He settled, and I finished the haircut as he returned to sleep. When I was done, I took the towel from under his head and shook it outside then rubbed his scalp with it to remove the loose hairs. Having made sure the bedclothes were up around his shoulders I drew a chair to the side of the bed and sat in it, with my head resting just by his hand. Maynard left us there; a mumbled pardon drifted back as he left the room.

~

I must have fallen asleep; I do not know for how long. My neck was sore.

There was still faint light outside, and two men stood in the doorway. They made no attempt at quiet, or at excusing themselves.

‘He is calling for you,’ one of them said. There was no need to identify the caller.

I looked at my father. He was not conscious, but he was at least peaceful there. I followed the straitsmen without thought or hesitation: this was all inevitable. The man’s giant pride, himself at the centre of the universe. Of course he would seek to confront me.

I walked the same path that Srinivas had ventured out upon hours before. The two men walked ahead of me. We had not gone far when the sky was ripped open by a gunshot. I jumped, but one of them said, half a-mutter, ‘Not shootin at us. Bin takin shots at the men round the hill, keepin em down.’

‘Whose gun does he have?’ I asked.

‘Don’t know,’ said the younger of the two. ‘Thought it mighter bin from yer boat.’

‘The gun you gave to Srinivas’—they looked at me blankly—‘the Hindoo man…did it sound like that?’

They thought about this; slowed their pace slightly. ‘Aye,’ said one of them quietly.

‘How many cartridges did you give him?’ I thought of them filling his pockets. They had sent him up with a virtual armoury.

‘Hmm, er…couple o’ dozen,’ said the younger.

Dread filled me, even as the birds skittered from our path and the dusk did its best to conjure an innocent world. The earth on both sides of the path was humped and tunnelled and I had seen enough of these islands now to know that it was the work of the moonbirds, migrants or vagrants or both. They, not the stunned and timid remnant seals, were the true occupants of the place.