I must be forc’d to say somewhat of Margarites [i.e. pearls] themselves, and I am affraid I shall rather be struck with the deepest amazement and confusion, than be able to expresse their unspeakable worth and preciosity.

What a curious kind of a fool a girl is! Never been licked in school! Shucks! What's a licking! That's just like a girl -- they're so thin-skinned and chicken-hearted. […]

Jimmy says it’s hard to tell what she’d be after. He did think at the first go off that it might be cockles; but it’s not, for he took her to Carribee strand, where there’s plenty of them, and the devil a one she’d pick up.

Much conjecture has arisen about the reasons for the misdrop. The pilots had been given plenty of flying time to become familiar with the C-46, but the opportunities to fly in tight formation were somewhat lacking. This may well have been one of the reasons for the milling about as the aircraft approached the Rhine.