with their counterparts as suggested by M orison, Verhoog 

 and ourselves. 



At the start Captain Weems had been quite con- 

 vinced that Verhoog had found the correct solution, Ed 

 and I had at first leaned toward Morison's theory, and 

 later awakened to the possibilities of the Caicos landfall. 

 Pete had remained distinctly neutral, although when Ed 

 had come forth with the idea of the unknown island, 

 thus making it possible to trace Columbus's course by way 

 of Samana, this suggestion had immediately excited his 

 interest. 



Now, with our search at an end, as we set out from 

 our overnight anchorage at Cat island, the four of us 

 gathered in Ed's and my cabin below decks, leaving Kemp 

 and Vital to guide Sea Diver across Exuma sound. The 

 time had come to bring together all the information which 

 we had collected, and, if possible, to produce an answer. 



Once more we went over the entire problem, using 

 Columbus's Journal as our guide. Beginning with the 

 days preceding the landfall, we reread each passage and 

 analyzed it, while I made notes of each person's point of 

 view. We were not satisfied with using one translation, 

 but continually checked with various interpretations as 

 we went along. 



By this time Captain Weems's championship of the 

 Verhoog theory had softened, worn down by point after 

 point of unexplainable differences between it and the 

 original text, Morison's arguments made a better showing, 

 for there were fewer obvious discrepancies, but we found 

 it impossible to reconcile the circumstances surrounding 

 the first landfall with Watling island and its environs. 

 Here, we felt, Verhoog had made a good case for Caicos, 

 which we had strengthened by actual investigation. 



As our discussion proceeded, both Pete and Captain 

 Weems showed an increasing interest in Ed's theory of 



On the Track of Columbus 325 



