Sail With Me (A Discovery Series Book) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Daniel Connor. Go see him,
and he’ll show you what to do.” He pushed me toward the crew, and it took all
my resolve to walk calmly toward the line of men.
    Charlie Hamden had passed the test.     

Chapter
Five
     
    Daniel Connor was indeed a tall boy with light brown hair and a pleasant
profile. Dressed in black breeches and a beige tunic, he kept the line of crew
working smoothly as they passed buckets between them from the shore to the
boat.
    As I approached, Daniel raised an eyebrow above a bright blue eye, and
the corner of his mouth instantly turned down.
    “You joining us?” he asked.
    “Yes. I’m Charlie Hamden.” I extended my right hand to him.
    “Great.” He huffed out a long breath. “Another new fish.” He shook his
head and rolled his eyes up to the morning sky.
    I stood behind him to his left while he appeared to search among the
wispy clouds for something I couldn’t see.
    Finally he said, “Daniel Connor, apparently the nursemaid to all the
incompetent new deckhands.” He extended his left hand to me instead of his
right.
    I looked up to his face from under the brim of Benjamin’s cap as he
turned all the way around to face me. I quickly realized why he did not offer
his right hand.
    He didn’t have one.
    As I stood dumbly in front of him, Daniel stepped forward and slapped my
still outstretched right hand with his left to get it out of his way. He paced
by me and pushed out another loud breath.
    “I wish my uncle would refer to me as the ‘kid with one arm’ instead of
the ‘tall kid.’ That’s what he called me, isn’t it?” 
    “I beg your pardon. I did not expect… I thought…” I trailed off as I
forced my gaze back to his face. A rather nice face if you ignored the scowl.
    “If you think I care about what you thought, fish,” Daniel said, “you’d
be mistaken. Hugely. And don’t think I can’t beat the piss out of you because I
have one arm. Ask any of them. They’ll tell you how it is.”
    The line of crew still working mumbled their agreement, sweat dotting
their sunburned faces. Daniel grunted something back to them I couldn’t hear
then dragged me into the line. Apparently Edward Scarsdale had not been lying
about the grouch nephew part.
    “Stand right there and when Michael hands you the bucket of water, pass
it along. You got that, fish?”
    “I got it.” 
    Daniel paused for a moment and lifted the brim of my cap. I held my
breath as he studied my face and angled his own head. Prey being sniffed out by
a predator. His scrutiny of my face broke when I grabbed the bucket Michael
handed me.
    “Come find me at supper,” Daniel finally said. “If you last that long.”
    He didn’t wait for me to reply. My throat was too dry for words anyway.
As he walked over to the Rose , he glanced back over his shoulder at me
once then continued on his way. Not exactly a grand welcome to the crew, but I
wasn’t interested in making friends.
    Getting to the Americas was my only goal, and now I was a step closer to
achieving it.  
    ****
    I hefted water buckets for the rest of the afternoon, stealing glances at
the ocean from time to time. To be working this close to her, to know I was
only days away from sailing on her, made my skin feel as if it could barely
contain my insides.
    The sun finally slipped below the horizon, and the ships tied to the
docks were black ghosts on the water. The men working on the Rose —about sixty
of them in the entire crew—abandoned their tools. We piled the buckets up in a
heap near the ship, and I followed the men, my sack still slung around me, into
the woods to the camp that had been set up.
    A large fire blazed at the center of the camp, and Daniel poked at it with
a long stick. Some game roasted on a spit over the fire, and I realized how
hungry working had made me. My arm muscles burned from today’s bucket toting,
but I welcomed the ache. I was finally doing something.
    Daniel looked up from tending the fire at the sound of