He nodded, but then Kate, who was on the left, cried out, “Oh, my God!” She started rowing harder, half a dozen quick strokes, before stopping, craning her neck. “Oh, my God! A town! There’s a town!”

She started rowing again, and so did Jess. Chris grabbed the oar in the second raft and rowed on the left too. Tom could see that the bank was high and open on the right-hand side beyond the bend, and then he saw what Kate had seen from her kneeling position.

There were wooden jetties and boats tied up, and buildings above a steep bank, not those of a native village, but colonial-style buildings, what looked like a customs house, a church with a flight of wide stone steps in front of it descending to the river. On either side of the bigger buildings were smaller houses, the roofs just visible from the water, but neatly set out, with palm trees rising up here and there.

They had no idea where they were, even which country they were in, but the appearance of the town was surreal. A few days before, Barney had joked about a beach resort being beyond the low hills, and the sight of this white church tower seemed no less extraordinary.

They rowed on in a blur, making an incoherent commotion between them, waking Perro, who joined in with excited barks. And when they reached the stone steps, probably put there hundreds of years earlier by Spanish conquerors, George jumped across the gap with the rope and found a post to tie it off.

They scrambled ashore, stretching their legs as they stood on the steps, dazed for a moment, unsure what to do next. Then the focus shifted to Nick, and Shen started giving instructions to get him onto the stretcher.

Nick cried out as he was lifted from the bottom of the raft, then shouted painfully, “No! No! Leave me here!”

But Shen ignored him and a few seconds later said, “All done. You’re okay. We’re taking you ashore.”

He gestured for Chris and George to pick up the makeshift stretcher and the whole party followed them up the steps. It was only when they reached the top and stood before the church and the small settlement that stretched back from the river that Tom realized Joel wasn’t with them.

Before he could say anything, Shen walked over to him and said, “Good job. You said you wouldn’t let anyone else die, and you didn’t.”

“Thanks, although I’m not sure I can really take the credit. Luck played a part, and so did everyone else.”

“You make your own luck—it’s been proven, scientifically, and you made it for us.” He smiled and held out his hand. “Either way, it’s been an honor.”