'Excuse me, sir.' Cato released the senator's hand and hopped over the side of the hatch, dropping slightly behind Julia. He leaned forward to help her, brushing her arm as he took hold of the cloth.
She flinched and snapped.
'I can manage!'
'Let me help, Julia.'
She froze for an instant and then responded in a whisper, without turning her head.' Cato?'
'Of course.'
Dropping the bale, Julia rose up and spun round, throwing her arms around him.' Cato! Oh, Cato... I thought...' She stared up into his eyes, her lips trembling. Then she buried her face in his sodden chest and clenched her fists into the back of his tunic. He felt her shudder and then he heard a sob. He prised himself back so that he could look down at her face.
'It's all right, Julia. Shhh, my love. There's no need for tears, I'm alive and well.'
'I know, I know, but I thought I might have lost you.'
'Really?' Cato raised his eyebrows. It was a lucky thing indeed that he had survived the wave. He forced a smile. 'Takes more than a bloody wave to finish me off.'
Julia released her grip and thumped him on the chest. 'Don't ever do that to me again.'
'I promise. Unless we run into another wave, that is.'
'Cato!' she growled. 'Don't!'
They were interrupted by a loud cough and turned to see Macro, hands on hips, looking down into the hold with a bemused expression. 'If you two have quite finished, can we get back to work?'
The first hours of the night were spent getting rid of as much cargo as possible. The work be came progressively harder as the survivors began to get deeper into the hold, where the heaviest items had been loaded. Much of the cargo had been thrown out of position and smashed against the hull or the underside of the cargo hatch. But slowly the
'We can start bailing that out once we've shifted a bit more of the cargo, ' Macro decided. 'That'll keep us afloat.'
The mate scratched his chin. 'Yes, I hope so.'
Macro turned to him with an irritable expression. 'Problem?'
'Of course.' The mate sounded surprised.' The cargo's shifted all over the place, and the
Macro shrugged.' Then we'll just have to bail the water out faster than it gets in.'
'We can try'
'Bugger try; we will, ' Macro said firmly.
The mate nodded slightly. 'If you say so. But once it's safe enough I'll have to go into the hold and examine the hull for leaks. Then try to stop them up if I can.'
What's the danger of going in there now?'
'There's still loose cargo in there, Centurion. The swell's getting up and I don't fancy being crushed or buried alive if the
'Sir?'
'Keeping afloat is one problem, but how are we going to get this ship under way again?'
The mate indicated a spar lashed along one of the sides of the vessel. 'We'll have to jury - riga new mast. There's some spare cable and an old sail for'ard. Then we'll need to rig a new rudder and tiller from what's left of the cargo hatch. Should give us steerage way, but she'll be slow, and I doubt if we can weather any storm.' He shivered.
'Or any wave half the size of the one that hit us.'
'That'll have to do then. Soon as we get going we'll make for the nearest harbour on Crete.'
The mate thought a moment and nodded. 'Matala's the best bet.'
'Matala it is then. Now back to work.'
As soon as he felt that the hold was safe enough, the mate climbed carefully across the remaining cargo and waded towards the side of the hull. Macro lowered himself down and followed the mate, carrying a sack of tarry strips of old sailcloth. Hardly any of the light from the stars filtered into the hold, and the steady creak of the timbers and rushing swirl of water on both sides of the hull was unnerving.
'This way' the mate called. 'Stay close to me.'
'I will, don't worry about that.'
The mate headed forward, picking his way over the timber ribs of the
'Will that keep the water out?' he asked the mate.
'It'll help. It's the best we can dofor now. Once we have the jury mast rigged, we'll have to organise two watches to take turns at bailing the water out.'
'Fine. I'll lead one. Cato can take the other. I want you to concentrate on keeping the ship afloat and getting us to port.'
The mate sighed. 'I'll do the best I can, Centurion.'
'Of course you will. If the ship sinks and we all drown, then I'll have your bloody guts for garters.' He slapped the mate on the back.
'Let's get this mast up.'
With the Roman officers' help, the crewmen untied the spar and positioned the butt up against the stump of the mast. Then, with four ropes tied to the far end, Macro and five men heaved the spar up. The mate, with two strong men, kept the butt in position as Cato oversaw two teams of men heaving on the ropes. Slowly the spar rose up, carefully guided into a vertical position against the mast's stump as Macro and his men took the other two ropes to steady it. At once, the mate and his men hurriedly lashed the spar to the stump, and then tied more ropes around it, as tightly as possible, until satisfied that the makeshift mast was as firm as it could be. There was no rest for the crew as they improvised the necessary shrouds, sheets and a cross spar from the ship's sweep oars, lashed together. Lastly they fetched out the old sail from a locker and fastened it to the spar. The makeshift rudder was lowered over the stern and a man assigned to the tiller before the sail was carefully hoisted up the mast.
A light breeze filled the sail with a rippling series of thuds, as the mate looked on apprehensively. Then he gave the order to sheet home, and the
'We're holding a course along the coast, sir. Should make Matala before the end of the day. We can put in for repairs there.'
'Good job.' Macro smiled. 'You've done well.'
