As the vessels approached each other Tanu came back to take the wheel and engage the engine, and in response to gesticulations she turned 'Twister' into the wind and waves and held her there with just enough forward movement to keep steerage.

'Julia' circled around behind to come up on our left, her engine alternately racing and groaning as her master juggled controls to place his ship precisely alongside. In the bows a man held a coil of rope, and when I moved over to that pontoon and forward a little he threw it into my waiting hands across the remaining few meters of water.

Stooping, I carefully looped the rope onto one of the ever-present little tie points and then stood again to watch him cautiously pull the launch in.

Eyes constantly scanned me and the brown statue that was Tanu, confirming that indeed there were only two girls alone on a yacht in the middle of the ocean. Overhead the aircraft tirelessly orbited, equally interested in what was happening.

As the two slowly moving hulls briefly touched two men stepped on board, one a casually dressed sandy-headed youth, the other an older, darker man more formally attired in clothes that stopped just short of being a suit.

'Julia' swung back out a few feet and held her position alongside, still tethered by the rope, her diesel thudding nearly in time with our own.

The older man came forward and held out his hand in greeting.

"I'm Detective-Inspector Dowd. You must be Kelly Weber."

I shook his hand and looked up at him. He was taller than he seemed.

"Yes, I'm Kelly. Tanu is at the wheel," and I took him over to meet her.

"Tanu, this is Mr Dowd, a policeman." She nodded to him, but her eyes constantly flicked back to the gap between the two vessels.

"What do we do now?" she asked briskly.

"I understand we're to take you on to Mangonui for the night. That's about two hours further down the coast, and 'Julia's home port."

He turned to the youth behind him.

"This is Matt Johnston. He can take 'Twister' into port and look after her afterwards."

With her eyes still on the gap Tanu shook her head.

"No, I'll take her in. He can pilot us and set the sails, but I want to take her into port."

Both men looked sharply at her, but Tanu's brown face was impassive, then when she glanced at them they saw the tears.

Dowd hesitated, then shrugged.

"OK, I'll tell 'Julia' what we're doing and take aboard some more of my men. When they're safely across we'll set off."

So saying he carefully picked his way over to the pontoon where the launch struggled to hold station, cupping his hands to shout instructions. The man called Johnston took my old position on the bow rope as once again 'Julia' edged in.

The two uniformed officers threw equipment over, then gingerly made the crossing themselves. Immediately the bow rope was flung back to the launch and she veered sharply away.

Matt Johnston came straight back to Tanu.

"Shall I raise sail, Cap'n?" he asked, his words flippant but his manner respectful.

"As soon as we're back on course and 'Julia' is clear," she nodded, and the man went forward to prepare them.

Meanwhile Dowd was converging on me as I headed for the main cabin, his two assistants right behind him.

"Miss Weber..." he began, but I cut him short.

"I'll talk to them first," I said, pointing up at the circling aircraft. He nodded and watched over my shoulder as I sat down at the radio and picked up the microphone.

"Bravo Lima, this is 'Twister'."

"Go ahead, 'Twister'."

"We've been boarded, as you can see, and have instructions from a Detective-Inspector Dowd to make our way to a place called... Mangonui, I think he said. Everything seems under control, Airforce."

"OK, Kelly, glad everything turned out right. I take it you don't need us any more?"

"It looks that way. I just wanted to say a big thank you from both of us and that we hope to meet you in person one day."

"Bet on it. We're glad to be of assistance. Is your policeman there?"

I passed the microphone over to my shadow and got up to look up at the big aircraft as it circled. The golden afternoon sun glinted from the wings and cockpit, flashing from different points as the angles changed. Tears came, unbidden, and on sudden impulse I lifted my arms and waved. Incredibly the big wings dipped in return, rocking once, twice, then she straightened and climbed away into the south.

Dowd was by my side almost immediately.

"They're returning to base, and 'Julia' is trying to keep up with us into Mangonui but at our present rate I think she'll arrive hours after us." He looked appreciatively up at the now taut and straining sails, then back to the wheel where Tanu and Johnston stood conferring.

"What happens now, Inspector?"

"The boys should look around. Is there anything in particular?"

I shrugged.

"Somewhere on board is a large quantity of drugs as well as at least two firearms. We looked for them but we've been far too busy to get serious about it."

I seemed to suddenly have his undivided attention.

"Nobody mentioned this before."

"We didn't want to broadcast it and besides, we didn't know we were coming to New Zealand until yesterday."

"I understand you were in a storm?"

"Not actually in it. We had to run ahead of it and we didn't get much sleep. We were going much faster than this, then." I looked astern to where our feather wakes were long and straight and true, the diesel having been shut off by Johnston while I was on the radio.

"I see. Shouldn't Matt Johnston be at the helm if the other girl's so tired? What was her name again?"

"Tanu earned the right, and I think she wants to see it through to the end. It was her that figured out everything we know about this yacht and how to sail her. Without her I'd be dead." I shivered.

Dowd was silent for some time. Finally he spoke in a different tone.

"Miss Weber, there are many, many questions I'll want answers to, such as how come this craft you call 'Twister' has the name 'Mary Lou' on her stern. Can we go in and make some preliminary notes now?"

"Sure, Inspector," and we returned to the cabin. The next hour was spent relating the outlines of our adventure while one of the uniformed officers noted it all down in shorthand. He also operated a small tape recorder. The second policeman poked around in the two hull cabins, presumably making a search.

I told them everything. Well, nearly everything. How Tanu and her brothers had been out with me in their canoe, fishing and catching turtles, and how on our way back to the little bay where Tanu's family lived we'd come across the catamaran. There had been another craft alongside and men loading items from the runabout to the yacht.

