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Haverford if he presented him with the ruby ring. Seeing as he had all day—and because the pirates were treating him more decently than he'd expected—his scheme of theft seemed worth pondering again.
    Could he get that ruby away from Kemp?
    As Raef worked, Peffy and George and few other odd-looking fellows occupied themselves with the business of sailing the ship. George astonished Raef with his nimbleness about the rigging, climbing nigh swift as a kestrel to unfurl the topsail. Overall, the men were coarse, swearing and belching as much as they laughed, but they weren't unpleasant. Chiefly, they ignored Raef. Some of them spread out nets and then cast them over the side to do some fishing. The main interest of the morning came when George, high upon the foremast, spotted some unmapped rocks.
    At George's hail, Kemp emerged from his cabin and marked the location on a chart. After that, the captain remained on the poop deck, fiddling with an angular wooden device and examining the broad expanse of the ocean through a long, brass eyeglass. He spotted a couple of other sails over the next hour or so, but dismissed both. "Just some wretched fishermen," he observed of the first, and on the second occasion, "It's those beleaguered Jack Tars. Ah, if only it were one of Haverford's merchantmen. I'd sink 'em in a jiffy."
    Raef hadn't known Haverford owned ships, but while Kemp's threat raised his heckles, nothing else piratical was discussed. The brisk wind set the Alice O'Shanty darting through the waters in a southerly direction, which suited Raef. Having now had a chance to judge the narrow variety and relative scarcity of seabirds, he estimated they were definitely too far out for a human to swim back to land, but weren't moving farther away. Rather, they must be running parallel with the rocky shore he'd made his home of late. Once free and be-tailed, his swim back to Haverford's castle wouldn't be too arduous.
    But he was getting weary, and the pain in his elbow grew sharp. He'd not half the stamina he possessed in his merman form. Needing a rest, Raef sat back on his haunches and rubbed his neck, which was damp with sweat and spray. Then he started. Kemp leaned over the railing on the poop deck, regarding him with one brow raised. Raef fixed on the ruby ring Kemp wore and hitched his lip.
    "Thief," he muttered. "Barbarian." Defying his sore muscles, he returned to his task. When Kemps climbed down and approached him, he started to regret the insult. He recalled yet more nasty tales of kluggites who flayed their crew for the smallest misdemeanor. As Kemp's boots drew level with his sightline, his veins ran cold. Had he earned himself a whipping that would cut him and scar?
    Kemp touched his shoulder, and he flinched as if licked by the cat o' nine tails. The deck slanted as the Alice O'Shanty rode a giant among the day's comparatively docile waves, and then Kemp crouched in front of him. Kemp's hair glistened, wetted by the spray. He wore a broad-tailed jacket that might've been splendid were its cuffs not frayed. "At ease, lad," he said gruffly.
    Raef obeyed with a sigh and couldn't muster the courage to glower again.
    "I don't intend to keep this ring," explained Kemp, stroking the gem with his thumb. "I wear it on this ship, because I know my crew. They're good lads, but they've fingers that'll filch in their sleep. Hell, any of us can dose a lock in a jiffy. It's not wise to leave such temptation in their way."
    "So what do you intend to do with it?" asked Raef, still trying to interpret half of what Kemp just said. "Sell it?"
    "I'm going to give it to somebody who deserves it much more than your Lord Haverford. In fact, you might say that Haverford stole it from them ."
    Haverford stealing? Raef dismissed that notion as more kluggite nonsense. There was no evidence otherwise. But who was this lucky soul Kemp intended to give it to? A woman? Or maybe Captain Kemp loved men? The ship rocked again, Raef's heart lurched,