1 Evan’s dismal description of modern day Mocha is accurate. Author Brouwer describes the place “"Nowadays al-Mukhâ is little more than a sloping field of ruins, anything but a pulsating port." C. G. Brouwer (1997) Al-MUKHA. Profile of a Yemeni Seaportas p. 377

2 Mocha has been synonymous with coffee since the Islamic hermit al-Shadhili reputedly discovered the drink and its stimulating effects around 1200 A.D. The Devil’s Cup by Stewart Lee Allen 1999 p. 44

3 The Trade’s Increase was the ship of English trader Henry Middleton, who having been taken prisoner by authorities of Pasha months before, had escaped and returned to Mocha to wreak havoc on the city. The Honorable Company, a history English East India Company by John Keay 1991.

21

Several beams of morning sun cut through fissures in the thatched roof like tiny spotlights. Clovis was gone, his bedroll curled up neatly against the wall. I left the cane behind and stepped out into the brightness of day. Drusel's gray mare was gone.

Clovis stood on the beach, silhouetted by the white foam of the lapping waves. He held a sword in his hands. I sat on the edge of the short ridge below the lighthouse and watched as he moved in graceful measured steps along with each practiced parry and thrust. His twirling curved saber caught the light as he moved through timeless forms of choreographed attacks. His tired frame became miraculously lithe with each step. He whipped his sword through the air, his face contorted menacingly with eyes ablaze, as though striking down long dead foes.

"You look like you're pretty good with that thing," I shouted down to him as soon as he'd finished.

He turned startled and quickly scanned the horizon until he found me. "I am still the best in these parts," he called back. "Come down here!" He motioned me down to the beach with the sword.

"You're not going to run me through, are you?" I said joking as I walked up to him.

"No, I want to show you where to fish. I keep three poles over by that rock," he said, pointing them out. "I usually fish with all three. This place below the tower and the point over there are the best locations."

"Great. I haven't been fishing since I was a child."

He pointed to the edge of the surf. "Split those black mollusks apart for bait."

I nodded and motioned to the sword that hung at his side. "What's the story with that?"

He clasped the blade with his left hand and ceremoniously offered me the handle. "You said in the Ascension Evan, that fire was your confidant; this is mine."

I placed my hand around the sweaty grip and took it from him. "Do you practice every day?" I asked.

"Yes."

"When was the last time you used it, in anger I mean?"

"Against Ramsay's British Dragoons."

"Not since then?" I asked.