‘Please, sir,’ Gus begged, ‘don’t send me back. I’ll do anything. I can work. I know a bit about ships.’

‘Send you back? Well, it’s far too late for that. But what is to be done with you now is the question. You’d better come with me to the captain.’ He paused. ‘On second thoughts, we’d better clean you up a bit first. You stink to high heaven.’ He turned to a passing sailor. ‘Throw a bucket of water over him, that should help.’

A few minutes later, drenched and shivering, Gus found himself on the quarterdeck facing the man he had seen welcoming the newcomers on board the previous day.

‘Good God! What have we here?’ the captain demanded.

‘A stowaway, Captain Ramsay, sir.Seems he was hiding out in one of the lifeboats.’

‘A stowaway? How the hell did he get on board?’ The captain fixed his eyes on Gus. ‘What in God’s name made you choose this ship, of all ships?’

Gus replied through chattering teeth. ‘I saw you were getting up steam, sir. I needed to find a ship that was leaving soon.’

‘Why?’

‘I didn’t want to be caught, sir.’

‘Caught? By whom? Who are you running away from?’

‘The masters at the Industrial School.’

‘The what?’

‘It’s a school for boys like me, sir.’

‘What do you mean, boys like you? Criminals? Thieves?’

‘No, sir. Just boys with no mother or father.’

The captain’s glare became slightly less fierce. ‘I see. So, why are you running away?’

Gus hung his head. It was too difficult to explain and he was afraid he was going to throw up again at any minute. ‘They beat me,’ he mumbled.

‘Beat you? Well, you probably deserved it. All boys get beaten from time to time.’ There was a pause. Gus could only shake his head in silence. The captain grunted. ‘What’s your name, boy?’

‘Gus, sir. Augustus Lavender.’

For the first time he could remember, no one seemed to find that funny.

‘Well, you’re here now and here you will have to stay for the duration of the voyage. But you’ll work your passage, understand?’

‘Yes, sir.’ Gus looked up. ‘Thank you, sir. I’ll do whatever you want.’

‘You’d better!’ The captain turned his eyes to the man with the beard. ‘Take him away, Mr Mason. Find him some dry clothes and get some food into him. He looks half starved. Give him to Boney in the galley. He can help out there for the time being.’

‘Aye-aye, sir.’ Mason saluted and put his hand on Gus’s shoulder. ‘Come on, Gus.’

He led Gus down to a cabin below the quarterdeck, where a small man with a face as lined as a prune looked up from a list on his table.