150 RENAISSANCE 



One week later — ^Wednesday, September seventh — 

 every detail of preparation had been completed. Even the 

 solid rubber hose was uncoiled and stretched in great loops 

 on the deck. As the last length was arranged, a gentle 

 breeze ruffled the water. For a time this fluttered, then 

 died down, then rose again. Then it grew steadily stronger, 

 white-caps appeared, and when the Society's launch re- 

 turned to the Biological Station the wind had stiffened to 

 a gale. At night it whistled around the eaves, and before 

 long the sinister, scarlet hurricane warning went up at 

 the Signal Station. 'We locked and bolted doors and win- 

 dows; covered microscopes and valuable specimens in case 

 the roof should go. The Freedom was rushed to the shelter 

 of three great, ancient wrecks, so fixed in the mud of St. 

 Georges harbor that they might well have been part of the 

 limestone cliffs. Here she was anchored in the heart of a 

 spider-web-like maze of ropes and cables, while the bathy- 

 sphere was shifted amidships on her deck and lashed there. 

 The launch, amid a whole fleet of small, cowering craft, 

 was hidden away in Mullet Bay, a tiny, land-locked bit of 

 water, protected by hills on all sides. Then we drew breath, 

 watched the barometer and prayed that the approaching, 

 full-fledged hurricane might change its course and leave 

 us unscathed. 



Time after time throughout the night I rose and forced 

 my way out on the sleeping porch, getting the blast full 

 strength as I faced southwest, and watched the raging 

 ocean which I hoped soon to penetrate. The moon shone 



