78 I N A G U A 



It was about the size of a small pea. We could have it for $35. 



Coleman laughed. 



"Mister," he said, "that's a very pretty bauble, but if ham- 

 burgers were selling for a nickel a dozen I couldn't even pay 

 for the steam to cook them." 



D'arvril appeared mystified at the word "hamburgers"— and 

 disappointedly wrapped up his pearl again. It was a pretty 

 thing, all pink with the delicate conch hue and waves of scarlet 

 light moved across its roundness. He explained that they came 

 from the conch shells which were fished up beyond the reefs. 

 But we were in no position to buy pearls. I had about twenty 

 dollars in my pocket, Coleman had even less. All our traveler's 

 checks had been ruined in the wreck and there was no place 

 on Inagua to cash them even if they were available. We had no 

 idea where supper was coming from, nor where we were going 

 to sleep. So the Inagua pearl market went begging. 



D'arvril, no longer interested, dropped behind and in a few 

 minutes we were free of the houses. It was a very tiny town, 

 a forlorn little place, sleeping out the hours in decaying somno- 

 lence, a desert island settlement that was rapidly returning to 

 the soil from which it had sprung. We were glad to be clear 

 of it and with quickened pace headed up the coast. 



In a short time the beach gave way to a beetling wall of cliff, 

 a frowning mound of brown coral against which the surf splin- 

 tered and thundered in a thousand frothy fragments. With a 

 rush and a roar the great mounds of indigo water came swelling 

 in, rose mightily, mounted higher and higher and then with a 

 crash poured over the rocks. Brilliant sunUght caught the tum- 

 bled water, vividly lighted it and dissolved again in liquid blue, 

 a shimmering blueness that went down, down into the depths. 

 It was so ahve, so clean and free, in such contrast to the sadness 

 and decay of the town that we caught our breaths and sUd 

 prone on the rocks just out of reach of the foam. 



