"There's ways around the sickness," he promised her. That, too, was the most truthly thing he could probably promise. A shame not to enjoy the sea just because of a bit of projectile vomiting.

"There's seven seas in my world, lassie, and I've sailed them all. Bangkok. Singapore. Haiti. Cuba. Jamaica. All the major ports of Europe and Asia, really, and the American colonies as well. There are few places I haven't traveled," he boasted, though most of them had been not-at-all nice places and he was lucky to still be alive.

"Makes my blood flow, so to speak. Threatens to spill it at times as well."