"Don't get excited," said Garza seriously. "Sam fabricated what you see here and probably aged them with acid and the sun."
..He didn't fabricate them," Sandecker said flatly.
Garza regarded him with skeptical interest. "How can you say that, Admiral? There's no record of pre-Columbian contact in the gulf."
"There is now."
That's news to me."
"'The event occurred in the year A.D. 391," explained Pitt. "A fleet of ships ed up the Rio Grande to where Roma now stands. Somewhere, in one of the hills behind town, Roman mercenaries, their slaves and Egyptian scholars buried a vast collection of artifacts from the Alexandria Library in Egypt '
"I knew it!" burst Sam Trinity from the open doorway. He was so excited he almost dropped the tray of glasses and pitcher he was carrying. "By glory, I knew it! The Romans really walked the soil of Texas."
"You've been right, Sam," said Sandecker, "and your doubters wrong."
I-All these years no one believed me," Sam muttered dazedly. "Even after they read the stone, they accused me of chiseling the inscription myself."
"Stone, what stone?" Pitt asked sharply.
"The one standing over in the corner. I had it translated at Texas A and M, but all they told me was, 'Nice job, Sam. Your Latin ain't half bad." They've kidded me for years for dreaming up a firstrate fish story."
"Is there a copy of the translated message?" asked Lily' re, on the wall. I had it typed and hung in a glassed frame. I cut off the part where they panned it."
Lily peered at the wording and read it aloud as the others crowded around her.
"This stone marks the way to where I ordered buried the works from the great Hall of the Muses.
"I escaped the slaughter of our fleet by the barban'ans and made my way south, where I was accepted by a primitive pyramid people as a sage and a prophet.
"I have taught them what I know of the stars and science, but they put little of my teachings to practical use. They prefer to worship pagan gods and follow ignorant priests' demands for human sacrifice.
"Sevenyearshavepassedsincemy arrival. My return here is filled with sorrow at the sight of the bones of my former comrades. I have seen to their burial. My ship is ready and I shall soon set sail for Rome.
"If Theodosius still lives I shall be executed but accept the risk gladly to see my family one last time.
"To those who read this, should I perish, the entrance to the storage chamber is buried under the hill. Stand north and look straight south to the liver cliff."
Junius Venator 10 August 398
"So Venator survived the massacre only to die seven years later on the return voyage to Rome," said Pitt.
"Or perhaps he made it and was executed without talking," added Sandecker.
"No, Theodosius died in 395," said Lily in wonder. .,To think the message was here all this time and ignored as a counterfeit. "
Trinity's eyebrows lifted. "You know this Venator guy?"
"We've been tracking him," admitted Pitt.
"Have you searched for the chamber?" Sandecker asked.
Trinity nodded. "Dug all over these hills, but found nuthin' but what you see here."
"How deep?"
"Used a backhoe about ten years ago. Made a pit six meters down, but only found that sandal over there in the case,"
"Could you show us the site where you discovered the stone and other artifacts?" Pitt asked him.