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now, so they could easily be quite near us and we’d never know until they ran us down,” replied his dad.
    “That doesn’t sound too cheery,” said Toby. “And now we’ve got engine problems. Great!”
    “I might be able to fix the engine if it’s what I think it is,” said his dad, “but you need to keep an eye out forany lights, and listen carefully. You’ll be able to hear an outboard on an inflatable boat for miles. My guess is they won’t want to bring the warship too near this coast. It’s too rocky and dangerous for a big boat. No, I’m sure they’ll launch an attack by dinghy.”
    His dad disappeared into the deckhouse and Toby could hear him descending the steep steps down to the engine room under the cabin. Toby decided to check the rope and anchor that were keeping them steady. His dad wouldn’t be pleased if there was too much movement when he was carrying out the delicate job of removing, cleaning and restoring the fuel line to the engine.
    He went to the stern and tugged at the rope. Good, the boat felt firmly anchored, now all he had to do was keep a lookout.
    Toby stood and stared out into the inky blackness of the night. How lonely it felt to be in the middle of the ocean when danger was just around the corner. Now there were no emergency services you could pick up the phone to and ring. There was no one to save you from the bad guys — no army, no police, not even paramedics or doctors. They had been the first to go when the red fever had swept like a bush fire across the world. Toby could understand why the doctors soon succumbed to the infection; after all, they were looking after the first wave of sick people that flooded the hospitals.
    But the army and the navy and air forces? How come they didn’t withstand the onslaught? You’d think they would have had procedures in place to protect them from things like a virus. Toby had seen lots of films in which soldiers ran around in protective suits with breathing apparatus on, maintaining some degree of law and order. They were the ones that stopped civilisation imploding into mass panic and mob rule.
    Without laws and people to enforce them, would mankind revert to behaving like animals? The survival of the fittest. Toby had learnt that theory at school. Wasn’t it Darwin who first put it forward? He couldn’t remember, but what did it matter now? The fittest had survived, and on land that had turned out to be the dogs.
    Ha! thought Toby. They must be laughing now, after all those centuries of doing man’s bidding: fetching stupid balls and chasing sticks, rounding up sheep and digging out lost climbers. The boot is on the other paw now!
    “Toby!” His dad’s shout jolted him from his wandering thoughts.
    “Yes?” he replied.
    “Can you go into my small tool bag in the wheelhouse and bring me an adjustable spanner?”
    “Going!” Toby sped as fast as he could to find the tool his father wanted, returning with it clasped in his hand. “Here you are …” He held it out to his dad who hadsurfaced from the engine room, wiping his oily hands on a rag.
    “D’you hear that?” said his dad in a quiet voice. “Listen.”
    Toby stopped in his tracks and listened.
    There it was — the distant rising and falling whine of an outboard motor attached to an inflatable dinghy that was bouncing off and on the waves.
    His father flung himself at the light switch for the deck light and they were plunged into darkness.
    “They’re coming!” his dad whispered fiercely. “We must hide!”
    “Hide? Where? It won’t take long to find us on this little boat,” Toby whispered back.
    “Not us! Hide the Lucky Lady ! We must hide her!” said his dad, turning to release the anchor rope and tugging up the anchor.
    “Where?” asked Toby.
    “I stopped here for a reason. We’re near the Bullers of Buchan. There are loads of caves around here. We just need to get her into one.”
    “Dad, the Bullers of Buchan — isn’t that a very dangerous