brown sea growth which was swept flat by the force of 

 the incommg tide, brown patches of coral sheltered the 

 usual collection of bright-colored fish life. 



I saw a few shapes reminiscent of cannon in the white 

 sand, but always upon closer inspection they proved to be 

 only coral. As I strained my eyes to examine a particularly 

 deceiving one, it unexpectedly disappeared beneath the 

 flapping wings of a huge, breath-takingly beautiful leopard 

 ray. We circled the area again, but where the ray had been 

 there was only coral. No cannon. 



I suddenly became aware of the roar of breakers out- 

 side the cabin. After only one glance from the window at 

 the breaking seas on a nearby reef, I quickly buried my 

 head once more in the well of the glass bottom. The sea 

 might indeed be calmer today, but there was still danger 

 in approaching so close to those breakers. 



Even Ed agreed it was too wild to attempt anchoring 

 or diving upon the bottom. From the direction of the open 

 sea the long waves of the Atlantic continued to assault the 

 reefs with heavy strokes. It was no time to be searching for 

 brass cannon. 



A short time later Ed rose from the bunk opposite me. 

 "There's no use looking any longer," he said. "We'll have 

 to wait until summer, when the weather is more depend- 

 able, so that we can search the bottom with the metal de- 

 tector." 



He reluctantly gave orders to Kemp to turn back, and 

 we headed once more for the anchorage behind Miss 

 Romer cay, where we could safely swing Reef Diver 

 aboard the larger boat. That afternoon we set out for Nas- 

 sau, where we planned to berth Sea Diver until tlie start 

 of our expedition to Haiti early in April. 



156 Sea Diver 



