Colby kept walking, first turning right, then left, down another row of tents, before stopping in front of one. It was a large affair, larger than most on the row and with a few less patches. A bell hung from a rope outside the entrance flap. This he pulled, and stood there, waiting.

A moment later, the flap moved and a head poked out. It was a young boy, all flopping fair curls and big buck teeth, wearing a thoroughly bored expression on his face, which brightened up the moment he saw Colby.

‘Oi! Hey, Cap’n Colby!’

‘Where is your brother?’ asked Colby quietly. His face was suddenly stern.

‘’E’s sleepin’,’ volunteered the lad with a flash of incisors. He peered at Colby’s face and his molars made an appearance as well. ‘Should I wake ’im?’

‘Please.’

‘’E’s gonna get it, ain’t ’e?’

‘Quickly, please.’

‘Aye,’ said the head and shot off.

Colby turned to Albert and winked. ‘Kid brothers. Never had one myself, but can’t say I’m sorry.’

They heard a noise—a rustling—and then the boy’s voice, raised high and dripping with innocence. ‘I’m teelin’ yer, jus’ take a look. It’s a surprise. A reely nice surprise fer yer.’

‘Whaddya mean surprise?’ came another voice—an unmistakable voice, blunted by drowsiness, but the irritation was clear. ‘I told yer, I ’ad a ’eadache! Now if you gone woke me up to have one of yer games, Niall, I’ll break yer legs, I will!’

‘I ain’t done nothin’,’ protested the boy. ‘It’s just a surprise fer yer. Honest. And yer gone an’ got an ’eadache ’cos ye were at the tavern tent till early in the mornin’!’

‘Whaddya talkin’ so loud fer, eh?’ said the voice suspiciously. ‘I’ll clip you one, if yer shout in my ear like that! Din’ I jus’ tell yer, I got a ’eadache?’

The entrance cloth parted and Kieran peered out, his fair hair tousled, his eyes dulled by sleep and faintly red.

‘What the—’

‘Surprise!’ screamed the youth gleefully from behind him, and they could hear cackling laughter fading along with footsteps as he made his way far away from the long arm of recrimination.

Kieran squinted at them, as if it hurt him to open his eyes all the way. ‘Oi! What’s this about, then?’ he said to Albert. Then he spotted Colby and his face fell.

‘Hey, Cap’n!’ he said, but the heartiness was marred by the fact that his voice was more than a trifle hoarse, and that it wavered.

He stepped out into the alleyway, shielding his eyes although there was no sun. He was still in the clothes Albert had last seen him in at the fights the previous evening, only they were much more dishevelled. A spot of mud adorned his right cheek.

Colby looked hard at him. ‘What’s all this, O’Flanagan?’