CHAPTER XII

ALONG THE CORAL STRAND Cuba is called the “pearl of the Antilles”; but almost every island of all the varied groups making up the West Indies is a gem in calm weather. As the _Marybell_, her exhaust now never missing a pop, sailed among the palm-set islands and low, barren keys of the Bahamas, the view the party obtained of near and distant broken bits of coral strand and rocky reef, with here and there a swaying cluster of palms, was entrancing. The island Mr. Hooley, with the camera men’s aid, had selected, on wh…