Mystery of the Star Ruby (2 page)

“Like Benny said, the week’s not over,” Sybil reminded Donald. “Somebody could find a ruby in that class that’s bigger than yours, you know.”

Cecil Knight came around with the coffeepot. “Coffee, anyone?” he asked.

“I drink tea,” said Sybil. “But you know that, Cecil.”

“I’ll send the waitress over with hot water,” Mr. Knight said. “Coffee, Mr. Hodge?”

“Thanks,” said Donald. His napkin fell to the floor.

Henry bent down to pick it up, but Donald planted his foot on the red-checked cloth.

“I’ve got it,” he whispered hoarsely, bending down under the table.

While Mr. Knight poured coffee into his cup, Donald took a long time to retrieve his napkin.

Weird
, thought Henry.

“How did you all do on your first day?” Mr. Knight asked Grandfather.

“I found a sapphire!” Benny exclaimed, pulling the small stone from his pocket.

“Way to go!” said Mr. Knight. “A perfect Baby Bear.”

Benny stared at his stone. “I thought it was a rock.”

Mr. Knight laughed. “It is a rock, Benny. Let me explain the Ruby Hollow grading system. I use the Three Bears story to make it easy to remember. Any gem under fifteen carats is called a Baby Bear. A Mama Bear gem is fifteen to thirty carats, worth cutting for jewelry. And a Papa Bear is any gem over thirty carats.”

“I didn’t know bears ate carrots,” said Benny, making them all laugh.

“We’re not talking about the vegetable,” said Donald. “A carat is the unit used to measure gems. Just like your weight is measured in pounds.”

“Good luck tomorrow. Give Mr. Hodge some competition,” Mr. Knight said, moving on to the next table.

Violet had been thinking about the Three Bears story.

“What about Goldilocks? Is there a Goldilocks size of ruby?”

“There
is
a Goldilocks category,” said Jonathan. “It’s not a size, though, but a special kind of ruby. It’s called a star ruby.”

“What’s so special about a star ruby?” Jessie wanted to know.

“Regular rubies look like this.” Sybil leaned forward and held out her hand. A brilliant red stone glittered in a ring on her left hand. “But a star ruby has six rays, like the rays of the sun.”

Jonathan pointed to Sybil’s ring. “See how the stone is cut so it catches the light? That’s called faceting. A star ruby is polished smooth so you can see the rays inside.”

“Has anybody ever found a star ruby here?” asked Henry.

“Only a few people,” Jonathan answered. “Ruby Hollow is the only mine in these mountains where you can find star rubies. I’ve been coming here for years and I’ve never found one.”

“Neither have I,” added Sybil. “A star ruby is the only stone I don’t have in my collection. I’d do
anything
to find one.” She gave a big sigh.

“I’d love to pick up such an unusual gem, too,” said Jonathan. “For my fiancée’s engagement ring.”

“Maybe we’ll all be lucky this week,” said Henry.

“Mmmmm,” said Benny, waiting for Jessie to ladle gravy on his potatoes. “This is like eating at home.”

Grandfather passed around the platter of chicken. “I like the homey atmosphere, too.”

“That’s because it’s a family-run mine,” said Sybil. “Cecil’s family bought the mine about fifty years ago. I think the family had a falling-out sometime after that. Cecil’s uncle thought the mine should be his. But Cecil has been running this mine ever since I can remember.”

“Imagine owning a ruby mine!” Jessie said. “Wouldn’t that be neat?”

“Cecil has worked hard to make this place a success,” Sybil said. “I hope he can hang on to the mine and do well. He deserves it.”

Just then the waitress returned with plates of peach cobbler topped with melting vanilla ice cream.

At the same moment, Donald rose from his chair so abruptly he collided with her.

Henry jumped up in time to save the tray from crashing to the floor.

“I’m sorry!” Donald said to the waitress. “I didn’t see you.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “This young man saved the dessert!”

“Excuse me,” Donald said to the others at the table. “I’m not a big fan of peach cobbler.” He left the dining room.

“
I’m
a big fan of peach cobbler,” Benny said to the waitress. “You can give me his, too.”

Everyone laughed.

Jessie was still thinking about the contest. “How can Mr. Knight afford to pay the prize money if his business isn’t doing so well?”

“A lot of people come here for the contest,” Sybil said. “They pay for entry fees, lodging, and meals in the restaurant, have their stones mounted in jewelry, and buy buckets of pre-spaded dirt.”

“Serious rock hounds don’t buy the five-dollar buckets,” Jonathan added. “They spring for the more expensive specialty buckets.”

After dinner, the grown-ups lingered in the rocking chairs on the wide front porch.

The Alden kids strolled down one of the trails behind the cabins. Crickets chirped their end-of-summer song. The mountains rose darkly around them. No moon or stars could be seen in the pitch-black sky.

“Boy,” murmured Henry. “When it’s night here, it’s really night!”

“I can’t wait to start looking for rubies tomorrow,” said Jessie.

“Me, too,” Benny agreed. “Maybe one of
us
will win the contest.”

“We’d have to find a Papa Bear ruby bigger than Mr. Hodge’s,” said Violet.

“We have as good a chance as anyone else here,” Jessie said confidently.

Snap! Cra-ack!

Henry spun around. “What was that?”

“It sounded like a twig breaking,” Violet said, her heart pounding. What would be in the woods after dark? A bear? A fox?

Suddenly Benny cried, “Look!”

Everyone looked up at the sky. It wasn’t pitch-black anymore.

A round, reddish light like a globe appeared over the peak of a distant mountain. The light hovered in the air a few seconds, then vanished. A moment later, the light reappeared, but in a different spot. Then it was gone again.

