Free Becoming Billy Dare by Kirsty Murray

laughed the first mate. ‘And who might you be that I'm making all these promises to?’
    It took a moment for Paddy to steady his voice. ‘Patrick Brendan Delaney of County Clare.’
    â€˜And what were you doing in Dublin, then, if you're a Clare boy?’
    Suddenly, the whole story spilt out - his mother's hopes for him, his uncle's ambitions, the long months of study at St Columcille's, not knowing where to turn, John Doherty's death, throwing his medal in the river, and then stowing away on the Lapwing .
    â€˜I suppose you think I'm a bad sort. You were right not to give me a job.’
    â€˜If that's the worst you can come up with, lad, you're all right - a saint compared with most of the boys on board this ship,’ said Dai.
    Cook laughed and put a bowl of steaming hot broth before Paddy while Dai cut him a piece of bread.
    â€˜You stay here in the galley with Cook until I've had a word with the captain,’ said Dai.
    Once word had spread of Dai's discovery, the crew crowded into the galley and stared at Paddy with disbelief. When Cook told them how he'd been stowed away for nearly a week in a cupboard, they laughed in amazement.
    The captain wasn't as good-humoured as the crew. He slammed his hand down on the table and shouted so loudly that Paddy jumped back in alarm.
    â€˜Damn you! I should have you thrown overboard!’
    The first mate coughed loudly and the Captain lowered his voice a little but his furious expression didn't alter. ‘If we were stopping anywhere I'd put you off, but there's no port of rest until we reach Australia so you've a long voyage ahead of you yet.’
    â€˜Australia!’ said Paddy, his eyes wide. ‘But I thought - aren't we going to Africa?’
    â€˜You'll go where we can be bothered taking you, and you'll get off when we deem you've earned your fare,’ said the captain angrily. ‘Stowaways! They're nothing but trouble!’
    Dai Llewellyn put his hand on Paddy's shoulder and the weight of it felt like a steadying force. He looked up at the big Welshman and Dai looked back at him with a sombre face, but for a moment, Paddy could swear he had winked.

11
The gift of a knife
    Paddy quickly found his place among the Lapwing's crew. He was up on deck in first light, helping scrub and swab the decks. He would fill the scuttlebutt with fresh water and help coil the rigging. Some days he worked with the ship's carpenter on repairs, sometimes he was in the galley helping Cook with the meals. He soon discovered that the Lapwing had a full load of cargo, mostly fine paper and crates of the best Irish whiskey, but there were no passengers on board.
    Paddy's favourite time of day was the dogwatch, in the twilight hours between six and eight when all the men were on deck. Even Cook came up and smoked his pipe with the rest of the sailors. When the sea was still, Paddy would sit on the forecastle and watch Dai carving his collection of wooden spoons. They reminded Paddy of his mother's Claddagh ring which she'd always kept in a little box beside her bed. In the handle of Dai's spoons were carved intricate patterns, and caught in the middle of the ornate knotwork was a heart held fast by a pair of hands, just as in his mother's ring.
    While Dai pared and whittled with his knife, Paddy talked. He liked to dream aloud, about all the adventures that lay ahead of him in ports all over the world.
    â€˜Sure, I reckon I'll be a sailor, Dai Lwellyn. I'll have my own ship one day, a ship with sails like beaten gold, and she'll be the swiftest barque on the seas. You can be one of my crew, if you like. And we'll sail all the length and breadth of the world. We'll sail to China and India and Africa, and we'll be famous in every seaport in the world.’
    Dai looked up from his work and grinned.
    â€˜A sailor, is it? Strikes me you'd make a better bard. A right little Taliesin, you are.’
    â€˜Little who?’ asked Paddy, thinking it made him