Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/132

, it was done. Again and again, and over again, were two monster hooks in the shape of grapnels let down to the bottom of the sea, with an iron rope for a line, and the Great Eastern for a float!

The plan, of course, was to go back a few miles on their course and then drag across the known position of the lost treasure.

We say known, because good observations had fortunately been obtained by Captain Anderson just before the accident.

Two hours did the grapnels descend before they reached the bottom of the sea! All night did the cable-layers fish, with the characteristic patience of fishermen, but did not get a nibble. Towards morning, however, there was a decided bite, and the line became taut.

"Got him!" exclaimed an enthusiast eagerly.

"Don't be too sure," replied a philosopher cautiously.

"It may be a bit of wreck," suggested Ebenezer Smith, who was a natural doubter.

"Or a whale, or the great sea-serpent," said the sporting electrician, who was 'everything by turns and nothing long.'

"We shall very soon know," remarked a matter-of-fact engineer. "If it is a loose object the strain will decrease as it nears the surface, but if it be the cable the strain will certainly increase, because its