CHAPTER X 



CORAL JUNGLES OF SEA-COW REEF 



Early on a Wednesday in March I prepared for 

 an exploring visit to Lamentin Reef, but as I 

 went down the gangway I found that I could see 

 the bottom of the bay in our new anchorage, sixty 

 feet beneath the schooner. It was a faint reflection 

 and no clear details were visible. I decided to 

 make a record dive and improve on my descent 

 of forty feet in the Galapagos. 



A rope, with a weight on the end, was lowered 

 from the gangway platform, and with two lengths 

 of hose joined together and a husky man at the 

 pump, I was helmed and slid slowly down the line. 

 The great hull of the Lieutenant curving away into 

 dimness was all covered with a dense growth of 

 sea-weed and various reef animals. A great school 

 of Aurelia jellies brushed slowly past, but as the 

 hull faded to a dull shadow I fixed my mind on 

 the mass of water below. At my last upward 

 glance, part of the black shadow swerved outward 

 toward me, detaching itself and fashioning into a 

 twenty-five foot shark. To be sure, when I 

 scrummaged into a ball on my slender rope and 

 looked carefully, the oncoming selacian dwindled 



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