The Blasphemer: A Novel by Nigel Farndale Page B

Wetherby said this with a thin smile. ‘I have known of the rumour for years, but this is the first time I have found any written evidence for it.’ He stepped forward and took the letter back. ‘Now remember …’ He raised his index finger vertically, facing outwards, and pressed it gently to the student’s spongy lips.

    a cognizant v5 original release september 20 2010

CHAPTER NINE
    ALMOST THREE HOURS HAD PASSED SINCE THE SEAPLANE HIT THE water. Greg was the first to realize this. ‘The flight from Ecuador takes under two hours,’ he said. The clear blue sky was now feathered with clouds and the water that had been warm at first was cooling rapidly. Daniel knew why. Although the Galápagos archipelago lies on the equator, the water around it is cold because of the Antarctic Humboldt Current. It gets colder still at night. Anyone in the water who hadn’t become shark food by morning would be close to death anyway from hypothermia. He thought it best not to share this information with his fellow survivors. Instead he announced. ‘I think I can make it to the islands.’
    Everyone looked at him.
    Had he not been feeling ashamed about deserting Nancy, he might not have volunteered so readily. He knew his chances of reaching the islands were remote.’ I swim every morning for half an hour – twenty-two lengths,’ he continued carelessly. ‘That’s a quarter of a mile. Besides, I’ve got fins.’ He held them up. No one else spoke. ‘I checked our position on the map before we went down. They’re in that direction.’ He pointed. ‘West. I need to follow the sun …’ He looked up; the sun was almost directly overhead. ‘… as it sets.’
    ‘Shouldn’t one of us go with him?’ Susie said.
    Odd trickles of salt water were still coming out of Daniel’s nose; he snorted and pressed a finger against each nostril. ‘No, I’ll be fine.
    Anyway, there’s only one pair of fins. The islands can’t be more than five or six miles away. As I get nearer to them, the currents should carry me in.’
    ‘I think we should stick together,’ the lay preacher said.
    The African-American was the next to speak.’ If the guy want to risk it, it up to him. I got me a young family at home.’
    Daniel and Nancy exchanged a look.
    Greg swam up close to Daniel and said in a low voice. ‘If I don’t make it, can you tell my parents I love them? And that I’m, you know, that I’m at peace, or something.’
    This was the point at which Daniel was supposed to tell Greg he was going to make it, that he should tell his parents himself. But he could not. He didn’t believe it. ‘Likewise,’ Daniel said, slipping his fins on and spitting to clean the mask. ‘Likewise.’
    His T-shirt and life vest would protect his back from the sun, he figured, and the tall black man had handed him an Atlanta Braves baseball cap. This he put on back-to-front to protect his neck. He felt tired already and tried not to let the others see the way his arms were shaking. Greg noticed, grabbed a half-full plastic bottle of Lucozade that had floated to the surface and stuffed it into his life jacket. ‘How far really?’ he said in a muted voice the others could not hear.
    ‘Eight to ten miles, I should think.’ His teeth were chattering now. ‘But I’ll be fine. It’ll be OK.’
    Greg thought about this for a moment. ‘That’s a long swim, dude,’ he said.
    Not wishing to depart with this ominous observation hanging in the air, Daniel tried to make light of the situation, for Nancy’s benefit. ‘Do you think we’ll get any money knocked off the holiday for this?’
    Nancy didn’t seem to hear. ‘Good luck,’ she said.
    ‘Don’t give up,’ Daniel said, holding her hand. He felt in his pocket for the ring box. It was gone. ‘I promise I’ll be back with help. Trust me. Try and keep the others.. .’ He couldn’t think how to finish the sentence. ‘Try and keep the others from drinking their own urine until I get