Joe felt a desperate urge to cry, but bit his lip hard and resisted running to his mother for comfort.
‘Go and fetch some towels,’ Binti ordered Aesha, while Angela produced a first-aid kit and went to work on Dario’s wounds.
‘What on earth happened?’ Peter asked.
‘We got your message about the blast fishing,’ said Angela. ‘The wardens are on their way and the village captain has been informed.’
Dario began to explain the sequence of events. Joe piped up every so often to add details that his friend had missed. He didn’t want to frighten his mother, but at the same time, and now that they were safe, he was eager for the adults to understand how heroic he and Dario had been.
‘And guess what, Dad,’ he said finally. ‘I took photos of the man who chased after us.’
Joe was pleased with the reaction. Even when he admitted that his camera had got very wet and could have been damaged and that the man hadn’t been very close to them, he could tell his father was impressed, and Angela was hopeful it might contain crucial evidence.
‘Shall we have a look now?’ she suggested. ‘I might recognise him.’
Joe took the camera out of the rucksack. He was concerned to see how wet it was and looked doubtfully at Peter. He opened up the screen and pressed to enter the image gallery. Nothing happened. He pressed again. This time a row of photographs appeared. He scrolled through the shots he had taken since they had arrived in the Philippines, until he came to the last few. It was impossible to disguise his dismay.
‘It’s too dark,’ he said, scowling. ‘You can’t see anything.’
‘Let me see,’ said Peter.
Joe handed the camera over and went to sit with Binti. His father studied the photographs and announced that when the final shot was blown up, and with a few tweaks, they might well be able to make out the man’s features.
‘I’ll do it tomorrow if I can borrow one of your computers,’ he said to Angela.
Angela agreed that there was nothing else to be done until the morning, and thought they should wait until they had news from the wardens and the village captain.
‘It’s been a very long day for all of us,’ concluded Binti. ‘I think we should eat and have an early night.’
They said their farewells to Dario, who turned to Joe as he parted and said, ‘Next time you say you see strange men, I listen to you.’
Chapter 16
Joe slept soundly that night, just as Dario had predicted, even though the minute he relaxed on to his sleeping mat he discovered a number of bruises around his ribs that must have been caused by his fall from the motorbike. He dozed off trying to count them and wasn’t aware of anything else, until his father gently shook his shoulder and asked if he was planning to stay in bed all day.
‘We thought you might like to hear the news,’ Peter said. ‘It seems two of your strange men have been caught.’
Joe struggled up off the sleeping mat. ‘What happened, Dad? How did they get caught?’
‘Come and have breakfast and we’ll tell you.’
Joe clambered awkwardly into his clothes. His body felt as if it had been used as a punchbag. He made his way to the pavilion, where everyone else had already gathered. Dario was there and Joe was shocked to see how his face had swollen up overnight.
‘Hello, Joe. How are you feeling?’ his mother asked, concerned.
‘OK,’ he said, sitting down next to her.
‘Well, thanks to our two heroes here,’ Angela announced, ‘two of the men who carried out the dynamite fishing have been caught and are in custody.’
Joe was eager to know every detail and joined in the laughter when he heard what had transpired. It seemed that the two men in the banca had gone ashore to wait for their friend to return. When he failed to reappear, and determined that they were not going to lose their catch, they had had no option but to get back into the banca and try to make their escape by sea. It wasn’t long before they ran out of fuel, and the wardens had no trouble rounding them up.
‘But what about the other man?’ Joe asked.
‘It seems he’s done a runner,’ Angela replied. ‘The motorbikes were found abandoned, and he may well have left the island by now.’
Joe was dismayed. ‘So my photo won’t be any help.’
‘Oh yes it will,’ said Angela.
‘We’re going to work on it,’ Peter explained. ‘If we can sharpen it up enough to provide an identifiable image, it can be sent to all the wardens and the authorities, not just here but on the neighbouring islands as well, and they’ll add him to their files and keep a lookout for him.’
Joe was thrilled. ‘Cool!’ he said. ‘My photo might be used to catch a criminal!’
‘I think you might just want to look at the photos I took yesterday,’ Peter added, ‘but I’m obviously going to have to watch out, or you’ll soon be taking over from me!’
In all the events of the day before, Joe had completely forgotten that his father had gone out photographing seahorses. He was eager to see the results. He followed him into the communal room and sat down next to him at the computer.
‘I’ll show you my videos and photos first,’ said Peter, ‘and then we’ll get to work on your man.’
The world that opened up to them as he moved from one frame to the next was even more beautiful and extraordinary than Joe remembered it from the snorkelling trip. In an ever-changing landscape of smooth-domed rocks and intricately shaped corals, the creatures of the sea seemed to dance and sail and sway as if to the strains of music from an unseen piper. Then there were shots of seahorses taken from all angles, some of them clinging to coral with their tails, others peeping out from behind coral stems
