"INAGUA IS A QUEER LITTLE ISLAND" 71 



up with a note reminding us that Mr. Richardson was waiting 

 and that dinner was ready. Following the servant we entered a 

 large house near the waterfront and ascended a flight of rickety 

 stairs. We were ushered into a dim Victorian parlor from 

 which we could look down on the beach and the blue water 

 beyond. Here we waited for what seemed an interminable time 

 before the curtains at the far end of the room parted and our 

 host appeared. 



He led us into another room and introduced us to his wife, 

 a rather sweet-faced colored woman with graying hair who 

 wore an expression of indefinable weariness almost in keeping 

 with the feeling of sadness suggested by the desolate streets 

 outside. Her expression was heightened by vivid contrast with 

 the heavy features of Richardson. His lips were thick and 

 pendulous and the flesh hung loosely about his jaws. Alcoholic 

 dissipation showed plainly in deep rings under his eyes which 

 were bloodshot and veined. He was not a pretty creature. But 

 he seemed affable enough and motioned us to a table laden with 

 dishes of green okra, peas and rice, and a meat which he told 

 us was wild beef from the interior. 



Dinner was not a success. Neither Coleman nor I were in 

 any mood for conversation and with the passing moments we 

 mistrusted our host more. It soon became evident that the in- 

 vitation was not prompted by any spirit of friendliness but for 

 the sole purpose of ascertaining our position and the value of 

 our wreckage. The picture that Richardson unfolded was any- 

 thing but encouraging. We were told of a long list of ships 

 that had come to grief on the reefs of Inagua, of how only the 

 year before a big f ourmaster had piled up on the rocks beyond 

 Man-of-War Bay and of how out of all the salvaged wreckage 

 the captain was only able to reahze a mere two hundred and 

 fifty dollars, enough to secure his passage home. The crew 

 were picked up and returned by passing steamers. He, Rich- 



