Saburo took a swig. Wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, he moaned, ‘Oh, I wish this deck would stop moving.’

‘This is nothing!’ laughed Jack. ‘Wait until we hit a storm. The deck heaves so much, the sky becomes the sea and you don’t know which way is up!’

Saburo now appeared even more queasy. ‘How did you bear this for two whole years?’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Jack, patting his friend gently on the back. ‘After three days, your body adjusts to the motion and you stop being seasick.’

Saburo’s eyes widened in dismay. ‘Three days! There must be something that can be done before then?’

The boat crested a wave and he vomited.

‘There is,’ replied Jack, stepping back a pace as it splattered the rail. ‘Point your head downwind!’

Leaving Saburo to wrestle with his sickness, Jack returned to sit beside Yori and Miyuki.

‘Will he be all right?’ asked Yori.

Jack nodded. ‘Yes, he’s finding his sea legs, that’s all.’

Miyuki was staring thoughtfully around the boat. Then she leant close to Jack’s ear. ‘Yori and I have been talking. Rather than making our way to Nagasaki on foot, why don’t we sail there instead? We’d avoid all the samurai patrols, the checkpoints on the roads and hopefully any more trouble.’

Jack considered this. It seemed so obvious now. Alone, such a voyage was impossible. No captain in his right mind would willingly carry a foreigner, for fear of incurring the wrath of the Shogun. But with his friends to hide and protect him … ‘Do we have enough money to sail that far?’

‘I don’t know,’ admitted Yori. ‘Perhaps we could work our passage.’

‘Or else borrow a boat,’ suggested Miyuki, a sly grin on her lips. ‘Jack, you know how to sail and could teach us. With a ship like this, we could even sail to England!’

Jack laughed out loud, then shook his head regretfully. ‘This boat sits too low in the water. She’d be swamped in the open ocean. We’d need a ship at least three times the size just to cope with the storms.’

‘Maybe we can find a bigger one at the next port,’ insisted Miyuki, unwilling to be put off so easily.

Jack grinned at her determination and zeal. ‘It’s not that simple, I’m afraid. The distances between landfall are vast. We’d need food for several months. Not just for us, but a whole crew as well, since we couldn’t sail a ship that size without help. The Alexandria carried a hundred souls on-board and well over a thousand tons of supplies. To have any hope of making such a voyage alive, we require a galleon – and with the Shogun banishing all foreigners, the only place we might find one is in Nagasaki.’