turned with the welcome news that the colonel was send- 

 ing us a permit at four thirty the next morning, so that we 

 could set out early for the reefs. He told us how, after 

 leaving us at dinner, he and M. Beck had again visited 

 both the prefect and the colonel, but to no avail. He had 

 then phoned the ambassador in Port-au-Prince and learned 

 that the Haitian authorities had promised to send a tele- 

 gram to Army headquarters in Cap Haitien, granting us 

 permission. He and M. Beck had then returned to the 

 colonel's ofiBce, to find that the telegram had been received 

 and filed unbeknown to the colonel. 



The few hours of the night that were left passed very 

 quickly in spite of my discomfort. Before it seemed pos- 

 sible, we were awakened by a car horn and shouts from 

 the shore. Ed hurried on deck, telHng me to stay in bed 

 until we had reached the reefs. 



When I finally came on deck after a painful struggle to 

 get into my clothes. Sea Diver was just being anchored 

 behind the middle reef in a position that would put her as 

 close as possible to the ballast, where we expected to be 

 working. By nine o'clock we had finished breakfast and 

 were gathered on deck, ready to embark on Reef Diver and 

 start our search. We looked toward the reefs, expecting to 

 pick out the location of the ballast without any difficulty. 



Captain Weems and I pointed to a spot on the reef just 

 to our starboard and said, "That's the place." After careful 

 scrutiny, Kemp selected the far end of the reef to our port. 

 Ed sided with him, knowing Kemp's faculty for recogniz- 

 ing almost any spot on the ocean bottom he had seen be- 

 fore. It was decided to search the latter. 



The wind was blowing hard by this time, and, when 

 we approached the reefs, we found the seas were already 

 breaking over them. For more than an hour we searched 

 without seeing a thing. Perhaps we were searching the 



190 Sea Diver 



