Crumbs stretched out on the bed as he thought about that. ‘Lots of the animals do, so I guess we should put our lives on the line too. I had a mate once, when we were doing another protest in Victoria, he died, and I had to watch another mate go to jail for it. See, I promised the mate who died that I’d keep this going. Make sure that animals were always looked after. That’s why my other mate took the fall. I had the skills and brains to think of things like this and make them work. He didn’t.’

‘What happened to your friend?’ Jack said, twisting around on the bed to make sure the camera pen was focused on Crumbs. He hoped it was picking up what was being said.

‘Got himself in between the ground and a front-end loader bucket. Didn’t end well for the poor bastard. I swore that we’d always continue the fight. Like I said, I need Voices for Animals as a front. The peaceful protesters; the silent army, if you like. Sure, they don’t get much done, but we make up for it behind the scenes.’

‘Doesn’t it bother you that you’ve hurt animals to make a point?’

He shrugged. ‘Again, sometimes you have to do something outrageous for people to take notice. And sometimes the animals are better off dead than being where they are. Just like that piggery.’ He filled his glass again and this time swallowed the whole lot in one gulp. ‘Better get some shut-eye,’ he said. ‘We’ll be here for a while, so there’s not much else to do.’ He lay back and pulled the rug over him. ‘I just wish I could find out how people are responding to the video.’

Jack sat up. ‘You could, you know.’

‘How?’ Crumbs’s face looked eager. ‘I haven’t got a computer and I’ve only got one of those old brick phones.’

‘I’ve got my phone. How about I see if I can find anything online?’

‘Sounds good.’ Crumbs got up, opened a box and looked through it, before taking out Jack’s phone and throwing it to him.

Jack caught it and breathed a sigh of relief to hold it in his hands again. Quickly he turned it on and waited for it to start up. His phone pinged with a message. Not just once but five times. Each time he flicked the message away without opening it. It looked like Dave had sent him messages without any text in them. Obviously trying to get him to answer.

‘Jeez, you’re popular. Who’s looking for you?’ Crumbs asked.

‘Mum,’ he lied. ‘I don’t usually go away without telling her.’ He kept his eyes on the screen.

Then he got onto the Farming Telegraph’s website and scrolled down.

‘Is there anything there?’