After a few moments of choking sensation of almost unbearable soli- 

 tude the sense of intrusion upon a world forbidden begins to pass and in its 

 place comes a feeling of complacency. It is almost as if you weren't quite 

 sure but that you really belonged here. Your courage mounts and an urge 

 to explore sweeps over you, so, leaving the descending- line behind, you 

 make your way towards the wreckage on the sandy bottom. Progress is not 

 nearly so rapid as you had supposed it would be. The body seems light 

 and feet have trouble getting proper traction, but by leaning far forward 

 and bending the knees slightly, you move about with reasonable ease. A 

 foggy mist has formed on the face-plate within your helmet, and since it 

 obstructs your vision you clear things up by sending a mouthful of sea- 

 water forcibly against the glass. Perhaps you hadn't realized before, how 

 high the water in the helmet rises. 



Before you lies a great vertical wall of wreckage so covered by algae, 

 sponge, and coral that it bears not the slightest resemblance to any conceiv- 

 able part of a ship. Peering intently through your little window your eyes 

 pass over patches of deep purple, bright red, vivid yellow, orange, lavender, 

 and green — colors so fantastic and irregular that they quite defy description. 



Wait a moment, there was a sudden movement in that patch of heavy 

 algae just in front of you, and a speckled brown something, visible a 

 moment before, has quite disappeared. You become interested and examine 

 the area more closely. Ah, yes, here it is: a large Spondylus, so covered 

 with a coating of algae as to make it undetectable. But for that slight 

 movement, as it snapped its valves together, and the sudden disappearance 

 of its brownish mantle, you would surely have passed it by. You remove 

 it with hammer and crow-bar quite easily but are careful not to injure its 

 long flat spines, for this is a really superb specimen. The Spondylus is so 

 large that it alone would half fill your game-bag so you decide to deposit 

 it on a clear patch of sand, and pick it up later, when you return. Other 

 movements in the thick algae attract your attention and you discover that 

 they are caused by many large Area and Chama, so perfectly concealed as 

 to be otherwise impossible to find. 



A little further along you pause in front of an unusually attractive 

 patch of brain coral. Using the crow-bar you pry off chunks at the edges 

 and search for coral dwelling mollusks, like Coralliophila. As you work, 

 surprising numbers of small fish, the "slippery dicks," appear from nowhere 

 to nibble at the "crumbs" you leave. 



Wandering on, your eye catches flashes of movement as the queer 

 little sea-worms withdraw into their tubes. Their umbrella-like appendages 

 disappear so rapidly as to seem unreal, a mere figment of the imagination. 



Ah, here is something. A gorgeous Pecten nodosus, hanging like a 

 pendant, byssus attached to a bit of old spar. You are careful to grasp the 

 specimen firmly before inserting it into your game-bag for big Pecten are 

 strong swimmers and once one eludes your grip, it is assuredly lost as a 

 collector's item. 



(34) 