The mate was too tired for any modesty, and just nodded before he made his way aft to give his orders to the man at the tiller, and then leaned on the side rail. Macro rubbed his hands together and gazed towards the coming dawn. You hear that? Safe and sound on dry land by the end of the day'
Cato did not reply. He was staring at the distant coastline of Crete.
After a moment he stretched his shoulders and rubbed his neck. 'Safe and sound? I hope so.'
Macro frowned. 'What now? The prospect of being saved from a watery grave not good enough for you?'
'Oh, I'm pleased enough about that.' Cato forced a brief smile.
'The thing is, if that wave almost destroyed the ship, then the gods only know what it has done to the island of Crete...'
Macro swallowed. 'What in Hades happened here?'
'The wave, ' said Julia. 'It must have destroyed the port before it reached us.'
'Not just the wave.' Cato shook his head.' The wave swept in over the land for some way, but beyond that, there's still plenty of damage.'
He turned to the senator. 'Seems like that earthquake in Bythinia you told us about.'
Sempronius stared at the scene opening out before them for a moment before he replied. 'This is worse, far worse. I've never seen anything like it.'
They continued to stare at the devastation as the
The mate stared down into the water, noting a dark patch of submerged rocks projecting beyond the point. He straightened up and pointed towards a strip of shingle below the cliffs on the opposite side of the bay. 'I'm going to beach the ship over there. She's not going to stay afloat for much longer, sir, ' he explained. 'If she's beached, then at least she can be salvaged, along with what little is left of the cargo.'
'Fair enough, ' Cato conceded. 'However, I doubt there's any chance of having the ship repaired in this port for a while. Or come to that, any port on this side of the island. What happened here is going to be the same everywhere else.'
'Do you really think so?'Julia said with a surprised expression.
'You saw the wave. What was to stop it carrying on all the way along the coast, and then out to sea? Why, I wouldn't be surprised if it had continued all the way to Syria before it died away completely'
Cato gestured towards the shore. 'That wave and the earthquake. will have destroyed almost everything.' His mind went back to the slave camp they had seen crumble the previous day. 'There will be hundreds dead. Maybe thousands. And it looks like hardly a building has been left standing. Who knows what we'll find when we get ashore. It'll be chaos. Complete chaos.'
'But we have to get the ship repaired, ' Julia insisted. 'So we can return to Rome. If all the other ships are smashed, we have to repair this one.'
'And who will repair it?' Cato asked.' The docks are gone. The shipmakers' workshops have gone, and most of the carpenters will have been caught by the wave and are probably dead.'
Julia thought a moment.' Then what are we going to do?'
Cato wearily ran his fingers through his salt-encrusted hair. We'll go ashore, and try to find out who is left in authority. Perhaps when they hear that your father is with us they might provide some help, and shelter.'
'Shelter?' Macro gave a dry laugh. 'That's a good one. What shelter? As far as I can see, there's only a handful of structures still standing, and most of those are just shacks.'
'True, ' said Cato. 'But I was thinking of shelter in a somewhat wider sense.'
'Eh?'
'Think about it, Macro. The island's been turned upside down. You saw what happened to the slave compound yesterday. Those slaves are loose now. I imagine the same thing has happened on every estate.
Everyone will be looking for food and a safe place to ride out the disaster. Soon they'll be fighting for it. We'll need to find some protection somewhere, or make our own. At least until help arrives, and order is restored.'
Macro looked at him sourly. 'By the gods, you're a cheerful soul, Cato. We've barely escaped from drowning, and already you're looking for the downside.'
'Sorry.'
Macro glanced at Julia. 'Are you sure you want to marry him, miss? Mister the amphora's-always-half-empty.'
She did not reply, but moved in closer to Cato and grasped his arm.
Under the mate's command the
'Let fly the sheets!' the mate shouted to his crew. Then, as the sail billowed in the gentle breeze, he drew a sharp breath and gave another order. 'Lower the sail!'
The men untied the ropes fastening the makeshift spar and carefully lowered the spar and sail to the deck. Then, overcome by the exhaustion and strain of the desperate hours of the. previous night, and the following day's shifts bailing the water from the hold, the crew slumped down and rested.
'What do we do now?' asked Julia.
'We?' Macro turned to her. 'I want you to stay here, miss. You and the rest of the crew and passengers. Meanwhile, Cato, your father and I are going into Matala to check on the lie of the land.'
'I'm coming with you.'
'With respect, miss, you aren't. Not until we are sure that it's safe.'
Julia frowned and then looked up at Cato. 'Take me with you.'
'I can't, ' Cato replied. 'Macro is the ranking officer. If he says you stay, then you stay'
'But Cato — '
'He's right, my dear, ' Sempronius intervened. 'You have to stay here. Just for now. We'll be back soon. I promise.'
Julia met her father's gaze and after a moment, nodded. 'All right.
But don't take any risks.'
'We won't, miss, ' said Macro.' Come on, Cato. Let's get our kit from the cabin.'
'Kit?'
'Most of it survived, I checked, ' Macro explained. 'If what you said earlier is anything to go by, I'd be happier if we went armed.'
A short time later, the two centurions and the senator splashed down into the shallows from the end of the boarding plank that had been lowered from the bows. The mate of the
'All done?' Macro asked.
The mate nodded.' The ship's as safe and secure as she can be.
At least she can't sink.'