And, other things being equal, as Jack put it, it was near St. Kitts
that some news might be expected to be had of those for whom the
search was being made.
As the capital, Basseterre, was a town of more than ten thousand
population, it might reasonably be expected that some news of the
foundering of the Ramona would be received there. It was in that
vicinity, as was evident from the rescue of the two sailors, that the
ship had been torn by the wind and waves.
A week was occupied in making the journey to St. Kitts from St.
Croix, a week of cruising back and forth, and of stopping at many
mere dots of islands. Some of these were seen at once to be not
worth searching, since their entire extent could almost be seen at a
single glance. They were merely collections of coral rocks,
submerged at high water. Others were larger, and these were visited
in the small boat which the Tartar carried with her.
It was on some of these trips, over comparatively shallow water, that
the beauties and mysteries of the ocean bottom were made plain to our
friends.
Joe, the engineer, made for them a "water glass," by the simple
process of knocking the bottom out of a pail, and putting in puttied
glass, instead. This, when put into the water, glass side somewhat
below the surface, enabled one to see with startling clearness the
bottom of the ocean, in depths from seventy-five to one hundred feet.
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