THE WEB OF ISLAND LIFE 187 



tering of glowing sparks. 



Snuggled behind the rise of a small dune I dropped off to 

 sleep with a feeling of intense satisfaction. My ship was beyond 

 the reach of despoilers. To have her go up in flames was a more 

 fitting end than to lie splintered and crushed on the desolate 

 beach to dissolve slowly of dry rot and decay. The act re- 

 moved the last regret I might have had; from that evening the 

 affair of the wreck became a past event. 



I awakened in the morning feeling better than I had all week; 

 my appetite was enormous and I looked about for something 

 to eat. There was no more corned beef and, although there was 

 nothing else in sight, I was glad of it. Strangely, too, the feeling 

 of loneliness which had begun to creep over me was pushed 

 into the background of my consciousness; the dejection of the 

 night before was all gone. In several ways the burning of the 

 Basilisk marked a turn of events. Most important, the evening's 

 happenings were the climax of physical discomfort occasioned 

 by the misery of the spoonbill swamp and the unaccustomed 

 hardness of a bed on solid ground with no protection from 

 wind and sand, from the glare of sun and the monotony of a 

 slim diet. The days just past served as a conditioning rendered 

 unpleasant by fresh comparison with the comforts and protec- 

 tions of my coral and thatch home. 



The inference of the events leading up to the attainment of 

 the goal of the wreck and the long miles to the Lagoon Chris- 

 tophe is that I would stagger half starved and thirsty, crippled 

 and with swollen feet back to the settlement. Nothincr would 

 be further from the truth. Too many volumes are written pic- 

 turing the islands of the West Indies as savage jungles out of 

 which the explorer staggers half mad. There are few actual 

 jungles anywhere on these islands and there is no excuse for 

 anyone's becoming involved in a near fatal episode. Inagua is 

 by far the wildest island of the entire series and the most deso- 



