Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/129

 men expressed satisfaction when the last fault occurred, an' I've heard say that we 've got enemies to the makers o' the cable aboard."

The man thus darkly referred to, whoever he was, of course looked as innocent and as indignant as the most virtuous among them; the guilt, therefore, could not be brought home to him. Woe betide him if it had been, for there was a serious talk of lynching some one among the wrathful men, each of whom was now subject to suspicion.

In these trying circumstances, the chief engineer accepted an offer made by the gentlemen in the ship, to take turn about in superintending the men at work in the tank paying out the cable.

"It's not pleasant, of course," replied one of the men, speaking for the rest, "but we feel it to be justifiable, as well as necessary, and are very glad the plan has been adopted."

Once more the big ship went merrily on her way, and the great cable went down to its ocean bed so smoothly and regularly, that men began to talk of speedy arrival at Heart's Content—their destination in Newfoundland—which was now only about 600 miles distant; but their greatest troubles still lay before them. About eight o'clock in the morning of 2d August another bad fault was reported, and they had once again to resort to the wearisome process of picking up.