“Is that a machine?” Fulton asked.
“The sea,” said Cuvier. “We’re coming to a sea cave, I think. I see a glow, if I haven’t gone crazy.”
“I’m not a good swimmer,” warned Smith.
“At this point, drowning is preferable.”
For the last two hundred meters we could hear the echo of rolling waves, and a slow blue light grew like a turquoise dawn. And then at last the tunnel opened up and we came into a high domed cave, illuminated from below by the glow of water and from above by a crevice in the ceiling. It was from there that the air we’d been breathing since the sarcophagus presumably came. A pale dawn glowed through the crack. Its opening was unobtainable, however, thirty feet overhead in a vaulted roof we had no way of climbing. Beneath it was a pool from the sea, the water breathing in and out like a sleeping giant. We splashed in the salty coolness, but it was only momentary relief. We were all very thirsty.
“How can we get up there?” I asked.
“We could shout for help,” said Smith.
“Shout? They’re as apt to shoot us as send a rope down.”
“We’ve come all this way to be stuck in a pot?”
“It’s too bright in here for that crack of light alone,” I said. “Look—you can see more light at the far side of this pool. The open Mediterranean is just beyond this grotto, lads, and all we’ve got to do is swim through the underwater part and pop out the other side.”
“How far is it?” asked Smith.
“Well, I don’t know.”
“Maybe we should just shout for help,” he tried again.
“No. Look—dawn is coming, it’s getting brighter. We need to be out and hidden before our pursuers see us. I’ll swim first. If I don’t come back, I’ll either have succeeded or drowned.”
“Well, there’s reassurance!”
“Drown there or die of thirst and hunger here,” I said, and shrugged. I’d faced this dilemma before. “Let’s go while we have strength left to die swiftly.” And so I dove.
It was probably a dunking of only about fifteen or twenty meters, but it seems twice that when you don’t know. My rifle was an anchor, the sea dark, and the wave surge pushed me backward. But I held my breath, swam with all my might, and finally saw the surface silver from the sky beyond. I broke clean in a wave-churned inlet at the base of red lava cliffs. Air! I grasped a rock, floating and gasping, and at length Cuvier and Fulton popped up, too.
“Smith’s hesitant. Doesn’t like the water much, for an Englishman.”
“Here, hold my rifle. I’m rested now.” So I swam back through the cave to the grotto, the distance seeming a fraction of what it had been before, and took his blunderbuss from him. “It’s just like being born,” I coaxed. “The whole world is on the other side.” I led the awkward geologist to the edge of the grotto, taught him to take deep breaths, and then we dunked and swam through, me leading him by the arm, and coming up just as the sky was pinking to our left, which must be east. Smith blew like a whale and coughed. I glanced around. From the direction of the sunrise, we’d come out somewhere on Thira’s southern coast.
“Now what?” asked Fulton. “We can’t even climb up.”
“We go home,” Cuvier said. “Look—isn’t that our ship?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I caught the anchor line, wrapped my feet and hands around it, and pulled myself up to the bow. The crew was curled amidships, asleep, and the lone watchman, our helmsman, was focused primarily on getting seeds out of a pomegranate. At a signal my companions followed me up. I handed Fulton my soaked longrifle, pulled out my nicked and blunted rapier, and whispered to Smith and Cuvier to brandish their weapons. I trusted no one at this point. Then we lightly ran for the wheel, the helmsman turning just in time to find the tip of my weapon at his eye. The other Muhammadans came awake when we stood over them. Dragut instinctively reached for a pistol. As my sword dipped to stay his hand, he stopped, looking at us in confusion. We stood like a cluster of half-drowned rats, dripping, filthy, torn, and menacing, Fulton holding my rifle, Smith his blunderbuss, and Cuvier his dueling pistols. The fact that none of our wet guns would fire did not immediately register.
“You come out of the sea?” our captain managed.
“Aye,” I said. “It’s been a long night. And we’re in a bit of a hurry.”
“But I don’t understand. Wasn’t I to pick you up back at the quay, on the other side of the island? Why are you here, with weapons drawn?”
I looked about. “Here’s a better question: Why are you anchored here in the open sea, away from any sheltered harbor?”
Dragut looked to the shore, as if an answer might be found there. “The weather was calm, so we anchored for the night to wait for the morning’s breeze,” he finally said. “If you were a sailor, you would understand.” He blinked. “But where did you come from?”
“We’ve been poking about. We need to get back to Venice as soon as possible. Can you take us there?”
“Ah, then you have found what you were looking for?” He sat up eagerly, his eyes flicking from one to the other of us, looking for some sign of treasure. The man was a mercenary like me.
“We hope.”
Now he seemed to gain more certainty. “Then of course. Abdul! Constantine! Up, up, come you lazy dogs, let us raise the anchor for our passengers!” He glanced to the shore again. “There is no time to lose!” He looked back to me. “But why do you hold your sword on your friend Hamidou?”
“Greece makes me nervous.”
“You are under Dragut’s protection now! Come, come, take your ease, have some dates and wine. Get out of your sodden clothes! You look exhausted. You can sleep in the sun.”
“There’re some ships on the other side of the island we should avoid, I think.”
“And no one is swifter and more elusive than Hamidou! Come, put your weapons away, get some rest, and then you can tell me your adventures! Out of the sea. Ha!”
I had my sodden shirt half off before I remembered the parchment pasted by seawater onto my back. I hesitated about showing it, but there was no privacy aboard and if I was to salvage anything I had to dry my artifact out. Cuvier peeled it off my skin and we examined the old document. The writing had smeared, but was still legible. Dragut glanced our way as we uncurled it, but made no comment. The anchor came up, the sails filled, and we began to move.
Our captain had turned to watch the cliffs of the island.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
“Shepherds who might betray our direction for a coin.” He snapped an order and a long red-and-green pennant was raised, unfurling and flapping in the wind.
“What’s that?”
“A flag of the Barbary pirates. It will confuse anyone ashore about our purpose.” And indeed, now I did see men, waving or shaking their fists as we gathered headway. “They will be confused by my cleverness. No captain is smarter than Hamidou Dragut! None swifter! Or more quiet! Yes, you are lucky that you are paying me.”
I watched uneasily. “Are those the men pursuing us?”
“Who knows? Now they will report to their superiors, perhaps. But report the wrong thing, no?”
I didn’t trust Dragut or anyone else, but the idea of getting away from Thira seemed a good one. His crew certainly seemed cheered by the idea.
