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France who was the first on the scene and the first to make an offer. A refusal to sell to him prohibited a sale to anyone else. Consequently, any sale that had been entered into under these conditions was null in his eyes and in the eyes of any reasonable judge. He concluded by reminding the primates that he could even use arms to enforce the sale to France. He had fifty trained men aboard his warship.
    Then Marcellus bluffed. Before leaving Constantinople, he had obtained several letters of introduction, including one from the patriarch of the Greek church. He now displayed all the letters ostentatiously and read the one from the patriarch aloud. Unfortunately, as Marcellus was well aware, the letter contained only vague recommendations and said nothing specific at all about the case at hand. He hoped simple bombast would carry the day, but it didn’t.
    The primates began talking privately. Their discussions seemed to go on and on. Marcellus made a show of not listening.At last the primates announced to Marcellus that Oconomos would never give up the statue now that he had it. Furthermore, the dragoman had ordered Oconomos to bring the statue to him in Constantinople. Those were facts the primates could not ignore.
    By now it was late in the afternoon. As the primates began to leave, Marcellus insisted that they come to see him the next day. He sadly took the road to the port, but as soon as he was back aboard the
Estafette
, he was seized by an idea: He would go see the Venus. Robert the Devil prepared a lifeboat, and with seamen at the oars, Marcellus and several officers—most likely including Voutier—set off across the bay toward the Russian boat.
    In the middle of their passage there was still enough light in the day for Marcellus to see a rider galloping across the beach toward the point of the bay closest to the Russian ship. It was Oconomos. He was signaling the Russian captain to keep the French from coming aboard his ship and seeing the statue. In response, the captain had armed his sailors. Marcellus and his companions on the lifeboat found themselves well within rifle range and exposed to possible fire.
    The Russian captain, however, had second thoughts about firing on an unarmed French boat. The next French vessel to approach him would not be so defenseless. He sent a dingy out to make his apologies, although he still declined to take Marcellus on board. With that Marcellus gave up. He returned to the
Estafette
feeling that he had attempted to accomplish two things that day—to win over the primates and to see the statue—without the least result.
    Still he refused to be discouraged. He even had a favorable presentiment about the outcome, especially after the goddess Venus appeared to him that night in a dream. He awoke the next day full of energy. Once again he climbed the hill to Castro, arriving there early in the morning, and immediately resumed his negotiations.
    The situation had changed. The primates came to tell Marcellus that after long discussions they had decided the statue didn’t belong to any single owner. As a group the entire community would send it directly to the dragoman rather than entrust it to Oconomos.
    Marcellus regarded the primates’ resolution as their first concession. He told them gently that he was pleased to deal with a fair community that respected France rather than with a single individual whose conduct did not inspire any confidence. Then he reminded them of how little use such a present would be in gaining the dragoman’s favor. The Turks had an aversion to representations of the human form, especially for those that had been mutilated. He assured them that the dragoman would never be able to repair the damage done to the statue by time, the excavation, and the sea passage, whereas it
could
be repaired at the royal museum in Paris. Considering all that, Marcellus concluded, wouldn’t it be better to sell the statue to him?
    Marcellus continued to talk in a patient