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June 1 -

Up at five, and everything out of the house by six-thirty.  We swallowed a cup of coffee without even sitting down, and got down to the beach at seven, to find that the boatmen had struck and refused to take us out across the bar to the fishing boat unless they got double pay - why I don't know unless that it was raining.  We dashed over to Mr. Hygens, and he succeeded in getting a boat for us, but it meant an hour's delay.

The bar was a little worse than I had seen it before, but we got through the breakers without even being splashed.  But the sea had a heavy swell, and our little cockle shell of a fishing boat rocked so violently that all we could do all day long was sit in one place and hang on for dear life to the nearest ropes.  We were in constant fear for being thrown overboard, [[strikethrough]] and [[/strikethrough]] as the Helene rolled over and touched one gunwale to the water and then the other.  Food for ourselves or the animals was out of the question, and we were certainly glad when we got in that we could still get across the bar, and dock safely.

Bishop Kroll had come down with us and been a delightful companion all day.  We looked for the truck that was to take our animals and baggage out to the plantation, but although there was a sedan for us, there was no transportation for the animals.  Bill felt that we had to stay in town long enough to see Mr. Wharton, so we put the animals in the warehouse, with our three boys left to guard them.  The Bishop insisted that we spend the night with him, so after having William drive us to the Legation (Mr. Wharton was out) we went to the Bishop's house and then sent the sedan back to the plantation with a message to send a truck the following day.

Mrs. Kroll is a charming woman, and made us feel at home immediately, although we both looked and felt like tramps, and after four weeks in the bush we had no clean clothes left.  We had just finished dinner when Mr. Wharton came in, and asked for a private talk with Bill.  We had worried a lot about his letter, and were a little relieved to learn that is was still the German spy story.  It sounds so silly, but the Government is so alarmed by it that our permit may be revoked, and we shall be practically under supervision, unless the President accepts our version of it, and lets it pass.  The reason they are so upset is that they fear the English is Sierra Leone might hear of it, and even granting that the tale is ridiculous and false they might make it an excuse for marching in and taking over Liberia!  Wharton asked us not to spread the story ourselves; it is bound to get out of course in a community as small as this, but he thinks it would be better if it came from some other source than ourselves.  I don't because we are the only ones who know the truth.  One unfortunate by-product of our escapade was that George had been cabling to Wharton about Tate, who is stranded in Cape Palmas; Mr. Wharton went to the Secretary of State to see what could be done for him, and just at that time our adventures were under discussion, and the matter of giving another American scientist permission to travel is the interior was tossed out of the window.

June 2 - This being Sunday I borrowed the Bishop's car to go to Mass - to Bill's great amusement - but the Bishop understood, and said one of his sons had married a Catholic.