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dining tables,Latin phrases to himself, oblivious to his rapt audience

Pitt and Lily sat in utter silence, careful not to interrupt his thoughts, curiously watching his reactions Redfe a problem into proper perspective He returned to the table and exaain The air fairly crackled with expectancy

Several es on the table with tre hands Then he stared vacantly into the distance, his eyes strangely blurred

Redfeht down to his toenails

"You look like you just found the Holy Grail," said Pitt

"What is it?" asked Lily "What did you find?"

They could barely hear Redfem's answer His head was down

He said, "It's possible, just possible, your chance discovery may unlock the door to the collection of art and literary treasures the world has ever known"

"Now that you have our undivided attention," Pitt said dryly, youyour revelation?"

Redfea is a better definition-is overwhel I can't quite comprehend it all"

Lily asked, "Do the tablets tell why a Graeco-Roman ship sailed far beyond her home waters?"

"Not Graeco-Roman, but Byzantine," Redfem corrected her "When the Serapes sailed the ancient world, the seat of the Empire had been moved by Constantine the Great from Rome to the Bosporus, where the Greek city of Byzantium once stood"

"Which became Constantinople," said Pitt

"And then Istanbul" Redfe you a direct answer But, yes, the tablets reveal how and why the ship ca with 323

Bc, the year Alexander the Great died in Babylon-His eenerals One of theuy, Ptoleet his hands on Alexander's corpse, encasing it in a gold-and-crystal coffin He later enshrined the body in an elegant nificent city around it that surpassed Athens In honor of his for, Ptolemy called it Alexandria"