12 I N A G U A 



dropped lower and lower until the atmosphere was surcharged 

 with cHnging moisture. The breeze died and a fog settled that 

 hid all signs of the shore. Hour after hour we lay motionless or 

 crept slowly down the bay steering by compass alone. On all 

 sides came the throaty whistles of invisible steamers feeHng 

 their way to port or the sound of their bells, strangely muffled, 

 while they waited for the mist to lift. 



Once a tall black gull-spattered buoy loomed out of the fog, 

 towered high above the railing, and then passed on to vanish 

 almost immediately. By its legend we reset our course and then 

 drifted on again into space. Other than this in the whole five 

 days we saw nothing but the still water at the rail and the en- 

 circling wall of swirling mist. 



Down in the cabin we talked awhile, smoked our pipes to 

 dead ashes, and then drifted off to sleep. Sometime after mid- 

 night I stirred in the blankets and awoke. Somehow I had 

 sensed something wrong. Coleman was awake, too. We could 

 hear the noise of waves slapping against the hull but they did 

 not seem to have a proper sound. We went on deck in our 

 pajamas. It was quite black, a darkness relieved only by the dull 

 gleam of the riding light. The fog had lifted but it was so dark 

 we could not see twenty feet away. We then noticed that 

 although the fog was gone the stars were still blotted out. We 

 moved up to the anchor chain, a new one untried. It hung 

 straight down. We hauled on it. It came up— one foot, two, 

 three— and then nothing. It had sheared off just under the 

 waterline. We were adrift somewhere in the Chesapeake. 



Then the storm came. It was preceded by a rush of cold air, 

 a chilling breeze from out of the darkness that dropped again 

 into a dead calm after a brief interval. When it ceased it began 

 to rain and the drops sang on the water. Quickly we worked 

 to get the ship under three reefs. We could not afford to be 

 blown across the Chesapeake and on to a lee shore. That would 



