“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.
Donald Hodge worked even faster, but he dumped half a bucket of dirt into his tray at a time and didn’t rinse properly.
“All I’ve found are a couple of puny sapphires!” he grumbled. “Cecil Knight ripped me off!”
“Cecil is as honest as the day is long,” Sybil said loyally. “Maybe you should put a little less dirt into your tray.”
“I don’t have all day” Donald said. “And it’s hot out here.”
It was hot. Although the flume was shaded, panning was hot work.
Finally, Donald threw his empty buckets into the wheelbarrow and left, disgusted that he hadn’t found a big stone.
Jessie watched him leave. Boy, he really takes mining seriously,she thought.
“I guess Donald expects to find a Papa Bear ruby every day,” Sybil said. She eyed the dumping pile behind Donald’s place on the flume. “I bet there are good stones in his dirt that he missed.”
Jonathan ruefully shook his plastic container. “I only found three Baby Bear rubies and a sapphire. Not even worth taking to the grading window.”
After three hours, the Aldens had finished going through their buckets. Everyone trooped to the grading window at the jewelry shop to have their stones weighed and inspected. Several people fell in line behind them, including Sybil Finley.
“Let’s see what you have,” the man at the counter told Benny, taking Benny’s plastic container. “Not bad—two Baby Bear rubies. Pretty good for a beginner.”
Grandfather had some nice hiddenite. Henry and Jessie each had a couple of small sapphires and garnets.
When it was Violet’s turn, she handed her plastic container across the counter.
“I only found one,” she said. “I don’t think I’m a very good rock-finder.”
The gem inspector peered at her stone through a special lens on his glasses.
Then he smiled at Violet.
“You’re a better rock-finder than you think!” he said. |