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last five minutes on his own.
    ‘Hey, yeah!’ Tikaani said. He looked from one to the other. Beck could see the uncertainty on his face; he knew how brave his friend was being. Tikaani understood what the Alaskan tundra was like. Freezing winds. Snow and ice up in the mountains. Quite possibly bears and other hazards.
    ‘I mean,’ Tikaani added, as if to reassure himself, ‘I can help. Can’t I?’
    ‘Sure you can,’ Beck agreed, with a smile. Tikaani’s smile back was brave and flattered.
    ‘When will you leave?’ Al asked.
    ‘First light.’
    ‘Then give it an hour. If they’re looking for us, they’ll start at first light too. Wait an extra hour. If there’s still no sign . . .’
    He didn’t need to finish the sentence.
    ‘An hour after first light,’ Beck agreed. ‘Then we go.’

CHAPTER 12
    In fact they gave it an hour and a half. First light this far north was very early indeed. By five o’clock it was as bright as mid-morning back home. And, try as they might, they still couldn’t see or hear a thing that wasn’t natural. In other words, no rescuers.
    Beck and Tikaani spent the extra time gathering wood for Al. The older man could move about a little, but the more time he spent resting the more chance he had of recovering. The fire burned brightly just outside his little shelter and the spare timber was piled within easy reach. At the back of the lean-to Beck had left the two water bottles he had filled at the stream – now carefully topped up – spare clothes, and all the food they had gathered so far. The boys would gather more food for themselves as they walked, and fill their plastic bottles at streams and rivers. Lastly, Beck left a red flare from the plane so that Al could set it off to alert rescuers if he heard search planes overhead.
    The shelter was makeshift in the extreme, but it would keep Al out of the wind, and as warm and dry as possible. It should certainly keep him alive for the three days that Beck estimated it would take them to reach Anakat – if, that is, whatever was damaged inside Al didn’t decide to rupture so that he bled to death. Beck consciously didn’t think about that because there was nothing he could do about it.
    ‘OK,’ said Al at last. ‘Let’s have a final look.’ He ran his eyes up and down the two boys.
    Two of the bags in the plane were rucksacks, so they had emptied them out and filled them with their supplies: the ropes, the tarpaulin, the plastic bottles Tikaani had found on the plane, a few items from the medical kit – cotton wool, antiseptic cream, a bandage – and a complete change of dry clothes each.
    By plundering all the clothes in all the bags – their own, Al’s and the pilot’s – Beck had been able to get them both kitted out in trousers, T-shirts, sweatshirts and fleeces. Plenty of layers, as he had told Tikaani, combining together to keep them warm. They had light waterproof coats on top; good sturdy boots on their feet; and hats and mittens.
    ‘You’ll do your ancestors proud, Tikaani,’ Al added.
    Tikaani pulled a wry smile. ‘My ancestors would want to know why I wasn’t wearing skins cured the traditional way, in urine. I think I’d rather do it this way.’
    Al chuckled, but he sounded weak and Beck prayed for the thousandth time that his strength would last. Beck gave him a final hug and Tikaani shook hands awkwardly.
    ‘You’ll do,’ said Al with a brave smile. ‘Now go and get me rescued.’
    An hour later, Beck found proof that they weren’t the only living creatures walking in the woods.
    The way had been easy going so far. The trees weren’t thickly clustered on the tundra, and if there were any bushes, then the boys could simply walk around them. Their boots scuffed through a soft carpet of dead pine needles. Beck couldn’t decide if it was like a huge meadow with trees growing in it, or a huge fir forest with large, grassy clearings.
    One tree in particular caught his attention at one point. It