1 68 AT THE END OF THE SPECTRUM 



a fraction of a minute, which seemed an exceedingly long 

 time to us, it felt as if we had broken loose and were turn- 

 ing over. "We were reassured when we learned that it was 

 the almost synchronous result of a heavy roll on the part 

 of the Freedom. To feel the great steel ball rolling back 

 and forth like a football on its shorter diameter, after its 

 stolid stability at the surface, was too new a sensation to 

 be pleasant. We soon became accustomed to it, however, 

 as it occurred hereafter every two or three minutes. 



The stuffing box was dry, the walls were running with 

 condensation, all other things were as safe as ever. We 

 began speeding the searchlight to 130 volts and exposing 

 film at the window. 



When the darkness closed down on the path of the light 

 again, I saw we were in the midst of a large number of 

 shrimps and almost at once two large fish dashed into the 

 midst of them, rolling them over and over, all these crea- 

 tures and their actions silhouetted only in their own light. 

 One at least of the fish had an isolated light, blue and pale 

 reddish, which kept following it about, and I realized that 

 this was a barbel light, whipping about as the fish turned. 



I tried to hold my breath so as not to fog the glass, I 

 feared so to miss a single moment. The lights continued 

 as abundantly as ever and I recognized Myctophid lan- 

 ternfish and small Cyclothone round-mouths and an occa- 

 sional squid. Either this particular dive passed through 

 areas unusually filled with life, or our nets capture only 

 a tithe of the creatures which they encounter. From 2050 



