Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/539

Rh though they have raided the stations on several occasions and killed the officers, they have never disturbed the wires. While we were building the line we gave every native who visited us an electric shock, and it seriously affected their nerves, and also their imaginations. Once we had two of the most important chiefs at points more than a hundred miles apart; we carried on conversations for them for two or three hours, and then had them meet half way between the stations and compare notes. To say they were awe-struck would be expressing it mildly; they were fairly paralyzed with astonishment."

"How far apart are the stations?"

"The distances vary according to water and other conditions. Some of the stations are more than a hundred miles from their neighbors on either side, and at every station there are two operators and four line-repairers. When a break occurs a repair party starts from the station on each side, and travels along the line, testing it every twenty or thirty miles until the fault has been found and communication restored. Then the parties return to their own stations, generally without seeing each other."

"How do you carry supplies through this desert?" inquired Fred.

"We use camels, which were first introduced from Afghanistan by