“Wow!” exclaimed Henry. “What was
that
?”

Benny’s voice was low. “It could only be one thing.”

“What?” chorused Jessie and Violet.

“A flying saucer,” he replied solemnly.

“Benny, there are no flying saucers,” Jessie said.

“What else can it be?” he insisted.

The children watched for a few more minutes. But the reddish round light did not reappear.

“We’d better get back,” Henry said. “It’s pretty late.”

They walked to the cabins. Lamplight shone through the window of the cabin next to Garnet, the girls’ cabin.

Jessie glanced up at the sky once more. No strange light. She knew it wasn’t a flying saucer. But what else could it have been?

Loud caws in the pine trees woke Jessie the next morning.

“Those crows are a good alarm clock,” she told Violet as they got dressed. “Who could sleep through that racket?”

The boys were waiting for them outside their cabin. The door to the cabin next to Violet’s and Jessie’s opened and Sybil Finley stepped out. Her cabin was called Sapphire.

“Good morning,” she greeted them. “I didn’t know you girls were in Garnet. We’re neighbors!”

They all walked to the restaurant. The day’s forecast—hot and sunny—was printed on the chalkboard, along with the breakfast specials, “Gold Nuggets and Potato Pebbles.”

Jonathan was sitting at their table, scribbling in a notebook.

“I saw an eastern kingbird on my morning walk,” he said. “I’ve never seen one before. I’m adding it to my bird list.”

“You keep a bird list?” Violet asked.

“I keep lists for everything,” Jonathan said, holding up a small black notebook. “I write down the mileage on my car, the weather, even what I eat for breakfast.”

“I should start a food list,” Benny said.

Henry laughed. “You’d need a pretty big notebook just for one day!”

Grandfather and Donald Hodge joined them. Donald wore a white button-down shirt. Violet thought it was strange he was so dressed up to hunt for rubies.

“Grandfather!” Benny exclaimed. “We saw a flying saucer last night!”

“A flying saucer in North Carolina!” Sybil laughed.

“We did see strange lights over the mountain,” Henry said. “They were round and kind of red.”

“You don’t really believe in that stuff, do you?” Donald scoffed. When he picked up his cup, he spilled coffee on the front of his shirt.

“You should dab water on that,” Jessie advised. “Coffee stains are hard to get out.”

“It’s okay,” Donald said. “There’s a Laundromat here.” He looked up just as Cecil came over. “In fact,” Donald said, “I’d better go there now.” He hurried away.

“Did you kids see the Brown Mountain Lights last night?” Cecil asked.

“Is that what they’re called?” asked Henry. “What causes them?”

“No one knows for sure, but scientists believe the lights are formed from a combination of gases in the rocks in Brown Mountain. People have seen those lights over the mountain for a hundred years,” Cecil said.

“I didn’t see any lights last night,” Sybil said. “Did you, Jonathan?”

“No, I was working on my lists last night,” he said.

“Not everybody is lucky enough to see them,” said Cecil. “But they are more common this time of year on moonless nights.”

Their waitress arrived with breakfast—“Gold Nugget” scrambled eggs, “Potato Pebble” fries, ham, and juice.

Benny ate quickly. The mysterious lights were neat, but the idea of finding a Papa Bear ruby was even more exciting. He couldn’t wait to start!

After breakfast, the children changed into old clothes and shoes and shouldered their backpacks. They met Grandfather in the Ruby Hollow Gem Museum.

The glass cases displayed hundreds of gems and minerals.

“I never knew there were so many different rocks.” Henry read the names aloud. “Hiddenite, epodite, obsidian, blue calcite, emerald, sapphire, garnet, quartz—”

“Look at this.” Jessie pointed to a showcase of rubies. “This is how rubies look when they come out of the ground, with rock around them. And these rubies over here are cut out of the rock.”

Brilliant red stones lay on white velvet, some faceted to catch the sun, some polished smooth as glass. One sparkling gem caught Violet’s eye.

“A star ruby!” she exclaimed. “See the six rays? It does look like a star.”

Benny was eager to find his own rubies. “Can we go now?” he asked.

“Let’s hit the flume line!” Grandfather agreed.

Outside, they took the path to the flume. Grandfather paid their entry fees and bought them each a five-dollar bucket and plastic containers for their findings.

Jonathan and Sybil were already working on the flume. The kids found places between them.

A few minutes later, Donald Hodge came down the path, pushing a wheelbarrow with six buckets. He squeezed between Grandfather and Violet, making everyone on the line adjust.

Violet wondered why he just didn’t go to the end of the line. She noticed the dirt in his buckets was finer and darker than hers.

“Your dirt looks different from mine,” she remarked.

“I got enriched ore,” Donald said. “I don’t like messing with those native stone buckets. Mine are guaranteed to have some gems.”

“Enriched buckets are also called ‘salted,’” Jonathan explained. “That means each bucket definitely has gems in it. They could have been spaded from any mine. The dirt is looser and easier to rinse. But native buckets only come from Ruby Hollow. The ore hasn’t been disturbed for thousands of years. That’s why we have to rinse so much.”

“Some of the finest gems can be found in the native mine,” Sybil added. “But the buckets aren’t guaranteed. That’s what makes it fun—you never know what you’re going to find!”

Benny had finished rinsing. He began sorting through his stones.

“Is this a ruby?” he asked Jonathan, holding up a tiny pinkish stone.

“Definitely. Put it in your plastic box so you don’t lose it.”

“Oh, boy! I found a ruby!” Benny dumped more dirt into his tray and began rinsing.

Jessie watched how fast Jonathan and Sybil worked, rinsing, sorting, and selecting stones before emptying the rest of the tray into the dumping pile behind the flume.