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"Because," Schiller said, with an effort, "as long as I shall live I will be a crew the sides of the paperweight again and then put it down "I was never a loyal patriot to the Nazi cause, and perhaps I realized all along that Hitler was driving our country to utter ruin But for a brief instant of history a very brief instant ere glorious, like a flaet"

The room was still; there was a steady drone of insects outside, and the breeze sang through the screen door mesh in a soft whisper "I don&039;t believe you&039;ve told me your name," Schiller said

"David Moore," the otherto his feet He switched on a laed than he was His eyes were filled with memories

"I would very much like a drink," Schiller said "Sometimes I need it, you know"

"Yes Me too" Moore poured ruave it to the ratefully, sipped at it, and then listened to the song of the insects He stood up, went to the door, and stared out across the darkening harbor "A beautiful island," he said after another moment He did not turn back toward Moore "You do know that my U-boat almost destroyed it?"

"Yes, I do"

"Do you feel any bitterness?"

"Some would"

Schiller nodded "An honest answer This island lay within our patrol grid, you see, and ere ordered to shell the naval yards We knew the British were repairing some of their ships there and, well, it ar"

Moore sat down again, watching the man

"I ree during the first shelling, and I counted the explosions on shore I felt so distant and detached fros, yes, but still they were the eneht the subchasers didn&039;t coo on for hours Oh, there were shore batteries firing back, but we lay beyond their range, and atched the flaht like wild red flowers on a field of black velvet The coh his binoculars, and after he ordered cease fire, when the echoes of the deck gun had finally all died ae could hear the screa time; Moore stared at him "When the commander was satisfied, we continued our patrol"

"And you never felt re like that?" Moore asked

Schiller turned toward hi a question he couldn&039;t fully understand "It was my duty," he said "But be assured I paid for it, yes, and ain We returned to the area some days later; the commander suspected work had been done to repair the yards, and he wished to shell theain, before the work could be cohted a ship, ed and tracked it for sohter We attacked with torpedoes, but the warships lying in your harbor were alerted by the flares and caught us fro with the man I&039;ve already mentioned We were swept off in the crash dive" He paused, staring out toward the sea

"What happened to the boat?"

"I don&039;t know," the German whispered "Or rather I should say, I&039;lass "The subchasers circled the area in which the boat had gone down, and they began to release their charges Their Asdic and sensor devices had targeted my boat and they hammered at it, hour after hour All this I was forced to observe from the deck of one of the British ships after I&039;d been hauled into a dinghy The sea boiled like a volcanic crater, voht about theto find safety beneath tons of water

"A depth-charge attack is a savage thing, Mr Moore You hear the iron bend under the detonations, and you pray to God it will not bend too much and that the rivets will stay sealed A thread of water bursting through a pin-hole break can cut a reater depths, and a rivet can ricochet like a bullet, pass through flesh and bone andshriek of underwater explosions, the squeal of an iron plate, the sound of the Asdic beaainst the sides of the boat" He shuddered and looked away "But you must not make a sound You must hold back your fear and the screams that threaten to burst from your throat Because if you scream the men with earphones at their stations perhaps three hundred feet above will hear you, and they will send ame, a war of taut nerves, ater becole cry can seal your death warrant

"For two days the British subchasers kept up their attack; they knew they had the boat trapped, and though there were long periods of silence the explosions always resues, then waited for the sound of a cough, or a rattling bucket, or the hissing of breath through clenched teeth, or the shrill screa iron" His eyes ild, and they unnerved Moore "But the U-boat never surfaced There was so to indicate a direct hit From what I could understand the British Asdic had lost the boat, as if it had suddenly vanished, but they were still certain it remained down there Somewhere"

Moore remembered his dive vividly in that ed ree overhead Perhaps the U-boat co the Abyss wall, instead of sinking lower, and then had lodged the sube to hide from the sensors And perhaps at the same instant a crewman had operated a lever that had delivered compressed air to the buoyancy tanks The concussions had caused the ledge to collapse, burying the submarine under tons of sand That would account for its disappearance Then thehour after hour for the air to give out, as the gases and the stench collected and suffocated theh sand had shifted away froe blast, the re compressed air had lifted the U-boat

"In tiave up their hunt I was questioned and put into prison where I remained until the war&039;s end I returned to Ger the streets toleft A lone chi like a facade And across the door, in bright-red paint, someone had scrawled &039;The Schiller Fa away from the other man "They&039;d been killed in an air raid"

"I&039;m sorry"

"No, no It ar, you see" He finished the rulass down "Where is the boat now?"

"In the yard"

Schiller se, isn&039;t it, how the fates work? Perhaps, after all this time, my boat has a destiny still"

"Destiny?" Moore was taken aback by his use of the word "What do you o? Some maritime museum? Or even the British Museum itself? It&039;s a possibility, I would think So my boat is not yet dead after all, is it? Perhaps it will sit in a huge hall of warfare on a linoleureat artillery pieces and even an old, battle-torn Panzer tank Further down the exhibit there will be a shining Spitfire, or perhaps a reconditioned Junkers It will be a place for old lory as they slip toward senility; young people will come too, but they&039;ll fail to understand any of it, and they&039;ll laugh and point and wonder how any of this ancient junk could ever have been useful at all"

"Useful!" Moore snorted

Schiller stared at hiaze Yes, the ht Now it could only be a battered, rusted shade of what it once had been, filled with seawater and ghosts

"In March of 1942," he said, in a voice so low Moore could barely hear him, "it was the ht, after I&039;d been transferred frohts in Kiel harbor where it was moored burned a dim yellow to save power Theover the boat in thick gray strands; the diesels were in operation, their noise echoing across the water, s treh the diesel intakes along the superstructure From where I stood the periscope towers seemed to vanish into the sky; there were h the open forward hatch a coluht, preparing for sea duty I can never forget it, nor do I wish to Yet I suppose now the boat is nothing"

Moore sat there a lass Outside, the clouds were heavy in the early evening sky and lights were coe houses The breeze had quieted, and through the screened door Moore saw a sudden flash on the distant horizon, perhaps heat lightning or a stor across the earth&039;s curve He didn&039;t want darkness to fall tonight If only he could keep the light fro, so he would be reassured of a le&039;s dark folds They were out there; he didn&039;t kno

"I didn&039;t o on about the boat," Schiller said "It&039;s ancient history But, you see, that&039;s all I have left"

"The crew," Moore said suddenly, turning to face the Ger&039;s happened" He stopped, and Schiller leaned forward slightly

"What about the what to say It was madness to think the man would believe him

"You found their remains?" Schiller asked "I&039;m prepared to help with the identification, as much as I can"

The silence stretched between the opposite had never seen that newspaper item, never come to Coquina Finally, he ry I can throw some snapper in a skillet"

"Yes Danke That would be very good"

"Why don&039;t you go on back there," Moore said, "and I&039;ll check on Dr Thornton" When the Gerh the hallway Moore went upstairs and found that Jana was still sleeping Before going to the kitchen he went outside, closing and latching all the shutters He locked the screen door as the darkness rolled slowly across Coquina Then he latched the front door, as if he could hold the night back with a single slab of wood