This prequel to the adventures of Alonzo and Gus in The Boys in the Clockwork Age is a "short short". In Heart of Oak, Alonzo is still on the streets with his mentor Mike, but Mike has disappeared. Mike was last seen in the company of a pretty girl (again) and sent Alonzo off on his own. Alonzo doesn't like being on his own, and when he wakes up the next morning to find that Mike has not returned to their safe haven, he sets out to find his friend. When the evidence points to Mike having been press-ganged onto a merchant vessel, Alonzo has to figure out a way to save him before the ship sails.