torn. Lead ballast was particularly prized in this world of 

 scarce rock and metal, and it was said that several of the 

 boats now carried "lead" ballast in their holds. No doubt by 

 now these vessels were scattered all over the Bahamas. In 

 fact, three of them, we were told, had been sunk in hur- 

 ricanes, two on the shallow banks to the north, and a third 

 on the banks beyond Northwest Channel light. 



It was these tales which had inspired Ed to return to 

 the Bahamas in September with the Widgeon. Kemp had 

 told him that it was then, during the hurricane season, that 

 the owners of the boats pulled them up on shore to re- 

 calk and paint them. Necessarily the ballast was removed 

 and cleaned at the same time. 



Could it be that among the worthless ballast might 

 be some of the "lead" bars from Cay Gorda? Of course Ed 

 realized that at the time Art and Charlie had found the 

 three silver bars, every piece of lead ballast in that section 

 of the Bahamas must have been hopefully scrutinized by 

 its owner. Still he felt it was worth a gamble, for with the 

 plane he could canvass any number of fishing villages in a 

 few days' time. Should a hurricane suddenly materialize, 

 it would be easy to outstrip it and fly to the safety of the 

 mainland. 



This venture yielded a most surprising result. In sev- 

 eral of the villages he was told that an American in a small 

 cruiser had appeared during the hurricane season the pre- 

 vious year on a similar mission. 



We were never able to trace down the story of this 

 American who had preceded us. Because of the strict rules 

 of the Bahamian government on treasure-trove, we felt 

 certain that if any silver had been found, it had been 

 spirited quietly away; for neither the ultimate owner nor 

 the natives who had profited by the transaction would have 

 admitted it and thus been forced to share their gain with 

 the government. This has proved most unfortunate for the 



The Bahama Islands 137 



