It was a cold and rainy evening. Michaela, Sully, Brian and Daniel were sitting around the fireplace The cold rain knocked upon the window, but it was warm and cozy inside. It was late, but nobody wants to leave.


"Brian, it's your bedtime!" Michaela reminded "It's almost midnight!"


"Ma! You're talkin' about such interesting things! I don't need to get up early tomorrow!" Brian said. "Can I stay and listen?"


"Well," Michaela agreed, "You're right, Daniel's stories are very interesting."


"So are yours!" Daniel objected. "You just told us about your childhood, when you were Brian's age, so it will be interesting for Brian… Sully, is it all right with you?"


Sully silently looked into the fire and seemed not to hear the question. His thoughts were somewhere far away now…

Usually the children begin to remember things from the time they are three or four years old. But he always believed that he remembered this ship, sailing to the coasts of the North America, full of new colonizers…


Amongst them - a man in his mid-thirties, with wife and two children. The oldest, Aidan, 4, is runnin' over all ship, full of curiosity, like all children his age, but now he stands silently near his father in their small cabin and looks at tiny cheeping baby lying in his mother's arms.


This is his younger brother, who was born a week ago right here - they were lucky, there was a midwife amongst the passengers. Aidan did not expect his brother to be so small and helpless. This causes him to feel dejected, and he impatiently twitches his father 's sleeve.


"Pa! Let's go! You promised to show me the captain's bridge…"


"Please wait!" Mother smiles, "See, this adorable baby is your little brother. Such wonderful blue eyes!"


"He looks so much like you, Katie!" Father says.


In Aidan's opinion, there's too much noise around this baby. Maybe when he grows up, he'll be a good guy, but now he is hardly visible amongst the blankets. But now they are thinking about a name for the newborn, and it seems as though many hours have gone by… Father opens a big book. Aidan knows it is the Bible, Father reads it aloud on Sundays. But Mother says:


"I already have a name… I want to name him Byron. . if you're not against it…"


"In honor of Lord Byron?" Father asks. "I know you like his poetry, but Katie, this is not a very good idea. He will hate his name when he grows up - where we're going, hardly anybody knows who Lord Byron is!"


There are tears in Mother's eyes: "James, I miss England.. my home so much….His name will remind me…"


Father smiles skeptically but afterwards leans to mother and tenderly kisses her: "Let it be as you wish, dear Katie…"


Aidan gravely sighs. It seems as though they are too busy with the newborn to go to look at the captain's bridge… He absolutely doesn't care what they call his new brother: let him be Byron…

Several years passed… James Sully bought a small farm. He cultivates this tiny scrap of land with love, and tries to teach his sons to work the earth.. However, this concerns older brother Aidan- Byron is too small yet… Mother never worked on a farm, she lived all her life in a big city, but now she likes farmer's work too. The family is not rich, but loving and friendly. In the evening the family sits near the fireplace, and Mother reads aloud. She manages to accustom the children to reading, particularly the younger one, but most of all they like to sit like this, by the whole family.


" Look, Katie!" Father often says, "You didn't believe that we would be lucky here - but we are!"


Suddenly it is all over - Aidan fell from a horse and died - he was only 12. Mother yells at the father, then begins to cry hysterically, then implores him to sell this accursed farm, where all is full of memories. The Father protests, after all, the farm is all that he has, and all that he can do. But he loves his wife and can't insist. They sell the farm and move with their son to the city.


Byron is about 8 years old. He is scared and depressed by his brother's death and all these changes. He liked to live on the farm, but he hopes when they leave it, all become as before… It will never be "As before"…The name of their new home is New York. It's dirty, smoky and noisy, and their apartment - small and comfortless. His parents quarrel again, because Father can not find any job in the city and it interrupts him. They don't have much money, but they decide to send the boy to school.


The Father was right- school friends are laughin' at his unusual name. When he gets tired of fighting, he begins to call himself by his surname. "Sully", in his opinion, is better, than "Byron". Meantime, the family continues to be destitute. Father still cannot find a job. This makes him sad and nervous, and once he falls in the street and dies from a broken heart…


Something terrible happens- two years ago they had a large friendly family, but now it decreases so rapidly. Byron stays near his father's grave, squeezing his mother's hand, as if he is afraid to lose her too. Sometimes he hates his father who left them alone. He's happy there, in Heaven, and he can not see what's wrong with Mother. She is so depressed, and the boy, who is only 10, tries to do as much as he can of the housework, but she doesn't care…Once a policeman comes and tells him that his mother drowned herself. He can't believe it, but the policeman gives him her shawl…He can't imagine that he has no more family, but it's the truth.


Neighbors are going to send him to the orphanage, and all property will go in the payment of debts. He has nothing to wait for anymore, and leaves only with his mother's wedding ring - so that she will know, wherever she is that he remembers her… The following morning he stays at the docks, with other homeless boys and girls.


