Plot

Will and Henry eventually make the crossing to France only to be arrested on their arrival. In jail they meet a new friend who promises to help them escape, and join them on their trip to The White Mountains.

Will and Henry are dejected at being hauled away on the wrong boat. But when they are summoned to talk to the captain, they are flabbergasted to find it is none other than Captain Curtis. They are on the Orion, just as they are supposed to be. Their elation is short lived as Curtis in sullen and demands the money from the that Ozymandias had given them. When they ask for French money in return, Curtis says he has none to give them, that runaways are a huge liability for him. To underscore that, shortly thereafter, two tripods followed by a Black Guard vessel approach the ship. Luckily, the Guard find two runaways, as they expected, that were not Will and Henry. When the Orion docks briefly in Calais, Will and Henry escape to the shore. They are quickly captured, however, when they cannot reply to French inquiries from the street patrol. They are taken to Guard headquarters, questioned and sentenced to be capped in the morning. A young man brings bread and apples to their cell. He is wearing "lunettes", eyeglasses that he invented himself. He introduces himself as Jean-Paul which quickly becomes Beanpole. He indicates that at 17 he is also uncapped and has been looking for some runaways to join. He leaves their cell unlocked with instructions to escape via the water channel that runs through the cell-block. Will and Henry sneak into the watercourse when the guard is looking in the other direction. Using a candle that Beanpole gave them, they follow the water though a tunnel that leads to the beach where Beanpole awaits.—Garon Smith