THEGREATREEF 269 



going so with a blowing of bubbles I ducked beneath the hel- 

 met and came up inside. 1 waved my hand in token that I was 

 ready and slid gently down the life line. For a fleeting second 

 there was a glimpse of the palms on shore, a snatch of blue 

 sky and towering clouds, and a deep roar as a huge comber 

 piled up in frothy whiteness on the jagged coral. 



Then utter silence and quiet, a silence that seemed more 

 intense because the only indication of life that came from the 

 upper world was the faint pulse of the air pump that kept 

 me alive. I looked in the direction of the comber breaking 

 on the reef and caught my breath. It had splintered into a 

 million, million bubbles which sprayed downwards in foun- 

 tains of color— greens, reds, blues, all the hues of the spectrum, 

 highlighted by the rays of the sun from the world above. 



For a scant second the bubbles held their position and then 

 raced toward the sky. The bigger bubbles reached the sur- 

 face first and disappeared as through a molten silver wall. 

 Then there was a period of inaction when nearly all the glob- 

 ules had vanished, a momentary quiet when only a few 

 trickles of imprisoned air moved laggardly toward the sur- 

 face. Suddenly without warning, the whole surface broke 

 again, abruptly tearing apart into a chaos of color and driven 

 froth. But the fact that was most astonishing was that there 

 was not a sound, although I knew that only a few feet above 

 the air was filled with a sullen roar. 



Turning, I glanced away from the area of the surf. Above 

 my head was the bottom of the boat, festooned with moss 

 and bits of feathery seaweed. Beside it long shafts of golden 

 sunlight pierced the water, flashed momently and disappeared. 

 All around was a world of lirripid pastel blue, the most ex- 

 quisite hue I have ever seen. I felt drowned in it, as though 

 I were floating in space with pure azure above, below and 

 beneath. Nor was it a depressing blue, but a blue that seemed 



