James prove to be a good companion, follow orders, don’t do nothing stupid if we find ourselves in a fix. And is James that find our hideout, the cave, the one we hiding in now. Is a good cave, close to fresh water. Tall, wide, give plenty shelter, but have a narrow entrance. Is well protected, buried deep in the bush. The land round it covered in thorny bushes, small trees and dense scrub. Must scrabble up a steep hill for at least a mile to get to it. And before that you have to pass through a whole heap of ravines and gullies. Hard to find because everywhere you look, no markers, it all look the same. A man could be close to the entrance and wouldn’t even know we there.

Every time we go out on a raid, we bring back the supplies we need, till finally we all set up. Have pots, pans, potatoes and onions we dig up. Beef, from a lame calf we discover, roast the flesh in the hide to preserve it. Supplies that can keep for a long time. We each have a musket, powder, cartridges. Even make our own shots using pieces of files and nail-rod iron. Been making damper with the flour we steal from Mister Chadwick. Sometimes we shoot a bird, or a rabbit, and bring it back to roast over the fire. Now the only thing missing is grog. To get grog what we need is money. That is the plan for the day.

Morning time. James is up already. I hear him rustling round, making a small fire. Put the tin pan on to boil. Head outside the cave to do him morning business. I pretend to lay still, catch a little more sleep before James return and start in with all him questions. Back in the barracks, James get known as the questions man, but it didn’t bother me, because most of time working didn’t leave much room for talking. Now that we out in the open with nothing to do is like James become one non-stop talker. A puppy dog, always bright, happy, yapping, glad to be alive. Me, it take longer to warm up to the day and no matter how much I try explain the way me mood always shifting, how I like to have a little bit of quiet round me, James come right back and start in with the questions.

The rebellion didn’t take place on him side of the island. James wasn’t part of the rising up, but heard plenty stories bout it before him got tangled up with the horse-stealing business.

‘What was it like?’

‘What like?’

‘Fighting? Fighting in the rebellion?’

‘Me tell you already.’

‘You tell me nothing much. Only that there was a lot of fighting,’ James say, and I can see him going get bothered.