He saw them earlier many times, but never thought that he would become one of them. But if he did, he must follow their laws… This was not so easy - on his first attempt to steal a meal at the store he was caught. He is sure that policeman was taking him to jail, but upon lifting his eyes to the door of gloomy gray building, he reads:


" The Orphanage of NY City"… When the door is slammed behind him, a new stage of his life began, but he didn't care.


The policeman finally released his sleeve… The boys looked at him with great interest, but one, the biggest - was frankly hostile.


However, he did not feel any fear. He was no longer a child at home, growing in love and care. All these times are gone…

Sully turned to Michaela, as if he heard her question for the first time.


"Yes, certainly, let Brian stay, tomorrow is Sunday, and he doesn't need to get up early".


"So, Pa, tell me how you met for the first time?" Brian asked. "Your pa doesn't like to talk about this." Daniel said. "I'd better tell you."

Daniel Simon didn't remember his parents. He was about 3 or 4 when someone took him to the orphanage. It was no better and no worse than the others, children there sometimes were starved and quite often were punished, but they did not complain, since they knew no other life. Boys constantly fought between each other, but Daniel was tallest and strongest of all. At the age of ten he became a leader, but once upon a time all the things were changed.


The newcomer appeared in the orphanage not in the usual way - he was brought by a policeman.


"Why have you taken him here?" The form-master asked. -"This is a shelter for orphans, not for criminals. What did he do?"


"Tried to steal a piece of bacon at the store." The policeman answered.


"Look: we don't need criminals and vagrants from the docks around here, they will spoil the others. I think the best place for him is jail!"


"He was probably hungry," the policeman said, "and we cannot send a ten year old boy to jail, so you will take him."


He released the boy's sleeve. The boy did not resist; he calmly stood, looking at the crowd of orphanage's boys.


Daniel considered the new boy attentively and found that he couldn't be a serious rival for him: he was not tall and thin. He had a shock of chestnut hair and unusual bright blue eyes.


Daniel approached him - he needed to show this kid who was boss around here:" Hey you, what's your name?"


"Sully." the boy answered.


"Sally?" Daniel asked, "You're a girl?" He was sure that this guy would get mad about it and if he wanted to fight, Daniel wouldn't give him many chances … but the new boy just stood and looked at him, even with some contempt. Daniel looked foolish, he was very angry, understanding it, but there were not good reasons for fight..


Fortunately, he noticed golden ring on the thin chain hanging on the newcomer's neck.


"Hey, you ARE a girl!" He reached out to take the ring, but the boy pushed his hand away: "This is my Ma's wedding ring. Hands off!"


"Look…now he's gonna cry!" Billy, Daniel's friend laughed, "Where's your mommy, baby?!"


"Everyone, who says just one word about my mother, will be in trouble. As well as anyone who makes fun of my name!" said the new kid quietly.


Daniel was boiling with fury, but Sully still stood against him, looking emotionless, his bright blue eyes becoming almost gray. "Well," Daniel broke the silence, "Let's check if this is a girl or not!"


"Just try it," said the boy, "if you can…"


Daniel's patience was over. He clenched his fists, and rushed at the new boy - but Sully by some elusive motion caught his hand and pulled forward. Daniel lost his balance, and slumped on the floor, … The fight began, both were rolling on the floor, hitting each other. To the boys' amazement, their strength was nearly equal.. It was unknown, who would win, but the overseer came in.. he grasped the brawlers by the collars, and roughly pushed them to different sides, asking:


"Who started the fight?"


Nobody answered.


"Who started the fight?" the overseer repeated "If you don't tell me, you will all be punished."


Billy was going to sneak up on the new boy, but he overtook it and said:


"I did it."


"I thought so …I said before, the best place for guys like you is jail, Now tell me, what happened?"


"It's my business." the boy answered stubbornly.


All the orphans looked at him with great curiosity. They were afraid to be insolent to this overseer, because he was spiteful, and many of them were punished because of him. But a new boy, certainly, could not know it… Daniel watched with malicious joy - he was waiting to see this self-confident milksop cry, so that Daniel would have the opportunity to call him "a girl" and rescue his shaking authority. But he was wrong, because the newcomer bore the punishment without uttering a sound… Daniel thought that he would be a good friend, besides, he was very interested how Sully, who was smaller and weaker, threw him to the floor so easily. But his pride didn't allow Daniel to talk with Sully first … However this strange guy with a girl's name, was not going to talk with Daniel or anyone else, and spent most of his time sitting on the high windowsill, looking down on the street. The whole orphanage's life, it seems, passed him by.


But a few weeks later one case helped Daniel. It was the smallest and weakest boy in the orphanage. This boy, named Teddy, was a sniveller, so everybody teased him, particularly Daniel's friend.


