A Riddle in Ruby Read Online Free PDF Page B

said around a mouthful of stew. “You just pulled your hands out of something scalding, and they’re dry. How did you do that?”
    He ladled another bowl for himself and sat down on the floor of the galley. He smacked his lips and sucked down some of the Goat.
    â€œI’ll answer your question if you answer mine,” he offered.
    â€œFine,” Ruby said, and then regretted it. “Make it quick.”
    â€œDid the young sir recognize you?”
    Ruby hissed, “Yes! How did you know?” The big man opened his mouth. “Don’t answer. That’s not my question.” She shoveled another bite into her mouth. “We need to deal with this! I could be on wanted posters from Plymouth to Charles Towne. If that happens, I’ll be restricted to the Thrift ‘for my own safety.’ My father will keep me tied to his apron strings until I’m seventy-seven.”
    â€œYour trouble, not mine. I’m not the one the young man recognized.” Gwath chuckled.
    â€œIf I go down to the bottom, I’m dragging you with me,” she said, only half joking. “I want some more stew.”
    â€œHelp yourself. What should we do? Trap him in his cabin? Thump him on the head with a caulking mallet?”
    â€œYes!” she whispered. “No. I don’t know.” She picked up the ladle and stirred.
    â€œLittle one, I see two choices. One? Talk to the boy and charm him silent. Two? Hope that he sticks to his present course and keeps mum.”
    She blew out her breath. “A tall hope, at best.” She fingered the slice below her eye. “And he will not be coaxed.”
    Gwath shrugged. “Maybe take a little gander at choice three. What if I put something in his food?”
    Ruby stopped stirring. “What do you mean?”
    â€œNothing serious, just something that might keep him ill for a few days until we get him into port and off the ship. Or perhaps Mawk bumps into the boy when he is on deck. Oops! Over the railing!”
    â€œWe are not killers.”
    â€œOh, really?”
    Ruby did not answer. The big man finished off his bowl. He was hairless and thick muscled, wrapped in shapeless clothing, breeches and tunic made from castoff sailcloth. He had always been on her father’s ship and in her life. He had taught her to sneak and hide, to pick locks and mask her appearance, to move through crowds like the wind through marsh grass.
    She knew nothing else of him. Not one but a thousand questions ran through her mind. Where did Gwath comefrom? Did he have any family? Why did he stay on the ship? Why did he teach her sneakery? Why did the crew step lively at his every word or gesture? How had he met her father? Captain Teach had a hundred stories about each of his crew, every one more outlandish than the next. But he never talked about Gwath.
    The cook fingered the stone hoop in his ear and stood eye to eye with her.
    â€œQueen Ruby.” The way he said it was different from before. He sounded reserved, almost formal. “You sense that there is something important about this decision. This will not be the last time. Keeping the secret of all that you are, of all that you may become, is crucial.”
    â€œThe secret of all that I am?” she said.
    He opened his mouth.
    A clanging stopped him. The alarm bell! Skillet was calling all hands on deck, hammering on the bell like there was no tomorrow.
    The sound of sailors thumping out of hammocks and feet running on wood shattered the silence of the early morning. Gwath hesitated.
    Ruby turned back to him. “What? What were you going to say?”
    The cook unlatched the galley door and grinned as if the moment before had all been a joke. “Another time,” he said. “You must go to your cabin. Alarums wait for no one.”
    Indeed, as Gwath moved past her to lash down the lid of the stewpot, Mawk and Jerky hustled with grim faces into the galley to help secure the rest of