Bledig throws a peanut shell at us, though it makes it only partway before dropping to the floor. The men’s laughter echoes off the corridor.

Wink attempts to storm after them, with Olly close behind, but I grab both of them by the collar. Those young men are not only older and bigger, but sport more scars on their hulls than the lads on their tender shells. I will take care of this myself.

When I set down my slipper bag, two bread heels roll out, and I reconsider. If I confront those bottom cutters, they might get violent, with me dressed as boy. There goes my juggling act, and I can kiss Jamie goodbye.

Wink straightens his crumpled jacket, scowling mightily after the men. “Ghost hair.”

“Dumb eggs,” Olly curses in Cantonese, all the friendliness gone from his face.

“Come on, lads.” I hike my slipper bag over my shoulder. “We have better things to do.”

With weightier steps, we set off again.

“So how did you two meet?” I ask, an obvious attempt to divert them.

“We were both runaways,” says Olly. “Tao saw us begging by the docks in Victoria Harbor.”

“Why’d you run away?”

Olly shrugs. “I just had people passing me along. I don’t think anyone noticed I left. Wink had a father, but . . .”

Wink begins glowering again, his cheek twitching.

“Anyway,” Olly hastily moves on, “Tao asked Captain Pibst to take us on as ship boys, and he did, except we busted a propeller in the Suez Canal. So then Atlantic Steam took us on, and that’s where we met the rest of the Johnnies.”

My nose wrinkles. “Why do you call yourselves Johnnies?”

“Bo was getting into fights every time someone called one of us a Johnny. So Jamie started calling us the Johnnies to poke fun at him. Then it became funny.”

I can’t help smiling, despite my annoyance at Jamie. He knows just how to save a cat without getting scratched.

Once, we saw a gent offer a hungry-looking man tuppence so he could buy himself a pie, but the man pushed the gent’s hand away. Jamie took the tuppence and said to the hungry man, “Sir, your coins fell out of your pocket.” The hungry man took the money. Jamie understood people. Me, I would’ve taken the tuppence and run. If that gent wanted to feed someone hungry, he had a willing person right there.

We reach the far staircase and climb to the poop deck. People crowd the rails, watching sea life pass below. The fresh air seems to shake the sand off the boys’ foul moods.