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       Our Heroes moved to the Pera Palace Hotel and continued to rest and investigate. We learned that the ancient Hittite city of Ugarit, located on the Syrian coast near Latakia, was destroyed in 1170 BC by people who came through a "portal". Other portals exist(ed) at Atlantis, Ephesus, Tibet, Giza ...

      Lenny received a new (old-fashioned, damascus steel) sword from the Knights of the Defenders of Truth, and spent a lot of his free time at their small monastery, training.

      Miss Worthington tried treating the lingering symptoms of Major DeLacy's "African rabies". About now he received news of his promotion to Major.

      While McCracken, Barnato, DeLacy, Davis, Enwright, Cullin and Lennie were walking to the monastery one day, they were attacked by a dozen thugs just before the entrance. The thugs were driven off, but Lennie was wounded by gunfire. Major Delacy did something ... eerie ... to one of the wounded attackers, which upset Prof. Enwright somewhat. At the monastery, Lennie's wounds were treated, and the monks examined some of Our Heroes for "otherworldly taints."

      French archaeologists are investigating Ugarit; so we made plans to visit that site. We sailed on the SS Zaafaran of the Khedivial Mail Line, departing Constantinople on 4 September 1933.

      Heavy storms built over the next two days; and, early in the morning of 7 September, the ship sank! Possibly due to an attack of some sort ... in any case, the passengers and crew took to the lifeboats. When dawn came, the weather had abated, but only two of the lifeboats were visible. The boat with Miss Worthington, Mrs. Cullin, and Vinnie was one of the missing. A passing freighter picked up the survivors, and in the evening arrived in Beirut. Major Delacy was told by the British consul that at least three other ships had been lost in the eastern Mediterranean in the prior month!

      The next day, Mr. McCracken hired a couple of small seaplanes, and Our Heroes were flown out to the area where the Zaafaran went down. One empty lifeboat was spotted; we landed near it and found one of Mrs. Cullin's hats tied to a thwart. Also spotted, leaving the area, was a small old warship (of the Arquebuse destroyer class, built before the Great War for the French Navy), with a somewhat piratical looking crew and flying no flag! The seaplanes returned to Beirut.

      About 11 am on 10 September Our Heroes took off again, this time in a larger chartered seaplane -- a Breguet Calcutta. We flew again to the location where the Zaafaran was lost, and then began searching towards the southwest -- the direction which the torpedo boat was travelling. Many hours later, as we approached the African coast near the Egyptian-Libyan border, we witnessed a furious naval battle in the early evening, apparently between Italian and "pirate" ships and planes. Low on fuel, our plane proceeded to Alexandria.

      Major Delacy alerted the authorities to the buccaneering shenanigans apparently going on; and by the middle of the next day (11 September) Our Heroes took off again, to see what had happened at the battle.

      Only debris and signs of a sunken ship remained in the sea where the fight had been; but, while flying along the coast looking for the combatants, we spotted some torpedo boats under an overhanging rock-and-camouflage shelter on the Libyan coast. The shelter is on a bluff, below the ruins of a medieval fortress. Our Heroes landed the seaplane several miles away and proceeded on foot to the fort, arriving after dark.

      Sneaking into the modern bunkers below the ancient fort, we found a hive of activity -- thugs of many nations, mostly speaking French, busily preparing to abandon and destroy their piratical base! We learned that the "useless or difficult" prisoners were being loaded aboard a trawler to be scuttled at sea; and, proceeding to the sheltered harbor, stole the trawler and headed out to sea. Vinne and Mrs. Cullin were among the rescued prisoners -- they said Miss Worthington had escaped before they'd arrived at the base. A couple of hours later, a bright flash from the shore signalled the destruction of the piratical base; soon after, we met the destroyer HMS Arrow and were taken aboard.

      We were returned to Alexandria by 13 September, 1933. The Italian press has reported that their naval and military forces have just suppressed a coup in Libya, supported by French mercenaries. Major Delacy got the credit for leading a group of determined civilians in rescuing captives from ... well, I'm not sure how the world press viewed the pirates. Miss Worthington turns up on Cyprus, having swum to shore after escaping from the raiders! Over the next week, the British and Italians investigated the base wreckage, and sent divers down to the sunken freighter -- the ship contained lots of advanced (but still vacuum-tube based) electronics. None of the other pirate destroyers, trawlers, or aircraft had been located. A couple of prisoners, captured by Our Heroes during the rescue mission, provided little information -- they claimed to work for "some guy" and that the other bases were "secret".

      Many questions remained:  what was Msr. Boulle's connection to the pirates? Why were they taking captives from ships? How were they sinking ships? Where were their other bases? Was there a portal at Ugarit? What cult or organization did the "rock jewelry" attackers in Constantinople belong to? Was this sign actually on the walls of the secret base?

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