As quickly as the words came out of hismouth, I realized he was right, which I found quite embarrassing,but I blame my lack of practice with having a family.
And, of course, I could not summon the wordsto apologize, so I joked clumsily, “Well, I hope you’ve beenspending time at the stakes since the last time I was here.”
“I have, actually,” he replied. Then,with a grin, he shoved me as he said, “In fact, I think I might beable to take you!”
I knew he was jesting, but before I couldsay anything, Alex reached out and pinched Septimus on his arm hardenough that he yelped with pain, demanding, “What did you do thatfor?”
“I just wanted to see if you wereasleep and dreaming,” Alex said, without a flicker of a smile, butI saw his eyes dancing with humor. “Because that’s the only placeyou’re going to beat Gnaeus.”
“Couldn’t I have had just a moment?”Septimus grumbled, which made us both laugh. “It was a nicedream.”
Then we were at thePersephone, but before we hailed thepair of men who were standing on the dock with their backs to us,seemingly involved in a serious discussion about the ship since oneof them kept pointing to it, Septimus said, “If this turns out tobe a possibility, I suggest that I’m the one whonegotiates.”
This made sense to me, and Alex nodded, thenI called out to the pair, both of them turning around. Since theywere both bundled up for the cold, it was difficult to tellanything aside from their height, age, and that neither of them wasRoman.
“We’re looking for the master of thisship,” I explained, but rather than answer, the older man withblack hair and a beard to mid-chest that was liberally streakedwith gray demanded,
“What do you want him for?”
By the accent, I placed him as a Greek, anddespite my irritation at the curt tone, I simply said, “We’d liketo speak to him about where he’s intending to sail next, andwhether or not we might be able to pay for passage.”
“Why do you want to know where he isgoing?” the man asked suspiciously. Suddenly, he pointed straightat Septimus as he said, “I have seen this man around the docksbefore!”
“So?” Septimus was clearly perplexed.“Why is that a problem?”
“Because you are a Roman,” the mananswered, as if this was self-explanatory.
“It isa Roman city,” Septimus countered mildly.
“And you look like someone who wouldwork for the Duumviri, ormaybe the Praetor, looking to trap honest men!”
Not surprisingly, I could tell this angeredSeptimus, but he sounded calm as he retorted, “I don’t work foreither. I have a wine business, and I’ve been looking for ships tohire.”
This seemed to have an impact, and the manreached up to scratch his beard in thought, but he was not quitedone, because he pointed at me next.
“What about him?” he demanded. “Thatis a Legionary if I have ever seen one. And,” he examined me as ifhe had not really done so before, “he is a huge Roman. Maybe,” hiseyes widened a bit, “the largest I have ever seen.” Shaking hishead, he was turning away from us as he said, “No, I do not likethis. Something is not right.”
I was about to storm off before Iwalked over and threw him into the river, but Alex cleared histhroat in the manner one uses to get someone’s attention, and whenthe man turned around, he saw Alex holding up one of the bagscontaining the aurei, shakingit so that the coins clinked together. I have heard more than oneperson claim that they can tell just by the sound whether coins aregold or silver, and this man seemed to be one of them, because thechange in his manner was dramatic.
Walking over to us, he smiled for thefirst time, saying, “My name is Demeter, Demeter of Rhodes. I amthe master of the Persephone.”
It took another third of a watch ofhaggling before Demeter had agreed to take up to eight passengersto Alexandria, for a cost that worked out to be about onehundred denarii per person,or four aurei a head. Thecost was outrageous, but oddly enough, it was not me but Alex whowanted to storm off and find passage to Narbo, while I was the onewho retained a calm head.
“By the time we find a ship to Narbo,then hire another ship to Alexandria, we could end up paying justas much,” I argued. I saw him wavering, but he was clearlyunconvinced, so I pointed out, “Didn’t my father always say thatthe cost of something is measured by how much you needit?”
“Yes,” he said finally, sighing as hedid so. “He did say that. But,” he shook his head and saidadamantly, “this is robbery! He’s a thief!”
“He may be,” I acknowledged, “but keepin mind that we’re going to add at least four more days by going back west toNarbo, then sailing from there to Alexandria.”
“Besides,” Septimus chose the momentto speak up, “he’s not going to be taking a cargo, Alex, justus.”
This seemed to clinch the argument,and we broke from our small huddle and shook on it with Demeter, asAlex gave him a quarter part of the amount, which is less than thecustomary half, but I am sure that Demeter, having seen the pouchfrom which they were extracted, knew that we were able to pay. Infairness, it is certainly not unknown for passengers to offer upwhat they say is half but turns out to be all that they possess,then counting on the ship’s master to be willing to accept lessthan the agreed amount. The third of a watch was not all spenthaggling; at Septimus’ insistence, Demeter brought us aboardthe Persephone, and while theupper deck was neat, with no debris or uncoiled ropes littering thedeck like Squillus’ ship, dropping down onto the second deck, thesmell that assaulted us brought back memories that, when I glancedover at Alex,
