124 MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN 



to come from the large low pulley, but when the 

 engines stopped, the noise continued ; and we now 

 imagine it is something slipping down the cable, 

 and the pulley but acts as sounding-board to the 

 big fiddle. Whether it is only an anchor or one 

 of the two other cables, we know not. We hope it 

 is not the cable just laid down. 



'June 19. 



' 10 A.M. All our alarm groundless, it would 

 appear : the odd noise ceased after a time, and 

 there was no mark sufficiently strong on the large 

 cable to warrant the suspicion that we had cut 

 another line through. I stopped up on the look-out 

 till three in the morning, which made 23 hours 

 between sleep and sleep. One goes dozing about, 

 though, most of the day, for it is only when some- 

 thing goes wrong that one has to look alive. Hour 

 after hour, I stand on the forecastle-head, picking 

 off little specimens of polypi and coral, or lie on the 

 saloon-deck reading back numbers of the Times 

 till something hitches, and then all is hurly-burly 

 once more. There are awnings all along the ship, 

 and a most ancient, fish-like smell beneath. 



4 1 o'Clock. Suddenly a great strain in only 

 95 fathoms of water belts surging and general 

 dismay ; grapnels being thrown out in the hope of 

 finding what holds the cable. Should it prove the 

 young cable ! We are apparently crossing its path 



