resist a gibe: 'You always fuss.' 'If you'd listened to my fussing back in Taras, your ankle would be better off,' Sostratos retorted, and Menedemos mimed taking a wound. From his usual station in the bow, Aristeidas pointed to starboard and called, 'Something funny there.' A moment later, he found a word for it: 'Whirlpool!' A few sailors exclaimed in alarm. More who weren't rowing hurried to the rail to get a look for themselves. Diokles said, 'You get 'em in these waters now and again. It's the current, I expect. Most of 'em don't amount to anything much.' 'They can pull a ship down to the bottom of the sea in less time than it takes to tell,' a young rower quavered. 'Sure, a big one can,' the oarmaster said. 'But that one there? Don't be silly. It's not much more than you get when you mix water and wine in the jug called a dinos.' That eased the sailors' worries and made several of them smile; the very name of the vessel meant spinner. Sostratos admired Diokles' quick wits. After Menedemos saw that it wouldn't alarm the men, he began reciting from the twelfth book of the Odyssey: ' 'We sailed up the strait, lamenting. For there was Skylle, and on the other side divine Kharybdis, A wondrous thing, swallowed the water of the salt sea. I assure you, when she vomited it forth, she made it boil And stirred it up as if in a metal pot on a great fire. The foam fell on the high crags to either side. But when she gulped down the water of the salt sea Every place where she troubled came into view: echoing rock Appeared, a marvel, and the dark sandy earth - and green fear seized them.' ' The nervous young sailor pointed toward the whirlpool and asked, 'Skipper, d'you think that's the real Kharybdis?' Before Menedemos could speak, Sostratos did: 'If it is, she's been washed in hot water once too often, because she's shrunk.' That got a laugh from the men, and drew a grin and a wave from Menedemos. Sostratos mentally patted himself on the back for coming up with the right thing to say at the right time rather than two days too late. He prided himself on such moments, and wished they happened more often. The Aphrodite passed within a couple of plethra of the whirlpool. Had it not been for Aristeidas' sharp eyes, nobody would have known it was there. An hour or so later, the merchant galley glided into the little sickle-shaped bay on whose south side the town of Messene sat.
Вы читаете Over the Wine Dark Sea
