ALMOST ISLAND 



less. So far, however, I have been attacked only by 

 inchling demoiselles, when I have perched too near 

 their chosen domicile, although sergeant majors 

 now and then harmlessly nip at ankle or elbow. I 

 shall write nothing in detail about so-called man- 

 eaters and others; suffice it to say that I and my 

 associates go down month after month, scores of 

 times, and are too much enthralled by the interest 

 and beauty and the never-ending strangeness of it 

 all to give a thought to possible dangers. 



Dangers, that is, from the creatures of the sea. 

 Mechanical hazards are different. With unrelaxed 

 vigilance we watch each diver and apparatus, and it 

 is seldom that anything goes wrong. Once an inex- 

 perienced person in the helmet snagged the hose be- 

 hind a projecting branch of coral, and, thinking 

 that the tightening of the hose was the push of the 

 tide, fought back to the ladder. There was fortu- 

 nately sufficient length to allow an approach to 

 within three feet of the surface, when we were able 

 to reach the helmet. If this had not been possible, 

 one of us would have dived and pulled off the hel- 

 met in mid-water, forcing the diver to swim to the 

 surface. 



Two or three times in spite of our care one of the 

 leading ropes of the launch^ has become untied or 

 broken. Instantly three sharp jerks on the hose tell 

 that something is wrong. The last time this hap- 

 pened I was perched twelve feet up on the reef edge. 

 I jumped to the open sand and saw the launch drift- 

 ing rapidly over the reef, the ladder already hung 



49 



