee.’
‘I know!’ interrupted Doc. ‘Your seer will threaten them with the death bones!’
‘Fire,’ replied Jandamarra. ‘We shall set fire to the land. The pirates will panic because they will think only of fighting it, which will be impossible. But we understand fire. We make it work for us. It burns where we wish, and it stops burning where we wish.’
The sailors shifted uneasily. Fire on board a ship usually meant death.
‘I’ve read about this,’ said Doc. ‘You select an area of land and burn off all the dying vegetation to encourage new growth, which in turn attracts more wildlife. You can direct the fire at will. Can I come and help?’
‘No!’ answered Misty’s crew in unison even before Jandamarra could shake his head, a response which Doc thought harsh, though predictable.
‘I must leave, we must act tonight,’ said Jandamarra, and shyly offered Capt. Albern an intricate carving. The spirit of the totem, he explained, would help protect Misty from evil. In turn, Capt. Albern presented the Aborigine with a scale model of Misty, delicately carved by Chips late into many a night. She sailed proudly on a sea of cotton wool in a bottle, and Waff, who had tied the rigging, carefully demonstrated how her masts were lowered to slide her through the neck.
Tam rowed Jandamarra ashore, accompanied by Capt. Albern as a matter of courtesy.
‘One day I’ll come back and see you,’ shouted Sassy.
‘And we will welcome you,’ called back the Aborigine.
Capt. Albern took Jandamarra’s hand. ‘We may not meet again. Thank you, and please thank your people. With your help we shall yet prevail.’
‘I pray you will. And perhaps one day the sacred resting place of our forefathers will be returned to them,’ answered Jandamarra.
Misty’s crew lined the rail to watch the lithe, angular, youth, who loved his land, bid farewell to the stoop backed otter, who belonged to the sea.
‘Crocodylus porosus! I hope we see one,’ exclaimed Doc suddenly.
‘What are you on about now!’ muttered Jobey.
‘Estuarine crocodiles – the creek will be their habitat. Amazing creatures! They can live to be a hundred, and they can go for a year without food.’
‘So if we throw Chips overboard the rest of us should be safe for several months,’ suggested Waff.
‘I don’t know why Jandamarra didn’t take you with him. You’re good at setting fire to things,’ retorted Chips. Waff grinned and luxuriated in lighting his first pipe of the day.
Tam and Capt. Albern heard the creak of the windlass and the rattle of chain as they stepped into the gig. Skeet was shortening the anchor.
Tam smiled. ‘You’ll lose your ship if we don’t hurry,’ he said. ‘Mr Skeet is getting impatient.’
‘And on this occasion rightly so – the sooner we hide Misty the better,’ replied the captain.
Within minutes Misty pointed to the gap in the reef. Her crew gazed back at the beach shimmering in the heat, as lonely and deserted as when they had first stumbled ashore. Then they set more sail, their hearts filled with fresh hope, and turned south.
*
Merrie scratched another line on the wall of his cell to mark the second day of his incarceration. He thought being a prisoner was a lonely business, and wished that The Cook, if he were not too angry with him, would come to his rescue. Thom sat with her back to a wall, gazing at the light streaming through the window. She imagined herself beside Tam with the wind on her face as Misty sailed. Chad reflected on two failed attempts to escape, once by rolling on the floor feigning illness and hitting out at the guard who stooped over him, and once by a surprise attack from behind the door. But the guards worked in pairs, and all he could count for his efforts were some more bruises and the loss of two meals. Ancell shuffled round and round his cell for hour after hour. He tried to think of Truegard, who would never give up. But the red squirrel was dead, and he felt only despair.
Larren stood in the compound with Laughing Jack and Scarletta, watching the mules bearing the canoes file through the gate, followed by a train of packhorses laden with muskets and ammunition.
‘We’ll ride out after them later,’ said Laughing Jack. He laughed. ‘But first we have some hanging to do.’
Ancell blinked as a guard marched him into the compound. Even the late afternoon light hurt his eyes after the dimness of the cell. Pushed to where Chad, Thom and Merrie were standing, his heart leaped to see them unharmed. Then fear gripped at his throat as he saw the line of gallows. He had dreamed and hoped, but now he faced the reality of failure. He looked to the line of hills beyond the stockade, already tinted a deeper red by the last sunset he would see. Suddenly for the briefest of moments he saw the tall upright figure of Truegard waiting in the glow of the evening, and thrilled at a sudden unshakable assurance that they were not alone.
‘We’re going to be saved. I’m certain of it. Something will happen,’ he whispered to Chad.
A grinning pirate threw shovels at their feet and ordered them to dig.
‘You want holes, you dig them,’ Ancell told him.
The man drew a pistol and snapped back the firing pin.
‘What are we digging for – water, gold, potatoes?’ asked Chad quickly.
‘It makes a difference how you go about it,’ added Thom.
The man lowered the gun. ‘Just dig a hole big enough to lie in, and get moving,’ he ordered. Slowly they started to dig.