This time he tripped him up, and Teddy fell on the floor, crying aloud. The boys laughed. Daniel didn't like this kind of joke, he felt sorry for poor Teddy, but he couldn't intercede for him - nobody would understand. Sully watched as usual, emotionless, but suddenly he got down from the windowsill, and punched Billy, saying:


"Perhaps you'd fight with me instead of him?" Billy remembered Daniel's disgrace from a few weeks ago, and didn't want it for himself. So, he approached Daniel and asked: "Do you want to teach this upstart? Let's do it together?"


"Shut up, dummy! - Daniel yelled unexpectedly for himself, "Your stupid jokes bother me - if you do it again, you'll get the same from me!" He was full of envy - why didn't he intercede for that poor boy, like Sully did? He fought with his pride for a few minutes, but then resolutely came to the windowsill and offered Sully his hand.


"Did you see that I'm not a girl?" Sully asked and shook his hand in answer.


"Yes," Daniel answered "But where did you get a name like that? "This is not my first name. It's my surname."


"And what is your real name?"


"I don't like it. And nobody else does either."


"But we are friends now!" Daniel persisted.


"Well…if you must know…" Sully said "my name is Byron, but if you tell anybody…"


"I'm not blabbing!" Daniel said, offended, "You'd better tell me where you learned to fight like this!"


"Some guys in the docks showed me something." "Would you show me too?" Daniel asked.


Sully nodded. Probably Daniel was the first with whom he wanted to talk…


From this day Daniel Simon and Byron Sully became friends….

Daniel lived in an orphanage almost from his birth, it was his only home. Sully, however, remembered a different life. From the first day there was a plan of escaping in his mind, and in the course of time it became more concrete, particularly when Sully persuaded Daniel to run together with him. Each day they discussed the details of this future journey and several times even quarreled about it, but both of them agreed on this: They had to go West, to the Indian Territory - and then it will be seen… they were about 14 years old, and were sure that could take care of themselves.


They were talking about their future life, full of adventures, looking at the gray waves behind the ship, leading them away from New York City to uncertainty. But real life was so different from their childish dreams. There were hundreds of emigrants in every city, even strong adult men could not find any jobs, and two teenagers had no chance. Nobody needed them. They were always hungry, and once tried to steal some meal at the store, but the shopkeeper caught them and threatened them with a gun. Afterwards, for no reason, he let them go and advised them to go to the silver mines for a job. The contractor at first didn't want even to look at them, but Daniel looked much older than his years, and they were taken. The months dragged on monotonously, full of hard and dirty work, but the friends persuaded themselves that it's not for a long time - they will move West, to search for gold, when they will have enough money, Real frontier life didn't look like their child's daydreams. Only rough power was valued here, and human life costs nothing. It was not easy to survive in such a place, but they always held together, and it helped them…. Daniel, who was tall and strong, worked as a miner, but Sully became a powder-man. They planned to work at the mine for a year or a little more - then they would have enough money to journey further. But life, as usual, changed their plans … On that day as Daniel was going to work; he suddenly heard a boom and shouts. All around was covered by a cloud of dust. Then Daniel saw the people, running out of the mine, choking and coughing,


"What happened?!" Daniel caught one of the miners by the sleeve.


"The props were broken! There's a cave-in at the west part." Daniel stopped frozen - That's where Sully was working…


"Was there anyone in there?"


"Three men. Bob Murphy, Jack Smith…"


"But there was three… Who's the third?"


"Well… this guy, a powder-man…" the miner said, "the props fell right on him," and he dragged off his rumpled hat…


"No!!!" Daniel cried. "We must dig them up!"


"Sorry, but they can't be alive…"


"If you won't do it, I'll do it by myself!" Daniel yelled "And if they die, it will be your fault! My best friend is in there, and I won't leave without him!"


"Easy, easy," the miner said, "Go call the others, tell them to carry the shovels…"


Three men were buried alive deep under the ground. The wooden props were rotten through from constant dampness and then were broken. Two of them - Bob Murphy and Jack Smith, at first were happy, that they stayed alive - only several hours later they realized that it is slow and nerve-wracking death from hunger and lack of air.


Afterwards they remembered the third man. Only today they scolded the contractor, who had given such dangerous work to a kid.. They both saw, as props fell down right on him, and flinched from the surprise, when they heard his voice:


"Hey, are you alive?"


"Yes, we are still alive!" Murphy answered, "but how are you?"


"My leg is pinned by the stone! I can't move it!"


"Wait, we'll help you…"


"No!" Sully said, "You'd better not come any closer. One false move - and all this stuff will fall on me and on you. We'll need to wait a little, while they dig us up…"


"Dig us up? We'll probably die right here…"


"My friend is up there. He won't let us die!"


"Obviously, he thinks that we're already dead!"


"You don't know Daniel!" Sully objected. "I'm sure, he'll dig us up!"

