Free The 22 Letters by Richard; Clive; Kennedy King

quickest way, we’ll alter course.”
    They did so, and reset the sail, and as morning came they continued on the same course. Sure enough about midday the joyful cry went up “Land ho!” And everybody was jubilant—except the Chaldean.
    The crew were chattering excitedly, and the old hands were wagering as to what part of the land it was. When they were near enough for one of them to recognize it as the island of Kasos, off the eastern point of Crete, they were amazed. In just over two days they had completed a voyage that usually took five or six, coasting from point to point. They looked with admiration at their skillful captain, and with awe at their strange navigator.
    But the Chaldean took Nun aside. “Master,” he said, “this is your ship and I am a mere passenger—”
    â€œHow can you say that?” Nun exclaimed. “You have taught me secrets no other sailor knows. My ship is yours.”
    â€œYou feel I have saved you a day or two’s weary coasting?”
    â€œIndeed,” said Nun. “I don’t know where I’d be without you. Still up some mainland creek perhaps. How can I repay you?”
    â€œI beg only two of the days I may have saved you on this voyage,” said the sage.
    â€œThey are yours,” said Nun, puzzled. “But what do you mean?”
    â€œYour business is with Knossos, I know,” said the Chaldean. “And so I had thought was mine. But now the stars tell me differently. You know the islands well, Captain?”
    â€œI can tell where I am among the islands by the taste of the water over the side,” Nun bragged.
    â€œIs there an isle about a day’s sail, from dawn to sunset, due north of Knossos?”
    â€œThat would be Thira,” Nun replied.
    â€œThen if you can spare me two days from your enterprise, I shall be grateful if we might go there first,” said the Chaldean. “I do not know what we shall find, but, whatever it is, I believe it is of grave enough importance to affect you and all who live in the known world. So it is not only for myself that I ask it.”
    â€œBut don’t your stars tell you more precisely?” asked Nun. “They brought us to Kasos at the time you predicted. Why are you doubtful about the other thing?”
    â€œIt is of a different kind,” replied the sage. “This knowledge of disaster is within me. The stars merely help me find the time and place. But I can say no more. May we go?”
    â€œYou have my promise,” said Nun.
    So once again there were looks of outrage on the faces of the crew as, instead of heading west along the northern coast of Crete, they continued on their northwesterly course after clearing Kasos. Here there were lesser islands strewn over the sunlit water to guide them by day, but they would be treacherous hazards by night. So before sunset they found a little bay in one of them and made fast for the night. Nun was glad enough to sleep the night through without responsibilities, while some of the crew stretched their legs on the barren islet, grousing freely at being deprived of the joys of port. But the Chaldean stayed awake all night and communed with the stars.
    Next day it was only a short run to Thira, and they neared it in the early afternoon. Indeed, they were aware of it a long way off, because of a thin plume of smoke that seemed to be coming from the pointed top of the island.
    Nun and the Chaldean gazed at it from the poop. “You have landed there before, Master?” asked the passenger.
    â€œNo,” replied Nun. “I have seen its burning mountain times enough before now. But I’ve never had business there—and who’d go to such a place for pleasure? Though they say …”
    â€œYes?” the Chaldean prompted.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Nun. “It has a certain reputation …”
    â€œIndeed? What kind of people live there?”
    â€œOne hears