The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart Page B

hand.
    I stood up and raised an arm in reply, then made my way carefully down to meet him.
    He said, low voiced: ‘He is asleep. I gave him the rest of the coffee, and I have bathed his arm. It looks better, I think; he has been a little feverish, talking stupid things, but no longer fighting to be out. He will be okay with you. I have filled the flask now with water; you will not need to come out again.’
    â€˜Very well.’
    â€˜I will go now. You are not afraid?’
    â€˜I am, a little, but then that’s only natural. It doesn’t change anything. You’ll take great care?’
    â€˜Of course.’ He hesitated, then there came again that familiar gesture of hand to hip. ‘You would like this?’
    â€˜This’ was his knife. It lay across his palm.
    I shook my head. ‘Keep it. If one of us is going to need it, I hope it’ll be you! In any case, it would be wasted on me – I wouldn’t quite know how to start using it. Oh, and Lambis—’
    â€˜Yes?’
    â€˜I’ve been thinking, sitting up there. Isn’t it just possible that Colin may have got away? Or even that they’ve actually let him go? They know Mark’s got away, and may be still alive, so they must know it’d only be running into worse trouble if they kill Colin. I mean, the first murder may be a local affair that they think they can get away with, but it’d be a different matter to involve two British nationals.’
    â€˜I have thought this myself.’
    â€˜And if he were free – Colin, I mean – he’d go first of all to look for Mark’s body, then, when he didn’t find it, he’d go straight to the caique, wouldn’t he?’
    â€˜I have thought this also. I have been hoping I shall find him there.’
    I said doubtfully: ‘As long as they’ve not found the caique . . . I suppose, if they have, they’d be bound to connect it with Mark? Does the path, the “ancient path”, lead straight to the old harbour? Would they assume that was where Mark and Colin were making for? If so, you’d think they’d have followed it up.’
    He shook his head. ‘The path goes on right over the hills, past the church, then it divides towards the hill village to the north, Anoghia, where the Cretan went, and to another village further along the coast to the east. There, there is a road to Phestos, where the antiquities are, and the tourists go. It is certain that the murderers would think that Mark was going that way. Why should they think of a boat? Mark and Colin had a haversack, and it would seem, perhaps, that they were walking, and sleeping out – going, perhaps, to sleep that night in the old church. People do these strange things, especially the English.’
    â€˜Well, let’s hope you’re right. Let’s hope they never think about a boat. Can it be seen easily, from the shore above?’
    â€˜No, but I shall hide it better. There was a cave . . . not quite a cave, but a deep place between rocks, which could not be seen from the shore paths. I shall put her in there; she will be safe enough; there will be no wind tonight.’
    â€˜But if Colin came back to where you had left her before—’
    â€˜He will still find her. If he does go down to the place, and she is not there, you know what he will do, what anyone does. He will think, first, that this is not the same place, and he will search; there are many rocks and little bays, he will search them all, near by. And so he will see her.’
    â€˜Yes, of course. It’s what one does. If you expect to see something in a certain place, you simply don’t believe it can’t be there.’ I looked at Lambis with a new respect. ‘And you? Do you really expect to find him there?’
    He gave a quick glance at the door of the hut, as if he were afraid that Mark might hear him. ‘I know no more than you,