‘“But who among you might assist me on this adventure?” the Captain shouts. And then the Captain’s eyes fall on me, as was his plan all along, and he points me out, making sure just so’s everyone can see. “What about you, sir?” “Me?” “A strong young man to journey with me across the wild continent, to support me in my life-saving work, and take the name of his village to the farthest corners of civilisation – and paid a wage, of course!” “Of course!” everyone shouts.’ The 1880s are drawing to a close, and 14(-maybe-15)-year-old Daniel Bones fears that the prospects for him and his younger brother Will may be dimming with the century. For the motherless sons of a drunken blacksmith, life on a barren spit of land reaching into the Essex estuary holds little promise. Until one evening, from out of the water, there emerges the astonishing figure of Captain Clarke B: cigar-smoking daredevil adventurer, charlatan, casanova and inventor of the world-famous life-saving inflatable suit. As the