Again, there was silence. We’d used up all of our ideas when we were trying to escape from it ourselves. There had been wise talk about helicopters and warships and submarines when we were back on board. Actually, people had spent a lot of time talking about that sort of thing. But now that we were on land, there didn’t seem to be any obvious helicopters lying around after all.

The sheep started to walk past in a line from one side of the hill to the other, and most of us turned to watch them as they bleated casually past.

‘There’s movement,’ called somebody excitedly. ‘There are still people out there.’

We smiled at each other then, some people in delight and relief, but others in resignation that we were now going to have to mount a rescue attempt.

‘I’ve got an idea,’ I said, and even as I said it I thought it was probably stupid. ‘What about the sheep?’

Chapter 30

30

Catching sheep is harder than you’d think.

‘Bloody bollocking crap,’ shouted Lana, stomping back up the hill. ‘Bog off, then, you stupid fluffballs!’

James rolled his eyes, giving the impression that he could easily have caught them all if it wasn’t for everybody else’s incompetence. Five sheep went careening down the hillside, chased by Stinky. They were a long way ahead, untroubled by the steep gradient that was slowing him down, and the distance between them widened. They stopped near the bottom for a little nibble at the grass and a relaxed saunter round to the other side.

On the opposite side of the hill, Soldier John was shouting and making a lot of noise. At least one person in his crew seemed to be actually growling, though it might also have been a strange sheep noise. Others were muttering curses at the animals, but everywhere I looked, groups of unconcerned sheep were pausing to eat grass. We hadn’t been as successful at herding them as we’d thought we would be. It wasn’t clear that anybody had managed to catch one at all. And also, there was a lack of enthusiasm about the whole process which made it seem unlikely we’d ever be successful. A lot of people were waving their arms around while bending over and shouting, but nobody looked exactly like they were planning to hold on to one of them.

‘Kate, lie down in that grass,’ Lana said, ‘and I’ll send one in your direction, and then you catch it.’

‘Oh,’ said Kate. ‘I don’t know that . . .’

‘Shut up and lie down.’