'We would, if we weren't so overloaded,' his cousin answered. 'These fat scows we'll be keeping company with? Not a chance. We'll put in at one of the Sicilian towns tonight, or spend the night at sea, then go on in the morning.' 'All right.' Sostratos sighed. 'One more night to spend worrying.' 'Nothing to worry about,' Menedemos said. 'What could possibly go wrong?' Sostratos started to answer. Then he started to splutter. And then he started to laugh. 'Oh, no, you don't. You're not going to get me to turn purple and pitch a fit. I'm wise to you, Menedemos.' 'A likely story,' Menedemos said. They grinned at each other. For a moment, Sostratos forgot how much he wished the Aphrodite weren't sailing for Syracuse. But he couldn't forget for long. All around the harbor, captains were waking up, tasting the breeze, and realizing it would be a good day to sail. They called orders to their crews and to the longshoremen who came down the wharves to cast off their mooring lines and bring them aboard once more. The sailors grunted and heaved at the sweeps even round ships carried, and slowly, a digit at a time, eased the ships away from their berths so they could make sail and head for Sicily. Seeing their struggles to get started, Sostratos laughed again. 'Our rowers may have to work hard, but not that hard.' 'You're right.' Menedemos waved to a couple of longshoremen. 'Over here, too!' 'You're going to take this little thing to Syracuse?' one of the men said as he tossed a line down onto the sacks of grain in the Aphrodite's waist. 'Good idea - you can be a boat for all the real ships.' He laughed at his own wit. That sort of remark was as calculated to make Menedemos furious as Menedemos' crack had been to infuriate Sostratos. But Sostratos' cousin only shrugged, saying, 'Onasimos likes us well enough to pay us to haul grain.' The longshoreman turned away, disappointment on his face. Menedemos raised his voice: 'Come on, boys, let's show these round-ship sailors how to row.' Diokles set the stroke. The men - all of them at the oars - pulled as hard as they had in the fight with the Roman trireme. And the Aphrodite . . . moved as if she were traveling through mud, not seawater. Diokles said, 'I think this is about as much as we'll get from her, captain.' 'Yes, I think you're right,' Menedemos agreed. 'I'd hoped for a little more, but . . ..' He shrugged. 'She feels different in the water,' Sostratos said. 'More solid, more as if we were on dry land. She doesn't shift so much underfoot.' 'I should hope she doesn't,' Menedemos said. 'She's carrying twice as much as usual, so the waves don't seem to hit her so hard.' 'That's true. We've never really felt what she's like fully laden before, have we?' Sostratos said, and Menedemos tossed his head. The merchant galley didn't have to travel full up to hope for profit, as a round ship did. She carried luxury goods,
Вы читаете Over the Wine Dark Sea
