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“Yeah,” Adam confirmed, a bit surprised. “How’d you figure that out?”
She shot him an arch look.
“Based on the shape of the coast and the positioning of the marked cays, the Sibun is the most likely candidate for the waterway on the map that leads to the first landmark, theBlack Pillar that Draws the Compass. That’s how I knew to come to British Honduras in the first place. I corroborated the mouth of the river and the position of the mission against the historical documentation.”
“Course you did,” Adam muttered as he adjusted their angle to avoid a sandbar. “Mind my asking how old these historical documentations were?”
Her mouth thinned a bit.
“I can assure you, I took the time to check my calculations against the current map Mr. Linares has mounted on the wall in the lounge.”
“That map’s not current,” Adam replied flatly.
“It was printed less than a decade ago,” she returned shortly.
“Things change fast around here.”
“Then where does one find the most up-to-date map?” she demanded.
“At the surveyor general’s office.” Adam flashed her a grin. “Or on my bedroom wall.”
That earned him a scowl.
“If you showed me that whole parchment of yours, I might know a shortcut,” he offered cheerfully.
“We shall start with the Sibun, Mr. Bates,” she sang out in reply as she turned away from him. “The rest will come in good time.”
The green-gold line of the mangroves drifted past. Below theMary Lee, the pale sand was clearly visible through the crystalline waters, punctuated by little shells and stones. The woman let her hand fall over the rail of the bow, trailing her fingertips in the water in a way that sent a line of ripples back toward the stern.
Adam watched as a wide shadow flickered across the seabed, the drift of it slightly outpacing the chug of theMary Lee. A moment later, an enormous, whiskered head broke through the surface of the water next to the woman’s hand. The gray expanse was punctuated by a pair of small, liquid black eyes.
Ellie let out a strangled squeak of alarm as she lurched back and promptly fell from the bench onto the deck.
“It ain’t going to bite,” Adam called back lazily. “It’s a sea cow. She’s just hoping you have food.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Ellie scrambled up to peer curiously over the side of the boat at the animal, which continued to swim alongside.
“Sailors used to think they were mermaids,” Adam continued. “Though that’d be one ugly mermaid.”
The woman didn’t seem to be listening to him.
“Manatee,” Ellie whispered wonderingly as she gazed down at the gracefully moving creature. It wheeled away from them, slipping off toward deeper waters.
Adam felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips as he roped off the tiller and crossed to the boiler to add another load of coal to the box. He set down the shovel and leaned against one of the supports for the canopy as he looked down at her.
“You can put your hands back in the water. I’ll let you know when to take them out,” he said.
“And when will that be?” she demanded as he dropped back onto his seat in the stern.
“When we get to the crocodiles,” Adam replied and flashed her a wicked grin.
?
Thirteen
Shortly after theMary Leeturned from the stunning expanse of blue ocean into the mouth of the Sibun River, Ellie glimpsed the reality behind Bates’s warning. She had already returned her limbs to the boat when a rotting log suddenly raised a pair of beady yellow eyes out of the water. The crocodile watched her passively as the steamer chugged past.
Though the creature was significantly smaller than the one in Bates’s closet, Ellie still fought the urge to move closer to the middle of the boat.
