ON THE DAY they launched Brotherly Love, the whole village accom­panied them on the long descent to the bay. At the head of the procession, a step ahead of his two sons, walked Andonis. Behind them swayed Brotherly Love, balanced on a horse drawn cart. Roosters crowed, donkeys bleated, goats watched from the mountain sides, a band of children tagged along, and villagers waved from the balconies of homes that lined the way.

The brothers had built the boat in the katoi, the cellar beneath the patriar­chal house. Manoli was 17 years old, Andreas 15. They cut the cypress on full-moon nights, for this, according to their mentors, was when the sap was most alive. They watched the boat builders of Vathy and Lefkada, and returned to the katoi to emulate what they had seen.