Trinidad 321 



On the morning of the following day the Captain kindly 

 undertook to get into wireless communication with 

 Georgetown, the capital of British Guiana, and we 

 learned that the people of the United States of North 

 America had settled matters very much in the same 

 way we had, revealing the fact that the company on 

 board who claimed American citizenship quite fairly 

 represented the general sentiment of the nation. 



On November loth it was announced that, if all 

 went well, we would early on the morrow reach Port of 

 Spain. About ten o'clock at night I noticed great 

 banks of clouds to the south and west in which lightning 

 was playing. While I was watching these one of the 

 officers came to. the rail and stood and chatted with me 

 for a while. He told me that about midnight we ought 

 to "pick up' the light at the eastern end of the island 

 of Trinidad. I resolved not to turn in until I had seen 

 it. After a while the thunderstorm in the west died 

 down and the lightning ceased to flash. The sky was 

 very dark and overhung with low clouds. A little 

 before twelve on the under surface of the clouds I saw a 

 faint glow, which instantly vanished. I felt that it 

 could not have been caused by a flash of lightning, 

 because it was too faint and not widely enough diffused. 

 I fixed my eyes upon the spot and saw that the faint 

 glow was repeated. "That is no doubt the reflection of 

 the flash-light of the beacon on the lower surface of the 

 clouds," I said to myself. I was so sleepy by this time 

 that I resolved to accept the reflection for the substance, 

 and gave up my vigil and went below. Next morning 

 the Captain told me at breakfast that for a long time 

 before the light itself became visible, they had seen its 

 reflection in the sky above the spot where it finally 

 came into view. 



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