shadow through the air: totality.

2. Telescope 30 seconds.

3. Finder 30 seconds.

4. Double image prism 15 seconds.

5. Naked eye 10 seconds.

6. Finder or binocular 20 seconds.

7. Telescope 20 seconds.

8. Observe retreat of shadow.

In our rehearsals Elliot stood beside me, watch in hand, and
furnished with a lantern. He called out at the end of each interval,
while I moved from telescope to finder, from finder to polariscope,
from polariscope to naked eye, from naked eye back to finder, from
finder to telescope, abandoning the instrument finally to observe the
retreating shadow. All this we went over twenty times, while looking
at the actual sun, and keeping him in the middle of the field. It was
my object to render the repetition of the lesson so mechanical as to
leave no room for flurry, forgetfulness, or excitement. Volition was
not to be called upon, nor judgment exercised, but a well-beaten path
of routine was to be followed. Had the opportunity occurred, I think
the programme would have been strictly carried out.

But the opportunity did not occur. For several days the weather had
been ill-natured. We had wind so strong As to render the hawsers at
the stern of the "Urgent" as rigid as iron, and to destroy the
navigating lieutenant's sleep. We had clouds, a thunder-storm, and
some rain. Still the hope was held out that the atmosphere would
cleanse itself, and if it did we were promised air of extraordinary
limpidity. Early on the 22nd we were all at our posts. Spaces of
blue in the early morning gave us some encouragement, but all depended
on the relation of these spaces to the surrounding clouds. Which of
them were to grow as the day advanced? The wind was high, and to
secure the steadiness of my instrument I was forced to retreat behind
a projection of the bastionet, place stones upon its stand, and,
further, to avail myself of the shelter of a sail. My practised men
fastened the sail at the top, and loaded it with boulders at the
bottom. It was tried severely, but it stood firm.

The clouds and blue spaces fought for a time with varying success. The
sun was bidden and revealed at intervals, hope oscillating in
synchronism with the changes of the sky. At the moment of first
contact a dense cloud intervened; but a minute or two afterwards the
cloud had passed, and the encroachment of the black body of the moon
wa