2IO I N A G U A 



more equipment. Winding down to the beach again I sat down 

 on the sand to watch the setting of the sun. The trade winds 

 had slackened and a great mound of clouds were piled high in 

 the direction of Cuba. They were rain cumulus and I hoped 

 they would spread, because it had not rained for many weeks 

 and my water supply was getting low. Presently the light be- 

 gan to turn yellow, then orange and a deep hush settled over 

 the world. The pelicans stopped their fishing, the wind fell 

 almost to a calm, the grasshoppers ceased their chirping, only 

 the lapping of the waves broke the quiet. 



The tide had fallen and near the top of the beach lay a long 

 pile of seaweed that had been washed ashore and was strewn 

 in narrow arcs as far as the eye could see. The sun turned 

 cherry red, then became elliptical, and in an angry blaze settled 

 behind the clouds, sending a momentary flash of green light 

 before it disappeared. This green luminescence was almost a 

 nightly occurrence and lasted for fifty or sixty seconds at the 

 exact moment of the sun's sinking. Shortly after the sky became 

 gray and then purplish. 



Then in the darkness, from the piles of seaweed at my side 

 came a faint rustling, like the swishing of fine silk. As I listened 

 the sound became stronger, reached its maximum and con- 

 tinued steadily. I lit a match and looked downwards. There on 

 the beach were hundreds upon hundreds of beach hoppers, 

 little translucent crustaceans a half inch or so in length. They 

 were hopping and jumping over the sand in a frenzy. It was 

 the combined scrapings and bumpings of millions of these crea- 

 tures that blended to make the rustling. Where were they a 

 bare fifteen minutes ago? What brought these myriads of crus- 

 taceans climbing upwards through the damp clinging sand at 

 the exact moment of nightfall? What invisible crustacean time 

 signal told them their hour of activity was at hand down in 

 the wet and the dark? Yet there they were, swarming where 



