"Ye know me da'?" Noah blurted out, without waiting for Quentin to finish speaking. Oh man, this was embarrassing. He turned red and looked away, his fingers unraveling the threads of the serviette. Then he realized what he was doing, and quickly pushed the damaged bit underneath the rest of the serviette, hoping Quentin hadn't notice his little act of vandalization. "Well, I saw an advert... Mr. Meijer lookin' for a farm hand. And I thought to meself, I might try farmin' because I like bein' outside of town in the country, and I won't have to work for anyone once I'm a farmer, so they can't sack me and..." Alice was married to a farmer. "It sounds good 'n' all."

"Aye, all admirable reasons to pick a profession. How do you enjoy the work thus far?" Quentin asks, continuing his interview of the lad. Honestly, he was impressed thus far. While he was fairly certain Noah had, in some way, wasted the five pound note. Willing or unwilling he wasn't sure, he was gratified that Noah had taken his instructions seriously. Even exceeding expectations by actually getting a job without Quentin's direct intervention. The lad was proving to be worth far more than most would have thought.

"Also, yes I met your father. I believe I mentioned it previously. He applied for a job working with me on a treasure hunt, he did not manage to keep himself professional for the length of the interview and he was dismissed. I believe he was also drunk when he arrived. If you are curious, the end result of that particular job could have netted him, at minimum, around two thousand pounds. Which, if you ever needed a reason not to drink, there you are lad."

Noah looked at the man with wide eyes. That was more money than he could imagine. He wasn't disappointed that his father didn't get the money. Disappointment required expectation. Even if his dad had been hired, he would probably have blown the treasure hunt. And if he would have gotten the money... well... they might have never heard of him again. Still, it was a lot of money.

Then he remembered the question. "Oh, it's good, ser. It's hard work, and I don't like the gettin' up early, but I get up anyway, and Mr. Meijer's nice even though 'e's a teacher. He even lets me sleep in t' house, and t' food is good."

"Good to hear." Quentin says with a nod as it is all explained to him. He was pleased that the boy didn't dwell over much on the treasure. While such things were certainly fun and exciting, they were also dangerous and often fruitless. Honestly, he'd been surprised that they had found any silver and gold within that vault. He had been expecting mostly soiled or rotted goods.

"And it is good to adjust to early mornings. I did so in the army and I've often found being an early riser to pay dividends." He says with a soft chuckle. He was slowly making his way through his meal, the food as good as he remembered from the previous month.

Noah began to eat when Quentin did. He didn't eat as greedily as last time, since he wasn't as hungry as back then, but he still enjoyed the food, for it was richer than what he was used to. "Ser, if even you go on a treasure hunt, might I not accompany you?" he tried. If he would have that much money, all his troubles would be solved and he could free Alice from her situation right away. Ben Ward and the other fishermen wouldn't dare to do anything then, for if he was rich, he would have the authorities on his side.

The question in no way surprises Quentin. There was a certain romance to the hunt and the thought of making so much money in one go appealed to many people. Of course, the fact that most hunts ended in a bust and that Quentin tended to donate the bulk of whatever he did find to the British Museum were not facts known to Noah.

"I will consider it. Perhaps after I think you are stable and established enough to be self-sufficient. Not every hunt ends with finding a treasure after all. You could very well take time away from your work and have nothing to show for it. Especially since I doubt I will find a treasure so close to home again any time soon." His next expedition could, probably would, be halfway around the world.

"Yes ser..." Noah answered, not without a bit of disappointment. What was the point once he was settled? It was quick wealth he had hoped for. Pricking his food with his fork, he found himself wondering if he could find his own treasure. He looked up. "'pologies for askin', ser. But how do ye learn about t' treasure?"

"Hrmph, well there are a few ways to do it," Quentin says with a shrug of his shoulders. "Shipwrecks are the most common. This involves going over historical records to find ships that were lost at sea. Then you see if you can pull their shipping route, cross-check against historical records of storms to see if you can guess where they might have gone under, then look at current charts to try to fathom where the ship would have hit sea bed. At that point, you taking a gauge of how far off the coast that is, if your diving bell will even be able to reach that deep, and then you go and look for the ship if all of those things align. Then you go down into the sea and look around to see what, if anything, you can find. Of course, this works best in the Caribbean or down South where the waters are more temperate and easier to see through. In short, it takes time, money, mountains of research and significant personal risk. With no actual guarantee on investment since odds are good you won't find anything."

Quentin explains this all with a no-nonsense tone and then he continues. "Of course, you might be lucky enough to find a treasure map. Then you are taking on the risk of that being fraudulent of course. They tend to be since pirates would often just barter their goods at friendly ports for foreign coin. The few that did bury their treasure for later retrieval to skirt military check points tended to retrieve said gold later once the checkpoint was clear."

"Oh...." was Noah's daunted comment. That sounded complicated. Especially for a boy who doubted he'd be able to find a book in a library if he tried. "I'll stick to farming then..." He quickly continued eating, both to hide defeated embarrassment and because he worried that Mr. North would finish before him and he'd have to abandon his meal.

"Treasure hunting seems glamorous but the reality is that it is often not worth the investment," Quentin says with a shrug of his shoulders. "I am more than happy to have you on a hunt of mine where I am assuming the financial risk. But there is no guarantee you go home with any treasure at all, so better for you to already be settled and then go then put your hopes on it and lose what you are building now." He did not want to shoot the boy down entirely but he did want the emphasize that what he'd done didn't always pan out. But he could afford to have a few unsuccessful trips, his family was in the wealth category where as long as he attended his duties regularly there was no danger of the funds running out.