Jeremy returns home. In late 1941, Australia's new prime minister, John Curtin, declares the entire Northern portion of the continent to be a Combat Zone, which is to be fought and ceded to the Japanese if necessary during an invasion, so as to protect the rest of the country. All white people are required to move to southern cities, while all Aboriginal people will be rounded up and taken to camps in the bush to keep them safe. Jeremy and Nanago, outraged by this, go separately into hiding in the bush, rather than retreat south. Rifkah, Prindy, and the Indian girl Savitra, are supposed to have been evacuated also, but Father Glascock agrees to hide them at the Mission. During this time, Prindy and Savitra - now teenagers - declare themselves engaged and become sexually active. Rifkah and Father Glascock fall in love also, although they manage to keep it a secret from everyone except a jealous young lay-preacher, David. He wants Rifkah for himself and, when he is rejected, betrays her to the government. The three refugees are captured on board a ship and taken back to Port Palmerston however, just as the ship is pulling in, the town is the victim of an air-raid by Japanese forces. Numerous characters are killed, and the survivors either flee town on tightly-packed trains or resort to rioting and looting. The prisoners in the jail are freed, and Prindy is at last reunited with Bobwirridirridi. The two of them, along with Savitra and Rifkah are rescued by train driver Pat Hannaford, who gets them out on the final train under cover of darkness.