Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/91

 cable was spliced to that of the main cable, and the voyage had begun.

The first night had passed quietly, and upwards of eighty miles of the cable had gone out of the aftertank, over the big ship's stern, and down to its ocean bed, when Robin Wright—unable to sleep—quietly slipped into his clothes, and went on deck. It was drawing near to dawn, A knot of electricians and others were chatting in subdued tones about the one subject that filled the minds of all in the ship.

"What! unable to sleep, like the rest of us?" said Ebenezer Smith, accosting Robin as he reached the deck.

"Yes, sir," said Robin, with a sleepy smile, "I 've been thinking of the cable so much that I took to dreaming about it when I fell asleep, and it suddenly turned into the great sea-serpent, and choked me to such an extent that I awoke, and then thought it better to get up and have a look at it."

"Ah! my boy, you are not the only one whom the cable won't let sleep. It will be well looked after during the voyage, for there are two sets of electricians aboard—all of them uncommonly wide awake—one set representing the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, under M. de Sauty; the other set representing the Atlantic Telegraph Company, under Mr. Varley and Professor Thomson. The former are to test the