Daniel dug and dug, without rest, and the others, looking at him, also tried to save the three miners.


Some days passed, but the three under the ground already lost track of time. They had no more candles, and there was darkness all around them. They began to gasp for air, and besides this, the following day brought one more unpleasant surprise…


"Rats!!" Murphy shouted, "They ate all our food! What the hell…"


In the silence they clearly heard their cheep and the patter of hundreds of small paws.


"And then they will eat us!" Jack said.


"Shut up, you!" Murphy cut him off, "Look, there's a lot of rats! Where are they running to?


"They run to where the fresh air is." Sully answered


"Follow them, and you'll come to where the guys are digging…"


"What? Follow THE RATS?" Murphy was outraged, "I hate rats, what's the…"


"He's right!" Jack cut him off. "Rats want to live just like we do, so they go where it is possible to breathe. Sully, what we can do with you?"


"You will return for me…after they find you!" There was not much air, and he began to gasp, "They must hear you…"


"We'll come back for you as soon as we can!" Murphy promised, "You just hold on…"


They left, and Sully stayed alone in the damp and stuffy darkness. He didn't know how much time passed, drifting in and out of consciousness…until he heard a familiar voice near him… The people upstairs were going to stop digging, but suddenly someone heard a weak voice:


"Help! We're here!" After few hours of stubborn work two miners were freed. The crowd of people surrounded them - after all they had practically been returned from the 'dark side'.


Daniel rushed to them:


"Do you know where Sully is? Did you see him?"


"He's alive. We'll go back for him…" Daniel, without a word, ran to the black hole…


He moved through the dark and winding corridors, and the mud squelched under his feet.


"Sully!!!" he screamed, "Sully, where are you?"


His loud voice made a stream of sand and dust move, and he coughed.


Suddenly he noticed Sully, almost buried under the wreckage. He didn't move, and his eyes were closed.


Daniel leaned to him and touched his shoulder:


"Sully! Are you alive?"


Sully slowly opened his eyes and managed a slight smile:


"Be careful…" he whispered with a great effort, "don't speak aloud here…"


Daniel nodded and carefully pushed the wreckage away, then helped Sully to stand up. Sully grasped his friend's shoulder as he felt a strong wave of dizziness, but then it passed somewhat, and he stood straight. The miners met them upstairs with joyful shouts.


"It's a miracle!" Murphy told everyone, "He told us to follow the rats! The RATS! How did you guess?"


But Sully couldn't answer him. Daniel barely caught him as he collapsed.


"It's from the fresh air!" said someone behind Daniel, "not an unusual thing after that; carry him to the tent, he'll be all right."


However, the long time in a cold and damp mine didn't pass without any track for Sully- in the evening he was burning up with fever…


Daniel was puzzled - there was no doctor at the miner's camp, and he could only sit near his friend and hope for the best… "I'm here, Sully!" Daniel noticed that Sully opened his eyes. He leaned very close to Sully and heard a weak whisper:


"Ma… why'd you leave me? I promised to take care of you…Now you cannot meet Pa and Aidan in Heaven…why did you do this?"


Daniel stood frozen - Sully never told anybody about his family, not even him, his best friend. Daniel felt bad as if he peeped at the borehole.


"Sully, it's me, Daniel Simon.." he said, but his friend's eyes were bleary and unfocused with fever, and didn't see him.


"Ma, I miss you …so much…" Sully' s eyes closed again as he lost consciousness…


Someone touched Daniel's shoulder. It was an old drunk named Buck. Miners told that he was a trapper long ago, but now he was only dirty drunk, who always walked around the miner's camp, doin' some easy job for a free meal and whiskey.


"What do you want?" Daniel asked, unfriendly.


"How is he?"


"Bad. I don't know how to help him…"


"Try this." He offered Daniel a dirty rawhide pouch.


"What is it?"


"It's willow bark. Helps against fever and pain. Indians always used it…Make a tea and give him a cup every few hours…"


"Will it help?" Daniel asked, "You know, he's the only family I've got…"


"Trust old Buck." the tramp said firmly.


The tea, in spite of its suspicious look, helped. The following day, the fever was broken, and Sully awakened. It was late evening, and Daniel sat near him. It was obvious he had been sitting there for a long time.


"Daniel…"Sully whispered.


"How are you?" Daniel asked worriedly.


"I knew you'd rescue me…,"said Sully instead of the answer.


"Certainly, we are friends. After you feel better, we will go further West. I'd never let you go to this cursed mine again. Fortunately, you're better now," he continued, "you were burning up and delirious all night."


. Sully looked at him with concern:


"Did I say anything?"


Daniel shook his head: "I can't remember…" he lied


Sully weakly smiled and closed his eyes Daniel sat near him until dawn, and in the morning he went to the contractor and quit. Several days later they moved further West.