Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/60

 in the universe! It was almost too much for him. He thirsted for sympathy. He wanted to let off his feelings in a cheer, but life in a lunatic asylum presented itself, and he refrained. There was a rough-looking sailor lad about his own age, but much bigger, on the seat opposite (it was a third class). He thought of pouring out his feelings on him—but prudence prevented. There is no saying what might have been the result, figuratively speaking, to his boiler if the sailor lad had not of his own accord opened a safety-valve.

"You seems pretty bobbish this morning, young feller," he said, after contemplating his vis-à-vis for a long time in critical silence. "Bin an' took too much, eh?"

"I beg your pardon," said Robin, somewhat puzzled.

"You 're pritty considerable jolly, I say," returned the lad, who had an honest, ugly face, and was somewhat blunt and gruff in manner.

"I am indeed very jolly," said Robin, with a bland smile, "for I 'm going to help to lay the great Atlantic Cable."

"Wot 's that you say?" demanded the lad, with sudden animation.

Robin repeated his remark.

""Well, now, that is a go! Why, I 'm goin' to help lay the great Atlantic Cable too. I 'm one o'