Five Sisters Read Online Free PDF Page B

back to her.
    "Yes, yes, I should," Nora nodded, trying to keep her eyes from darting over to the handsome, fair-haired man but failing miserably.
    The boy beside Nora, who was the youngest sailor aboard and sixteen years old, watched as she gazed over at the man. Her eyes lit up whenever the man's hazel eyes happened to glance her way and she sighed every time he smiled.
    The boy beside her leaned over casually, acting as though he were reaching for some olives, and murmured, "His name's Ben Leslie."
    Nora look over, startled, "Who?"
    "The man you're staring at. His name's Ben and he's nineteen years old."
    "I-I," Nora stammered.
    "Don't try and act as though you don't fancy him. You haven't taken your eyes off him all night."
    Nora blushed, but she certainly couldn't deny it.
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 5
     
    A Mysterious Cough
     
     
     
    It only took a week or so for Mary, Sara, Nora, Emy, and Gail to become used to life on the high seas.
    Fish was eaten for at least one meal per day, and it was all freshly caught by the sailors and cooked by the girls. The sailors were terribly grateful to have the women cooking for them. Most had been living aboard Violet for several years, more or less, and had become used to taking turns preparing meals themselves. None of them were very good at it, so it was a nice change to have the St. James girls aboard and taking over that responsibility.
    Mary and Emy, the two sisters most annoyed by untidiness, spent most of their days that first week cleaning up the ship of all it's dirt and grime. Starting from the bottom up, they scrubbed their room, then the boys, then Charlie's, and finally the dining room. After that they moved up to the deck. The sailors insisted that the deck was supposed to be dirty and that it always would be so the girls might as well not do anything, but Mary wouldn't hear of it.
    Gail and Nora met Rory Gelke, the man whose job it was to keep lookout, and found that he was very willing to allow them to take turns joining him up in the crow's nest. Gail felt like a pirate, looking out over the miles of ocean surrounding their little ship and searching for enemies to engage in a battle with. Nora felt like a bird, with the wind blowing her skirts and her hair, as she looked out over the choppy dark waves.
    While one of the girls enjoyed the crow's nest with Rory, Zachariah Owens, who was known as Zooey, offered to teach the other how to fish. He'd stand behind her and show her how to cast out and reel in. Neither girl caught any fish, but it was still fun. Rory and Zooey became fast friends with Nora and Gail and they all sat beside each other during meals.
    Sara, meanwhile, spent her days reading in various places around the ship. Her favorite spot was to sneak into Charlie's office when he wasn't around and curl up in his nice armchair. He did end up catching her eventually, and she told him she was very sorry since she knew how he liked to keep that room private. Charlie just smiled. His emerald eyes, which Sara noticed always looked a bit tired, seemed to laugh.
    "You remind me a bit of myself at your age," he said, "Always reading."
    Sara grinned.
    "But your father was always dragging me away, saying that I spent too much time at the library absorbing information I'd never really need. He was right. But I don't regret any of it. Not even for a moment."
    Through time, the girls got to know each of the men personally, although each sister gravitated towards different sailors.
    Mary got to know most of the older sailors, around her own age, including brothers Cary and Noah McAdams, Buddy Ross, Dick Cohen, and Nora's crush, Ben Leslie. Most of them were so captivated by her beauty and charm they found themselves forgetting she was betrothed at all.
    Sara met a few of the older men, most around the ages of thirty or thirty-five: Carl Linwood, Billy Shaw, and Sidney Wilburn. She was surprised to learn that quite a few of them enjoyed reading as well and she could