20 I N A G U A 



lented and sent aid in the form of a low-hulled Coast Guard 

 vessel. This Coast Guard ship had seen us slowly drifting on 

 the tide and in a spirit of comradeship had come near to in- 

 quire where we were going. We told some uniformed figures 

 on her deck that our landfall was to be San Salvador in the 

 Bahamas, whereupon we could hear the captain say something 

 that sounded like "Holy smokes," could hear the engines re- 

 versed, saw him direct a sailor to pass a line with instructions 

 to make it fast. Wondering, we did as directed, and a moment 

 later were pleased to find ourselves being whisked along at the 

 grand pace of eight knots straight for the open sea. Soon we 

 passed the tall black and white lighthouse at Cape Henry, 

 passed the land's edge and went into the blue. And I suppose 

 those jolly Coast Guardsmen would have towed us further had 

 not the line parted and cast us loose. 



They came on board for a few minutes, examined our papers, 

 found them in good order and wished us pleasant voyage. As 

 they departed they gave us a salvo of whistle blasts and a chorus 

 of good-byes. Then, as if in answer to our prayers, a gentle 

 breeze came up and wafted us into the broad Atlantic. 



Of what took place from the moment of leaving the Coast 

 Guardsmen until about three o'clock the following morning 

 I have little recollection. Much of the events of that afternoon 

 and evening is blotted from my mind and has been recon- 

 structed from Coleman's notes and from what he has told me. 

 It seems that after leaving the Coast Guardsmen we set a course 

 east south east into the open ocean so as to be well clear of the 

 land should the breeze change. We watched the shore slowly 

 fade and in time disappear altogether. And it seems the sun set 

 in a great lowering bank of clouds that hung in dark masses on 

 the horizon. But the northwest wind remained with us and we 

 thought nothing of it. Night came, and the stars that gleamed 

 with it, stars that gleamed with a brightness we had seldom 



