They would take some unreliable snot-nosed seventeen-year-old because the government would make up their wages, but they wouldn't take a mature man with a proven work record.
He flipped over and launched himself at her, clinging to her like a koala, his arms around her neck, his legs around her waist, his wet, snotty face buried in her neck.
He agreed. " Brune's too old to go climbing wallwalks, and his sons and grandsons went off to the wars. No one left in there but wenches, and a snot-nosed babe or three" .