Chapter 17
At the c***k of dawn the next morning they boarded a Panamanian cargo ship called Atlantic Gale, which had come in from Panama City and would continue to the port of Tampico in Mexico with stops along the way in Cancun and Veracruz. Dayton had suggested that they disembark in Cancun, buy or rent the first car they could and drive 180 miles overland to Mérida. During the night the weather had grown increasingly bad and was predicted to develop into a tropical storm over the next few days. Their urgency to get to Mérida to intercept Alexander before he could obtain the statue had driven them to seek out any ship still prepared to head North, despite the dire weather predictions. The Atlantic Gale had been the only ship sailing anywhere near Mérida within the next ten days, so the
