AN ISLAND EXISTENCE 75 



inbreeding of races, the accidents of miscegenation, which 

 were revealed by their features. Pale blue eyes peered out of 

 faces that were unmistakably negroid, blonde hair with an irre- 

 pressible frizzy kink betrayed countenances that were English 

 with thin English noses; British freckles fought for dominance 

 with the pigment of old Africa; African lips hung thickly from 

 light-hued Anglo-Saxon cheeks. 



But it was not the racial mixture alone that caught the eye. 

 There was no laughter in the faces, a certain light seemed to 

 have gone out of them, some inner substance missing, leaving 

 them lackluster and wan. There was even an air of sullenness, a 

 sense of frustration expressed in the curve of eyes and the 

 droop of mouths. 



The idlers made way and we crossed the threshold of a long 

 narrow room. At the far end was a small door through which 

 gleamed the intense blue of the ocean beyond. Even as we 

 looked a mound of surf curled up, broke, and slid on the beach 

 in a layer of gleaming foam. We turned and glanced about. 

 Beneath a British Colonial flag on a judicial bench sat a spot- 

 lessly attired colored man. His features were smooth, straight, 

 a not unhandsome person. About his face hovered the trace of 

 a half-amused, half-supercilious smile which, as the minutes 

 passed, rarely changed. Next to him stood a middle-aged Negro 

 resplendent in uniform of red and blue trimmed in gold braid. 

 We were waved to a seat between several Inaguans. 



"Are you ready. Captain?" 



I replied that I was quite ready but would like to know with 

 what we were charged. 



We were informed that we had landed on British Colonial 

 Territory without proper entry and that it was necessary to 

 hold an inquest over the "tragedy of the shipwreck." I assured 

 the Negro that the "tragedy of the shipwreck" was not of our 

 choice and that we had not made improper entry into His 



