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Authors: The Deep [txt]
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that they had returned to the correct spot.
As soon as the anchor had caught in the rocks, they put on their equipment and went overboard.
They swam to a patch of clear sand several yards seaward of the reef, sat on the bottom and peered at the rocks and coral, looking for the cave where the ampule had been found. The sun was almost directly overhead, and its light cut vertical rainbow shafts through the water. Shadows shifted, appearing and disappearing as spots of darkness in the reef. Sanders moved to the right. At the end of his vision, where the blue water darkened and the shapes of rocks grew fuzzy, he saw a shadow that seemed to remain constant. He tapped Gail and pointed to the shadow. She took the flashlight from her weight belt and pressed the switch. A beam of yellow light flashed on the sand.
The cave was much farther to the right than they had thought, but now, clinging to the coral overhang and looking around, they recognized several pieces of wreckage.
They crowded together at the mouth of the dark hole.
Gail swept the flashlight’s beam from left to right.
The cave was only a few feet deep, and it was empty, carpeted with smooth sand. Sanders looked at Gail and shook his head, saying: Nothing here.
Gail handed him the flashlight and pointed to a spot in the sand. There was nothing visible, but as Sanders held the light for her, she waved her hand over the sand, fanning it into a cloud that cut visibility to six inches. She kept fanning in the pool of light, and soon she had made a depression two or three inches deep. She fanned again, and there-at the bottom of the dent in the sand-was a glimmer.
Sanders put his face into the depression andwiththe tips of his fingers brushed sand away from the glint. It was an ampule, filled with a colorless liquid. It might have been empty, except that when he moved it, a bubble shifted within. Gently, he pried it from the sand, passed it to Gail, and backed away from the hole he had made. He pushed sand into the hole until it was level once again, and then placed a rock marker on the spot.
They left the cave and swam along the base of the reef. Now and then, Gail would stop by a rock or timber and flash the light beneath it or fan away the sand beside it. They found nothing.
Gail moved farther along, then stopped to look for Sanders. He was behind her, digging at something in the reef. She swam to him and saw that he was using a rock to break off pieces of coral. Every few seconds he would stop hammering with the rock and would try to fit his hand into a hole. Finally, he managed to squeeze three fingers
into the hole and, using them as tongs, picked out a piece of yellow metal. It was bent and dented, roughly the size of a fifty-cent piece. But as Sanders held it up for Gail to examine with the flashlight, he saw that it was not a coin: there was a concave lip around one edge, as if something had once been held inside. At four points on the lip there were empty pockets, each perhaps a quarter of an inch in diameter. The metal shone brightly, evidently undamaged by corrosion or marine growth.
Sanders turned it over, and in the beam of light he saw the etched letters “E.f.” Holding the ampule in one hand and the piece of metal in the other, he started for the surface.
When they were back in the boat, Sanders said, “I thought for a minute we might have found a gold doubloon.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.” Sanders thought. “Jewelry, I suppose … but Jesus, it’s awful clean to be old. You’d think it would be worn away, or at least covered with something.”
Sanders put the piece of metal aside and looked at the ampule. He held it to the sunlight, and the glass sparkled. “Different color from the other one.”
His eyes focused on the ampule and did not see the figure standing on the Orange Grove cliffs.
It was after six when the Sanderses reached Treece’s house.
Treece came out and gestured for the Sanderses to
As soon as the anchor had caught in the rocks, they put on their equipment and went overboard.
They swam to a patch of clear sand several yards seaward of the reef, sat on the bottom and peered at the rocks and coral, looking for the cave where the ampule had been found. The sun was almost directly overhead, and its light cut vertical rainbow shafts through the water. Shadows shifted, appearing and disappearing as spots of darkness in the reef. Sanders moved to the right. At the end of his vision, where the blue water darkened and the shapes of rocks grew fuzzy, he saw a shadow that seemed to remain constant. He tapped Gail and pointed to the shadow. She took the flashlight from her weight belt and pressed the switch. A beam of yellow light flashed on the sand.
The cave was much farther to the right than they had thought, but now, clinging to the coral overhang and looking around, they recognized several pieces of wreckage.
They crowded together at the mouth of the dark hole.
Gail swept the flashlight’s beam from left to right.
The cave was only a few feet deep, and it was empty, carpeted with smooth sand. Sanders looked at Gail and shook his head, saying: Nothing here.
Gail handed him the flashlight and pointed to a spot in the sand. There was nothing visible, but as Sanders held the light for her, she waved her hand over the sand, fanning it into a cloud that cut visibility to six inches. She kept fanning in the pool of light, and soon she had made a depression two or three inches deep. She fanned again, and there-at the bottom of the dent in the sand-was a glimmer.
Sanders put his face into the depression andwiththe tips of his fingers brushed sand away from the glint. It was an ampule, filled with a colorless liquid. It might have been empty, except that when he moved it, a bubble shifted within. Gently, he pried it from the sand, passed it to Gail, and backed away from the hole he had made. He pushed sand into the hole until it was level once again, and then placed a rock marker on the spot.
They left the cave and swam along the base of the reef. Now and then, Gail would stop by a rock or timber and flash the light beneath it or fan away the sand beside it. They found nothing.
Gail moved farther along, then stopped to look for Sanders. He was behind her, digging at something in the reef. She swam to him and saw that he was using a rock to break off pieces of coral. Every few seconds he would stop hammering with the rock and would try to fit his hand into a hole. Finally, he managed to squeeze three fingers
into the hole and, using them as tongs, picked out a piece of yellow metal. It was bent and dented, roughly the size of a fifty-cent piece. But as Sanders held it up for Gail to examine with the flashlight, he saw that it was not a coin: there was a concave lip around one edge, as if something had once been held inside. At four points on the lip there were empty pockets, each perhaps a quarter of an inch in diameter. The metal shone brightly, evidently undamaged by corrosion or marine growth.
Sanders turned it over, and in the beam of light he saw the etched letters “E.f.” Holding the ampule in one hand and the piece of metal in the other, he started for the surface.
When they were back in the boat, Sanders said, “I thought for a minute we might have found a gold doubloon.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.” Sanders thought. “Jewelry, I suppose … but Jesus, it’s awful clean to be old. You’d think it would be worn away, or at least covered with something.”
Sanders put the piece of metal aside and looked at the ampule. He held it to the sunlight, and the glass sparkled. “Different color from the other one.”
His eyes focused on the ampule and did not see the figure standing on the Orange Grove cliffs.
It was after six when the Sanderses reached Treece’s house.
Treece came out and gestured for the Sanderses to
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