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fisherman on the shore threw them a
lifebelt. Other heads were popping up one after another, and in an instant Routon and the Professor were diving to look for those who might be trapped. There was zero visibility, however, and the
only way they could do it was by touch. Routon went back in the bus, swimming among the seats, mindful that he only had enough air to search a fraction of the area. When he surfaced for the second
time, he saw Professor Worthington crawling up the bank with the dazed pilot under her arm. A human chain was forming, but now Sam and Oli were nowhere to be seen. He also saw that the long trailer
he’d been pulling had broken free of the bus, and was afloat some way out to midstream. A lot of the children were clinging to it and, as he watched, he saw one child diving back into the
river, presumably to search for the missing.
    He took a great lungful of air and plunged again.
    Ruskin was in difficulties. He had rushed gallantly into the water, determined to save his friends, and only when he was completely out of his depth and sinking fast did he remember that he
couldn’t swim. He hadn’t even taken his blazer off and it was waterlogged at once. His school shoes were soon deep in mud and, as he flailed blindly, it was a stroke of luck that he
caught Imagio’s elbow as he swam by. Imagio grabbed his wrists and towed him to the trailer. Then he too jumped back in for another search.
    The two smallest orphans, Kenji and Ron, did a head-count. Amazingly, once Anjoli, Miles and Millie had been called in from a splashing fight, everyone was accounted for. The trailer they were
on, however, was drifting fast. It was caught in a strong current and was already more than a hundred metres from the bank. They could see policemen in the distance, struggling through the
undergrowth in pursuit – but they were disappearing behind a line of trees. The policemen were shouting and whistles were blowing but they had little chance of keeping up, because the craft
was so buoyant and the river so fast. The adults watched in disbelief as the children floated behind an island, out of sight. The boys and Millie sat clutching each other, gazing back – they
were helpless to steer or paddle, and in another half-minute the blue flashing lights, the bridge and all the spectators had simply been erased from the landscape.
    A strange silence fell.
    ‘We’re on our own,’ said Sam, quietly.
    ‘Totally,’ said Ruskin.
    ‘I didn’t say goodbye to my dad. He drove us all this way and I didn’t even say thank you.’
    ‘What about Captain Routon?’ said Oli. ‘We didn’t get a chance to thank him.’
    ‘What if we swim for it?’ said Miles. ‘We could probably make it.’
    ‘No way,’ said Sanjay.
    ‘I could swim that,’ said Anjoli. ‘I could swim back there.’
    ‘You want a race?’ said Vijay, pulling his shirt off. ‘First one back to the road and you’ve got to touch—’
    ‘No!’ shouted Asilah, grabbing hold of him. ‘No way. You just sit down – all of you – and you stay sat down. All right?’
    ‘We’re lucky to be alive,’ said Sanchez. ‘That was the most amazing bit of flying I’ve ever seen, Millie. That was a miracle.’
    ‘It was Oli’s plan,’ said Millie. ‘He’s the genius.’
    ‘How did it happen?’ said Imagio. ‘We’re just on our way back to school and . . . it was like a disaster movie. And what do we do now?’
    ‘What can we do?’ said Tomaz. ‘We just have to wait, I guess. They’ll follow us, won’t they? They’ll send that helicopter.’
    ‘Stay together, that’s for sure,’ said Sanchez. ‘I suppose everyone’s phones are ruined?’
    Miles, Millie and Oli pulled them out of their pockets and water streamed from the cases.
    ‘I might be able to clean Sam’s,’ said Oli. ‘The circuitry’s pretty basic, but it won’t be a quick job.’
    ‘Do your best,’ said Sanchez. ‘We need to get back to civilisation – Captain Routon’s