144 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
telegraph to St. John’s to engage a ship to repair the short 
cable between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, which had 
been broken by an anchor. England knew all about the suc- 
cess of the expedition. America as yet knew nothing. Even 
the Newfoundlanders scarcely realized that a tremendous vic- 
tory had been won. They were pleased at the excitement, but 
somewhat phlegmatic as to its meaning. 
Field had tried, months before, to persuade the New York, 
Newfoundland & London Telegraph Company to repair its 
cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence and to put into good 
condition its four-hundred-mile line across Newfoundland, 
which was ten years old. But the directors hesitated to spend 
money until the cable had been successfully laid. Their 
hopes had been disappointed before, and they had become 
cautious. They could scarcely be blamed for such an attitude. 
Field’s impatience was now intense. The news of the cable- 
laying had to be sent by boat to Nova Scotia; another vessel 
was dispatched to fish up and splice the short cable. New York 
did not receive the glad tidings until Sunday morning—two 
days after the landing at Heart’s Content. 
Field’s family, who were up the Hudson near Newburgh, 
saw the river dayboat decorated with flags as they came from 
church, and heard the glad news that “the cable has been 
laid!” Telegrams from Field came to his wife and the press. 
The telegram to Mrs. Field included the sentence, ‘““Now we 
shall be a united family.” For twelve years the head of the 
family had been going and coming under a strain—at times 
ridiculed by associates. The family’s fortune had been linked 
precariously with the success of this strange wire at the bot- 
tom of the ocean. Now better days were coming! 
When the reports of success had spread to the world, Field 
began to receive messages of congratulation. One came from 
San Francisco almost at the same instant as one from the 
French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was in Egypt. 
Of this coincidence, Henry Field wrote: “What a meeting 
