“This has become a quest. Which is why I'm interested in your ad- venture. I suspected the natural arch might provide entry into the caves, but the waters around them were too dangerous for our launches. Apparently, you found a way to get in.”

“Dumb luck,” Austin said briefly.

Aguirrez chuckled. “I think it was more than luck. Please, tell me what you saw. I will bribe you with more wine.”

He snapped his fingers. The waiter brought a new bottle, opened it and refilled their glasses.

“No bribe is necessary,” Austin said. “Consider it partial repay- ment for your hospitality and the fine meal.” He sipped from his glass, enjoying the buildup of suspense. “You're right, there is a way into the caves through the arch. The locals call it the 'Mer- maid's Gate.' The cave network is quite extensive. I only saw part of it.”

Austin went into detail about the cave art, saying nothing about his side trip into the fish farm. Aguirrez hung on every word.

“Similar Paleolithic paintings dating back twelve thousand years have been found on the walls of caves in Basque country,” he mur- mured at one point. “The other drawings indicate that an advanced civilization must have used the caves.”

“That was my impression. Supposedly, the Faroes were uninhab- ited before the Irish monks and the Vikings settled here. Maybe the historians were wrong.”

"I wouldn't be surprised. The scholars have no idea where my

people came from. Our language has no antecedents in Europe or Asia. Basques have the highest percentage ofRH-negative blood type in the world, leading some to speculate that we go directly back to Cro-Magnon man.“ He banged his fist lightly on the table. ”I'd give anything to get into those caves."

“You saw the warm reception I got.” “You seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest. While you slept, the patrol boats came out from shore and demanded permission to come aboard. We refused, of course.”

“The boat I saw had a couple of men with automatic rifles.”

Aguirrez waved toward the art hanging on the wall. “When they saw that my men outgunned and outnumbered them, they quickly left.”

“They had a helicopter, too. It was armed with rockets.”

“Oh yes, that,” he said, as if he were talking about a pesky gnat.

“I had my men brandish their handheld surface-to-air missiles, and the helicopter stopped bothering us.”

Missiles and automatic weapons. The Navarra was armed like a warship.

Aguirrez read Austin's mind. “Wealthy men can be a target for kidnappers. The Navarra would be fair game for pirates, so I have made sure it is not exactly toothless. Of necessity, I have surrounded myself with loyal and well-armed men.”

/Why do you suppose Oceanus is so prickly about people poking into its business?“ Austin said. ”We're talking about a fish farm, not diamond mines."

“I asked myself the same question,” Aguirrez said, with a shrug.