Chad paused and leaned on his shovel.
‘Where’s the grey squirrel, or has he escaped you already?’ he asked a guard.
The man pointed to the gallows. Larren was adjusting the length of the nooses.
‘Traitor!’ yelled Chad. Larren turned and sauntered towards them, stopping a safe distance off.
‘Bye bye,’ he said.
Bitter tears pricked Ancell’s eyes. ‘Why?’ he demanded. ‘You said you’d help us. We saved your life. Why turn against us?’
The grey squirrel shrugged. ‘Because it is in my interest to do so.’
‘You make me sick,’ growled Chad. ‘If you’d fought with us we were in with a chance. What’s wrong with you – scared of getting your fur ruffled? You’re a yellow-livered treacherous coward.’
‘And you’re nothing but a Common rat, and common you certainly are. The more of your kind that dig their own graves the better,’ sneered Larren.
‘I’d like to dig yours, I’d dig it very deep,’ fumed Chad. ‘And I’ll tell you what else I’d like to do …’
He stopped speaking and wrinkled his nose. Thom sniffed the air – then Ancell caught the faintest smell of burning. Merrie saw the first fire, a small patch of flickering flame and a wisp of smoke to the south. Thom pointed to another to the north. As the sun dipped below the ridge, casting the valley into shadow, they stood awestruck as another and yet another flared into life. Ancell thought he glimpsed the shadowy figures of the Aborigines flitting through the twilight, beating the fires towards the compound, and as he watched, each blaze ran to join another until they were encircled by a ring of flame. But for the dirt track that ran from the gate, the desert was alight.
Laughing Jack and Scarletta hurried into the compound and Larren ran to join them. The guards nervously fingered the triggers of their guns. ‘Don’t try anything or we shoot,’ warned one.
Ancell noticed Chad eying up the distance to spring. ‘Wait!’ he whispered. ‘They’ll soon run of their own accord.’
‘Maybe,’ agreed Chad. ‘It’s that grey squirrel I’d like to get hold of. I knew there was something nasty about him.’
Ancell remembered how impressed he had been by Larren, and how he had considered him superior to Chad, and felt ashamed.
Laughing Jack cursed as his lieutenants reported that the ring of fire was mysteriously closing in from every direction, and the men sent to beat it out had been driven back by the heat. He stared about wildly. All around flames were leaping into the night. Men ran from the buildings in a panic. Others jostled at the gate where the guard crazily fired his musket in the air. Scarletta rode through the confusion, leading a string of frightened horses with the ease of an accomplished horsewoman. A fight broke out at the gate.
‘Come back, you fools!’ roared Laughing Jack. ‘We’re on bare earth. The camp won’t burn.’ Then he swore as the gate swung open and the men disappeared down the track, shouting and cursing as they ran, until all he could hear was the crackle of the invading flames.
‘We must get the horses out,’ urged Scarletta. ‘Whether the camp burns or not, we still want Sassy. What do we do with the other children and those interfering animals?’
Laughing Jack heaved his weight onto a horse. ‘No time to bother about them,’ he snapped. ‘Even if they escape, the track is the only way out. I’ll make sure they don’t get far. You’re riding with me. I’m not letting you out of my sight,’ he ordered Larren.
Larren took the reins of a horse and mounted. Laughing Jack dug in his heels and fled at a gallop. Larren’s horse raced after it, whether he liked it or not. Smoke drifted into the compound and the nostrils of Scarletta’s horse flared. It reared, pawing the air, its ears flattened with fear. Little by little she pacified the terrified animal, and leading the two other horses, trotted for the gate.
‘Looks like you’re being deserted,’ Ancell informed the guards. The men glanced at the departing riders and ran.
‘Quick! Get the children!’ said Chad.
They sprinted into the building and along the empty corridor. Thom reached for the keys to Chantal and Max’s cells and threw open the doors.
‘We’re going to be free!’ sang Chantal.
‘I knew you would come!’ said Max.
‘The track isn’t burning, we’ll have to take our chance along it,’ said Chad.
‘Which is exactly where Laughing Jack will be,’ said Thom.
‘We’ll do as Jandamarra instructed and walk towards the crag on the ridge,’ said Ancell.
‘But that’s straight into the fire!’ argued Chad.
‘That’s what he told us to do, and we must trust him. Let’s go!’ said Ancell.
They raced across the compound, lit a glowing red. Chantal and Max punched the air as they dashed through the gate. The fire was already skirting the camp. Ancell led the way, edging close to the stockade. It seemed madness to step into the blazing desert, but as he looked to the peak of the ridge, a narrow path opened between the flames, and in the distance he saw the figure of an Aborigine.
‘That’s Jandamarra, who saved Sassy,’ he told Chantal and Max. ‘Trust him.’
Thom took a deep breath, told Chantal, Max and Merrie to stay close behind, and began to climb.
