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never guess what, not in a million years. I made my apologies, pulled my boat up onto the beach, and let Anya drive me home. I am a man of honour who kept his word. But I left that beach feeling like I’d betrayed my country, that I was a traitor.
    ‘The following day a liner, the Niagara , was sunk by German mines in the approaches to the Hauraki Gulf. Just inside the Mokes. It took fourteen souls with it when it went down. Fourteen!’ Mack buried his head in his hands again and his shoulders heaved suddenly as though he was sobbing. I didn’t know where to look.
    ‘I knew exactly who and what had laid those mines. I felt responsible for the deaths of those poor souls.
    The next day I climbed Mt Tataweka and watched minesweepers working to and fro across the Gulf. It was too late. The damage had already been done. My fortyeight hours passed but I still didn’t tell anyone about the submarine. I was too ashamed. I never told anyone about it. After the war I found out a troopship left for Europe the same day I saw the U-boat. Some said it was the Queen Mary . I knew then it would have been the U-boat’s real target, why it had been sent all the way down to New Zealand. My silence could have cost the lives of thousands of soldiers. Jesus Christ! Imagine having that on your conscience. You talk about a burden of responsibility, laddie, but put that in your pocket and see how it feels!’ He turned away from me, his eyes brightly rimmed with red.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, though I wasn’t exactly sure what I was sorry about. It upset me to see Mack so distraught, but I also had to consider the possibility Mack had betrayed his country, that he’d placed his obligations to the enemy above his duties to God, king and the entire British Empire. I was torn between supporting Mack, my friend, and my own sense of what was right. I felt guilty for thinking Mack should’ve told the policeman straight away. That’s what I would’ve done. Yet that would have meant breaking a promise and you had to be a pretty poor type to do that. But on top of everything was an overwhelming feeling of disappointment. Mack had been picked up by a German U-boat, and I’d expected a Boy’s Own Annual story with Mack emerging as a hero. I hadn’t expected a moral dilemma.
    I noticed his glass was empty so got up and fetched a bottle of Dominion Bitter from his cooler. He took it from me without a word. I could see by his eyes that he’d disappeared into another place and another time. I started to sneak away, through the back door and down the passage, towards the front door. He seemed oblivious to everything except what was going on inside his head. I didn’t think he’d noticed I’d gone until he yelled after me.
    ‘Don’t you dare tell anyone!’
    The sudden boom of his voice scared the daylights out of me. Mack had never shouted at me before.
    ‘I won’t,’ I called back.
    ‘Promise me!’
    ‘I promise.’
    ‘God as your witness!’
    ‘God as my witness.’
    I ran home like a frightened rabbit but not sure why. It’s not as if I was scared of Mack. He’d never hurt me if you paid him. Maybe I was frightened for Mack’s sake. Maybe I was frightened by his confession and what would happen if his secret ever got out. Mostly I think I was frightened because I didn’t think I was up to the challenge of keeping my promise. Mack had shared his burden with me and the weight of the knowledge was unbearable.
    Far too much for one small boy.

CHAPTER THREE
    My father always claimed my Uncle Vic owed his life to his incompetence. He used to say it as a joke but it wasn’t far from the truth.
    A N EXTRACT FROM ‘S AVED BY THE S KIN OF M Y T EETH ’
    ‘Don’t you dare tell anyone!’
    The tone of Mack’s voice had left no room for manoeuvre. I’d always thought I was pretty good at keeping secrets, but the secrets I’d been charged with keeping didn’t amount to a fart in a thunderstorm alongside what Mack had told me. Mostly