HONORS AND REWARDS 167 
so wildly that it seemed to be frightened, and suddenly broke 
away and went down into the sea. 
“This accident kept us at work two weeks longer; but final- 
ly, on the last night of August, we caught it. We had cast the 
grapnel thirty times. It was a little before midnight on Friday 
night that we hooked the cable, and it was a little after mid- 
night Sunday morning that we got it on board. What was the 
the anxiety of those twenty-six hours? The strain on every 
man’s life was like the strain on the cable itself. When final- 
ly it appeared it was midnight; the lights of the ship, and in 
the boats around our bows, as they flashed in the faces of the 
men, showed them eagerly watching for the cable to appear on 
the water. At length it was brought to the surface. All who 
were allowed to approach crowded forward to see it; yet 
not a word was spoken; only the voices of the officers in com- 
mand were heard giving orders. All felt as if life and death 
hung on the issue. It was only when it was brought over the 
bow and on to the deck that men dared to breathe. Even 
then they hardly believed their eyes. Some crept towards it 
to feel of it—to be sure it was there. Then we carried it along 
to the electrician’s room to see if our long-sought treasure 
was alive or dead. A few minutes of suspense and a flash told 
of the lightning current again set free. Then did the feeling, 
long pent up, burst forth. Some turned away their heads and 
wept. Others broke into cheers, and the cry ran from man 
to man and was heard down in the engine-rooms, deck below 
deck, and from the boats on the water and the other ships, 
while rockets lighted up the darkness of the sea. Then with 
thankful hearts we turned our faces again to the west. But 
soon the wind arose, and for thirty-six hours we were exposed 
to all the dangers of a storm on the Atlantic. Yet in the very 
height and fury of the gale, as I sat in the electrician’s room, 
a flash of light came up from the deep which, having crossed 
to Ireland, came back to me in mid-ocean telling that those 
so dear to me were well. 
