OH, SHOOT! 



and other undesirable neighbors among the 

 mangrove roots. 



Mr. Hyatt's partner leaned over his ma- 

 hogany desk and assured me, quite needlessly, 

 that it was not his idea of a pleasant situation, 

 for the reception committee was grim, hostile, 

 and suspicious. There was an utter absence 

 of those fluent, flattering amenities to which 

 distinguished visitors are accustomed, and the 

 delegation seemed determined upon convinc- 

 ing these interlopers, without loss of time, 

 that the San Bias country had a fatal climate 

 and was no nice place for strangers. Dia- 

 phragm-deep in the slime, Hyatt and his part- 

 ner parleyed. Speech was exchanged. 



"They finally agreed to put us aboard our 

 boat, provided we would go away and never 

 come back,'* the latter told me. "I didn't 

 return, but Hyatt did. He opened the mine, 

 and we're discharging another cargo of man- 

 ganese in Jersey City this afternoon. It's 

 fine stuff, and prices are high." 



As I say, these side-lights on manganese 

 mining came to me later. 



Towards sundown, the Wisdom anchored at 

 Playa Damas, in the roadstead off Nombre de 

 Dios, where Columbus first stepped foot on 



no 



