Chapter SixIn recompense for our continuing good behaviour, the captain allowed us to stand on board, back in irons and heavily guarded, when we landed at Gibralter. There was another ship there from London, and Lizzie, Dunne and I took our chance, carefully instructing my best rat, Bobby, for his crucial task. He scampered off, binging happily, and when I saw him next the letter was gone. All we could do was wait, and hope.
For two weeks after leaving Gibralter, we all ate a fresh orange every day. We passed the long hours below deck betting on rat races between Bobby and the rest, and paying one another in orange pips. The pips rapidly became an obsession, and I heard more than one hardened criminal crying herself to sleep after gambling away her entire stash. Then, the following day, t
