Since Gris is busy expelling "anything I had eaten in three days!" ...huh, guess Voltarians have infrequent bowel movements. Or maybe Gris is constipated. Anyway, Madison gets to row, because remember, Gris decided that any motor the yacht's crew offered would be sabotaged. The most Gris contributes is attempting and failing to bail out the flooding dingy.
There's dialogue, but it's annoying.
"There's a fast current running here," said Madison above the hiss of the downpour. "Did you see how fast we sped away from the ship? Or maybe it's the wind. No, there isn't any wind. Yes, I think there is some wind. . . ." He was holding up a finger to test it. A wave knocked his hand down. "No, there isn't any wind. It's the waves. Yes, I think it's the wind. . . ."
"Oh, Gods, make up your mind!" I yelled, trying to bail with my straw hat.
"I'm much better with a typewriter," said Madison. "Give me a nonbouncing desk and I could handle this. Eighteen-point quote storm unquote 20-point quote storm subsides unquote 22-point quote Madison saved. . . ."
I think he's implying that he could banish the squall with the power of Public Relations. Remember, this is the supremely valuable asset Gris risked life and limb to bring along.
They eventually spot a nearby island, by the light of "the moon far above this holocaust"... the moon above the storm they're under... And Gris freaks out at the "snarl" [of the surf] and the teeth [also the surf] of the monster he's convinced is after him. He passes out during the landing when he thinks that "the sea had decided to take me off to its cave where it could eat me at leisure."
It's really hard to read this book sometimes.
He wakes up to find that Madison had saved him... accidentally, having dragged the raft ashore and found Gris tangled in a line. They stagger further inland onto what Gris takes as the ruins of the Bronze Age city of Emborios, because Gris knows a lot about ancient Greek archaeological sites. Of course, Emborios is as best I can tell located on the island of Kalymnos, while Gris thinks they're on the island of Chios, so there's a distinct possibility that he's an idiot.
They find a cave full of goats to take shelter in, and there ends the chapter, Part and Gris' voyage. Yes, no more chapters about Gris' uninteresting exploration of foreign countries, no more hashish-fueled sex romps in the yacht's suite with an underage girl.
The bad news is that all those lovely Turkey subplots are about to make their reappearance.
Back to Part Fifty-Eight, Chapter Six
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