1) One of the ringleaders spotted the old man getting into his boat and addressed him aggressively.
‘Where do you think you ‘re going?’
‘I’m going across to collect the doctor,’ he answered.
‘What doctor?’
‘One of the doctors who works over there,’ answered Giorgis.
‘What good can doctors do for lepers?’ the ringleader sneered, playing to the crowd.
As the crowd laughed and jeered, Giorgis pushed his boat away from the quay. His whole body quaked with fear and his hand trembled violently on the tiller. The little boat fought hard against the choppy sea, and never had the journey seemed longer. From some way off he could see the dark silhouette of Kyritsis, and eventually he was bringing the boat close to the stony wall.
The doctor did not bother to tie the boat up, but instead climbed straight in. In the half-light, he could hardly see Giorgi’s face under his hat, but the old man’s voice was unusually audible.
‘Dr kyritsis,’ he almost choked,’there’s a crowd over there. I think they’re planning to attack Spinalonga!’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Hundreds of them have arrived. I don’t know where from, but they’re getting some boats together and they’ve got cans of petrol. They could be on their way any time now.’
2) Feelings among the lepers were as mixed as the feelings of the people about to receive them. Some of the members of the colony dared not admit even to themselves that their departure filled them with as much dread as had their arrival. The island had given them undreamt-of security and many dreaded losing that. Some of the islanders, even though there was not a mark, not a blemish, to indicate that they had been leprous, were full of trepidation that they would never be able to live a normal life.