When I described how we'd been fired on and had abandoned the dugout, the policeman's eyebrows rose. He looked sceptical, but I didn't care. As I explained how I managed to get aboard the catamaran after watching the men catch Tanu on the small island she'd tried to hide on, the two officers looked meaningfully at each other.

It did sound pretty wild. Somehow it no longer seemed quite as real anymore, just a chain of events that happened to somebody, or something to read about in a book. Real life could never be like that, I reminded myself wryly.

As I told my story a great weariness descended on me. My voice became slower, my responses more confused. The policeman operating the tape recorder was an older man with greying temples, and occasionally he would pause with raised eyebrows, his face a study in disbelief. When I described the rape his mouth tightened into a hard mask.

Even Dowd was shaken.

"Where are these men?" he asked.

Careful, Kelly.

I sighed. Might as well get it over with.

"They're dead, Inspector."

"Dead?" His eyes narrowed. "How did that happen?"

"Two of them were fighting on this deck and fell overboard. The other I knifed."

There, it was said.

The silence seemed to last forever, a brittle timespan punctuated only by the shipsounds and the whirr of the tape machine.

Finally Dowd spoke.

"You did what?"

With a flat, weary voice I described the circumstances and how it had been necessary if we were to live. I told him too about the earlier conversation I had overheard from my hideaway about dropping Tanu to the sharks.

"Inspector, it was them or us. If you've never had to face a survival situation you will never understand. Never. There are millions of people who sit in front of their televisions every day and firmly believe in rights and in rules. I've learned something since Bougainville, Inspector. There are no rights, none at all, and survival is the ultimate rule"

They stared at me with glazed expressions, as if I was a rabid dog that might contaminate them. Clearly I was no longer the small blue-eyed demure girl in an oversized shirt that they could relate to, someone to compare with their daughters or nieces or to speak condescendingly to about school grades.

"How old are you, girl?" It was the other policeman who found his voice first.

"Inspector, Inspector!"

We all turned to this interruption. It was the third officer excitedly popping out of the hull where Tanu had been chained.

"Yes...?"

"In here, Inspector. I've found it. The guns and the stuff."

As I watched Dowd hurriedly eased his angular body through the hatch and disappeared. The older man stayed with me, and when his superior was out of sight he snapped off the recorder and turned to me, pain in his eyes.

"Miss Weber... is this all true? Did they really...?"

I looked him straight in the eyes.

"Its true enough. No doubt the Inspector will have us medically examined to prove or disprove part of it, but I can tell you it's true right now. I'm the one who has to count off the days of the month and take the consequences, so I've no reason to lie, have I?"

"And the other girl...?" he gestured out to where Tanu still stood at the wheel.

I nodded.

"The same, but for her it's harder, she's Catholic and it will be difficult for her with her family."

He was silent for a moment, staring at me.

"And you're only seventeen, going on eighteen, you say... I have a daughter your age and all she's interested in is loud music..."

By this time my eyelids were drooping and I felt as if I could sleep for ever. Now that the immediate need for action was past my body just wanted to drop, and it took a great effort to attend to what he was saying.

"Can you tell me what happens now, Constable?"

"I'm a Sergeant, actually. Certainly. First we go into Mangonui and officially welcome you to New Zealand with a bath or shower and somewhere to sleep, then we'll probably take you down to Auckland and sort out the legalities. You're Australian, I believe, so for you it's simple enough. Australians are allowed free access. Tanu... I don't know. It's up to others."

"And 'Twister'?"

"She will go into the custody of the Customs when we've finished with her, I would think. Our information is that she's stolen, so no doubt the owners will want her back."

The conversation was terminated by the return of Dowd who levered himself up out of the cabin with a very satisfied expression on his face.

"You were right, there's kilos of the stuff!" he said triumphantly. "It was hidden behind a false panel by the forward bulkhead."

I looked out over the wind ruffled sea. I couldn't care less about drugs or guns now and ached for that hot shower and bed the sergeant had mentioned. We were entering a large bay now and the shore was much closer. Here the coast was much more abrupt, with steep bush-clad hills and beautiful little bays that had trees right to the water's edge, trees that were a scarlet blaze of flowers.

Soon it was clear we were to enter one of the bays, and the young man with Tanu went forward and began to take in sail, taking care to roll everything up neatly and stow it. It seemed so easy when he did it...

When he started the engine we all stood and watched the hills close in on us, the raw rocks only a hundred meters away and the fragrance of the flowering trees suddenly sharp on the evening air. Johnston talked steadily to Tanu, giving her instructions to turn left or right until the narrow entrance opened up again and there was a wharf ahead. On the surrounding hills there were houses, and in a bay on our right yachts nodded gently at their moorings. Around us the hills assumed soft shades of purple, for the daylight was ended, lingering only as splashes of gold on the higher ridges.

I forgot some of my tiredness with the beauty of it all, feeling a great peace settling on me. Whatever happened now nothing would ever seem as difficult as our last few days. We'd survived, that was the important thing, we'd beaten the thugs and the sea and the raw inexperience within ourselves and come out stronger, much stronger.

Then there was Myra. What would my life become now that I could share it so intimately? One adventure was over, another of a different kind about to begin...

My head nodded and my eyelids tried to close even as we approached the wharf. It would be nice to have a sleep...

Ahead I could see the excited group of people on the wharf as we moved slowly in to accept the line thrown and finally pulled 'Twister' against the piles. The next few hours were a blur to both of us. More uniformed police kept the crowd back from 'Twister' and we were taken ashore to a small office in the local police station while our futures were decided.

It was the Sergeant who had operated the tape recorder who finally brought order to things. He argued vehemently with Dowd for some time, then returned to us with a smile on his face.

"It's all decided, you two. You're to come home with me to my place where you can wash and eat and sleep. I've signed the papers for you, so if you run off I'm in big trouble, but you won't do that, will you?"