I was out of that window at once, and running, almost tumbling down the metal stairs. I needed to get back to Xunzi House at once, quickly, before my friends reached the docks and I lost them for ever.
It was properly night-time by then, of course, and very dark. Environmentally friendly street lights are, no doubt, a good thing, but they tended to make pools of orange on the pavement and road, with long, dark shadows between. There was no traffic. I ran across to the road to the place where I had left Toby.
At first I thought he was not there. Then something made a slight movement, and I realised it was Crazy Dog, wagging his tail to greet me.
Toby was fast asleep. He had my scarf wrapped round his arm, and his thumb was in his mouth.
I shook him gently. “Toby! Toby! Time to wake up. Let’s go and find Ethel-nushi, shall we?”
Toby sort of grunted, but he did not open his eyes. I needed him to wake up quickly, we ought to have been on our way.
“Toby!” I shook him more firmly. “Toby, wake up. We’ve got to go. Now!”
Crazy Dog growled. I suppose he was warning me not to hurt Toby. “Good dog!” I said, to calm him down. “Toby, please wake up!”
At last Toby opened his eyes. It was impossible to see his expression in the dark, but he said, “Hello Daisy. Me sleep now.”
“No, Toby,” I said. “Not now. We have to go and find Ethel-nushi. Right now.”
Toby answered, “Daisy, it night time! Find Ethel-nushi in the morning.”
“No,” I said. I could feel a sort of panic rising up inside me. We must have lost five minutes already. “Please Toby!” Then I had an idea. “We have to go to Ethel-nushi, we have to run away from bad strangers who hurt us!”
At last Toby was wide awake. He sounded frightened. “Where bad strangers?” he wanted to know.
I said, “The bad strangers can’t get us if we find Ethel-nushi. Come on!”
Toby stood at last. “Take Crazy Dog?” he asked.
“Of course!” I said.“Come on!”
The streets seemed strange at night. We walked back the way we had come, into the pedestrian precinct. Once we saw a car approaching slowly up St George Street. It was quiet, with the engine noise switched off and the headlights dimmed. I thought it might be someone looking for Toby. They did not know about me, but the people traffickers obviously knew that Toby was still missing.
“Quick!” I said to Toby, and pulled him into a deep shadow as the vehicle passed. Afterwards I thought perhaps it might have been a police car, but I could not be sure.
Once in the precinct the going was easier. Of course, I was still in bare feet, and the stone flagging was cool and clean, easy for running on. Crazy Dog was willing to run too, but moving fast was really not Toby’s thing. He had been created clumsy, and although he was still only a little boy, I would say he lumbered rather than ran.
We had not even got to the bottom of the precinct, to the place where cars can drive, before Toby stopped and sat down, right there in the middle of the path. “Toby tired,” he announced. “Not run any more.”
The clock in the Guildhall struck, lots of chimes but I did not count them. Was it eleven or midnight? How far would the van have got now? I could imagine it driving between huge containers, like something I had seen on a detective series.
I insisted, “Toby, we have to find Ethel-nushi!”
But Toby could be obstinate. He looked around, as if searching for something or someone. “It’s night time,” he told me. “No strangers! We stay here.”
“No Toby!” I felt desperate...