RENAISSANCE I 5 I 



now and then, but with no comforting, normal moon- 

 hght, and the cedars bent and twisted as the air tore 

 through their branches. 



Back in the room the air screamed and howled past the 

 eaves and before dawn the lightning came, both in thick 

 trunks and branches and in solid sheets. At times it was so 

 continuous that the darkness seemed the less stable and 

 usual phenomenon. Then rain and water in deluges poured 

 down, fountaining through my blinds. So again the re- 

 nascence of the bathysphere was greeted with a terrific 

 conflict of cosmic elements — this time the greatest dan- 

 ger which could possibly attend any attempt at traversing, 

 to say nothing of penetrating, old ocean. 



We heard of great damage done along the eastern coast 

 of the States, and boats came into St. Georges harbor with 

 tales of a dozen cabin passengers injured and lifeboats 

 lost. So we knew how fortunate we had been to have 

 escaped the heart of the hurricane. 



Little by little the surge died down, the surf settled to 

 usual waves and on Monday morning, September twelfth, 

 we gathered all our luggage and put to sea. We passed 

 through Castle Harbor and out past Nonsuch. 



If all the inside history of expeditions could be written 

 there should be no need of parodies. Take, for example, 

 our tug, the Freedom. She had seemed sea-worthy until 

 loaded with coal, water, bathysphere, and heavy winches 

 and wire. Then, three miles from shore in the swell of the 

 open sea, the Captain called me and said he was worried 



