When he got to what Squeaky had shouted to his companions about Cillian paying extra for the girl alive, he heard the hiss of breath drawn in, sharply and suddenly through gritted teeth, as Castor swung around to look quickly at Father, who held his eye for a moment, quickly shaking his head and then looked back at Albert.

‘Cillian? Is that what you said? Cillian?’ Ucho sounded even more brusque than before.

‘Yes.’

‘Are you sure of this, Albert?’ asked Father quickly.

‘Yes.’

Father turned to look at Ucho, who gave him a curt nod. Father held his gaze for a moment longer before turning away to look at nothing in particular. ‘So he’s back.’

‘Yes,’ said Ucho tersely. ‘Too good to be true, wasn’t it?’

‘I had hoped, Ucho, after all this time …’

‘Well, hope or not, he’s back. Anyway, it makes no difference. Although it might explain last week’s … incident. At least that’s got more the feel of him than this.’

‘Perhaps, and perhaps not,’ said Father. ‘Let us not be too quick to assume anything. In the meantime, we must be watchful.’

‘He wants revenge!’ exploded Castor. ‘And we need to guard the—we need to be on guard!’

‘We need to stick to the matter at hand,’ said Father, looking pointedly at him. ‘This is not the time for this discussion.’

Albert looked from one of them to the other, then around the tent. June looked as blank as he did. He looked back at Father. ‘You know who this Cillian—’

‘It is not a name unknown to us,’ said Father, cutting off his question. ‘Please continue.’

A trifle reluctantly, Albert continued. Evidently, the name meant something, at least to these three. Equally evidently, they were not keen on discussing it. With a slight effort, he went on with his story, all the way up to how he had been cornered by the men.

‘And that was when Father showed up and brought me here,’ he finished.

‘Interesting tale,’ said Castor. ‘But to my mind, my friend, that still leaves us with the question: What proof do you have that any of this rather … um … novel tale, is true?’

‘None but my word. You can either believe me or not.’

‘I’d rather not, actually.’

‘Well then, don’t,’ said Albert, scowling. He had taken an instant dislike to this hairless man, with his not-so-smooth insinuations and his eagerness to make everyone feel as if they were guilty of something.

‘All right,’ said Father. ‘For the last time, Castor, unless you can prove Albert is not telling the truth, you must say no more on this. Let us move on.’

‘Oh, but wait a minute,’ smiled Castor. ‘Don’t you see? I don’t think he could have got out, certainly not in these circumstances, unless they let him out. And why would they do that? Unless it was to infiltrate our defences and lead them to us!’