THE BIG CABLE 125 



— ^not the working one, but the lost child ; Mr. 

 Liddell would start the big one first though it was 

 laid first : he wanted to see the job done, and 

 meant to leave us to the small one unaided by his 

 presence. 



' 3.30. — Grapnel caught something, lost it again ; 

 it left its marks on the prongs. Started lifting gear 

 again ; and after hauling in some 50 fathoms — 

 grunt, grunt, grunt — we hear the other cable 

 shpping down our big one, playing the selfsame 

 tune we heard last night — ^louder however. 



' 10 P.M. — The pull on the deck engines became 

 harder and harder. I got steam up in a boiler on 

 deck, and another little engine starts hauling at 

 the grapnel. I wonder if there ever was such a 



scene of confusion : Mr. Liddell and W and 



the captain all giving orders contradictory, &c., on 



the forecastle ; D , the foreman of our men, 



the mates, &c., following the example of our 

 superiors ; the ship's engine and boilers below, a 

 50-horse engine on deck, a boiler 14 feet long on 

 deck beside it, a little steam winch tearing round ; 

 a dozen Italians (20 have come to relieve our hands, 

 the men we telegraphed for to Cagliari) hauling at 

 the rope ; wiremen, sailors, in the crevices left by 

 ropes and machinery ; everything that could swear 

 swearing — I found myself swearing like a trooper 

 at last. We got the unknown difiiculty within ten 

 fathoms of the surface ; but then the forecastle 



