Unofficial letters of an official's wife [by] Edith Moses.

AN OFFICIAL'S WIFE

warm rain, and the crowd. After getting off the
second time the launch stuck fast in the mud. Time
and again we ran aground, and finally we were
obliged to unload the launch into the already overloaded cutter. We knew the river was full of alligators and this added to our discomfort. It took
us two hours to go about a mile. Finally we reached
the bar and anchored. Here we attempted to attract the attention of the officers of the Sumner by
burning red signal lights. After a time the captain
saw us, and the Sumner turned her searchlight on
the channel so we could see our way out, while she
steamed herself as near shore as she dared. A
second cutter was lowered and met us half way,
but we did not have to use it, for the sea had
suddenly become smooth as so often happens after
dark in the tropics. Had the sea been rough and
breaking on the bar I don't know what would have
happened to us.
DAPITAN, April 8, 90oi.
THIS morning when I awoke we were anchored
in a landlocked bay, like a Swiss Alpine lake,
with a village nestled in the dip of the mountains,
dominated by a great church, built of whitewashed
galvanized iron, but looking like marble in the sunlight. Soon after anchoring the rain came on and
I did not go ashore. They say it is a pretty little
town and in a most satisfactory condition, having
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