ally evolved was a poor one in comparison to the splendor 

 of the earher city. 



At last Saturday morning arrived. Ed and Captain 

 Weems hurried to the oflBce of M. LeBon with every ex- 

 pectation of finding a message from Port-au-Prince, giving 

 us permission to start out on our search with Sea Diver. 

 They came back disappointed. Not wishing to waste any 

 more time waiting around, Ed set out with Bill in Reef 

 Diver for a small island in the bay where he could try out 

 the magnetometer equipment, leaving Captain Weems to 

 deal with problems ashore. 



They had no sooner gone than a telegram arrived: 



FOREIGN OFFICE STATES YOUR PRESENCE PORT AU 

 PRINCE NECESSARY. SUGGEST YOU COME MONDAY. 

 AMERICAN EMBASSY. 



Captain Weems and I were appalled. There was no 

 plane to Port-au-Prince until Monday afternoon. Life 

 magazine was sending a photographer and a reporter the 

 first of the week. William and Clayton must return to 

 school the following weekend. And we were committed 

 to leave for the Silver shoals the week after that. Further- 

 more, I knew Ed, never a patient man, would blow his top 

 at this new obstacle to his plans. He would never spend 

 three days of the coming week making a trip to the capital. 



The moment was crucial. Captain Weems set out to 

 find Colonel Chassagne, who, we were told, was the only 

 official in the province with sufficient power to act. Our 

 story interested the colonel to such an extent that he in- 

 sisted upon returning to Sea Diver with the captain. He 

 viewed our equipment with great interest and, before he 

 left, agreed to let us start out the next morning with the 

 understanding that we would return to Cap Haitien and 

 continue our efforts to secure permission from Port-au- 

 Prince on Monday. 



Search for the Santa Maria 175 



