[ If anyone was surprised that he was here, they must not know him well enough.
The custom was only vaguely familiar to him, and he had to watch what others had done, but he got the grasp quickly enough.
Even though all he wrote down were names, there were a lot of them, so he had tied up a large number of small sheets. Several for his family, and more for the crew of the Ptolemy that he left behind.
Now he stood at the water's edge, looking down at the waves as the cold water lapped over his bare feet from time to time. ]