Chad contemplated the licking flames. ‘After you,’ he muttered to Ancell.
Breathing harshly, Ancell stumbled towards the ridge, drifting smoke stinging his eyes. He was not far below Jandamarra when he slowed and stopped. A voice was calling him urgently. Someone was still imprisoned in the compound.
Wheezing and coughing, Chad caught up.
‘Keep going! This is no place for a daydream. My whiskers are getting singed,’ he gasped.
‘I have to go back. We’ve left someone behind.’
‘Don’t be stupid! We’ve got the children. Be practical for once.’
‘I have to. I know there’s someone there.’
‘Then I’ll come with you.’
Ancell gripped the rat. ‘You must go on. For Chantal and Max’s sake you must get them safely aboard Misty before daybreak. That’s being practical.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ admitted Chad, ‘but I don’t like it. For goodness sake keep your wits about you. Being a dreamer doesn’t stop you getting roasted.’
Ancell plunged down the hill, cursing himself for not conducting a proper search. Once, he missed the edge of the path and yelped as he kicked up a shower of flickering sparks that drifted before him on the night breeze. Exhausted by the heat, the effort of the climb and his headlong dash, he tripped as he scuttled through the gate. A sharp stab of pain shot up his left leg – then he heard the thudding of hooves and looked up at Laughing Jack.
Laughing Jack slowly dismounted. ‘Don’t bother to get up,’ he snarled, and drawing a pistol from his belt began to laugh. Ancell recognised the silver engraving on the gun. He lay still, his heart racing as he watched Laughing Jack’s finger tighten on the trigger. Unable to think of anything to say to buy even a few seconds, he curled and waited for the end. A blinding flash of flame seared his eyes. He heard the whoof of an explosion and a blast of heat rolled him over. Slowly, to his amazement, he realised that he was still alive. He uncurled to see Laughing Jack crawl to his feet and stumble towards the gate after his fleeing horse. Another keg of gunpowder exploded, licking the armoury wall with flame, and black acrid smoke enveloped the compound. Half stunned and gritting his teeth, Ancell hobbled for the passageway door. There was another explosion and he could feel the heat as the fire took hold of the buildings. Smoke billowed down the corridor. He heard a wall collapse and knew he had only minutes before he was engulfed in flame. Every cell was empty. Beginning to panic, he checked Sassy’s cell again, gasping for breath as he leaned against a wall to take the weight from his aching leg. That there was someone to be found he was certain, but though he tried to stay calm and think, an overwhelming desire to run numbed his mind.
‘Help me!’ he pleaded and slumped hopelessly to the floor. Then he heard the sound of distant sobbing.
A narrow corridor he had not noticed before led to a single door. With a final effort he jumped for the key to the lock. A weeping boy lay huddled in the corner of the cell. A larger explosion shook the building and the boy curled tighter, barely breathing.
‘It’s all right! I’m here,’ shouted Ancell above the crash of a falling roof.
Slowly the boy uncurled. White faced, hollow cheeked and pitifully thin, he stared up with large brown eyes wet with tears, and briefly smiled.
‘You’ve come,’ he whispered.
Ancell knelt beside him. It was the voice that had called him for so long.
‘What’s your name?’ Ancell asked.
‘No name,’ the boy whispered.
Ancell dragged him to his feet as flames licked at the doorway.
‘Time to get out of here, Noname,’ he urged. ‘Can you walk?’
Trembling, Noname brushed a shock of dark hair from his forehead and nodded.
Seared by the heat, the smoke catching at their throats and barely able to see, they stumbled along the corridor to burst from the building. They turned, coughing and spluttering as the flaming timbers of the passageway crashed to the ground close behind them. Ancell pointed to the gate, barely visible through the billowing smoke, and gulping for breath, they picked their way through the burning debris of the camp.
Leading the fleeing party to the top of the ridge, Jandamarra span round at the crump of the exploding gunpowder to see pillars of flame leaping into the night. Chad stared in horror, wishing he had argued harder with the hedgehog, although he knew in his heart there was no stopping Ancell going back.
‘Perhaps he’s out and on his way,’ said Thom, but she didn’t sound convinced.
‘He’s got to be!’ pleaded Merrie.
‘He knows what he’s doing,’ said Chad gruffly, and wished he believed it.
Jandamarra stared at the burning buildings. He had not counted on carelessly stored gunpowder, nor had he envisaged the incineration of the compound. But now he watched with quiet joy as the flames seared the land clean of the evil the intruders had laid upon it. Now his ancestors’ spirits would be able to return to live in peace, and he prayed the deliverance of that sacred place had not cost the hedgehog his life. He took a final look at the inferno and turned away.
‘We must hurry if we’re to reach cover by daybreak,’ he said. ‘Walk steadily and stay together.’
One by one they slipped and slithered down the steep slope towards safety somewhere ahead in the darkness. Chad followed last, often stopping to listen and peer back for a sign of his dreaming, wilful friend.