644 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



door in the side ; and through this he finally succeeded in effect- 

 ing an entrance. The noise he made in getting in, it was 

 natural to expect, would arouse the inmates ; but there seemed 

 either to be no inmates to arouse, or those inmates were not 

 easily disturbed. He stopped for a moment to listen, and as he 

 listened he heard the breathing of sleepers in an apartment 

 near him. The door was immediately thrown open, and in 

 a few seconds the sleepers were awake, — wide awake, and 

 opening their eyes wider and wider as the wonderful news fell 

 upon their astonished and delighted ears. They could hardly 

 believe the evidence of their senses, and were bewildered at 

 what they heard. The cable laid, when, but a few short weeks 

 before, they had received the news of disaster and defeat, and 

 they had looked only to the far-distant future for the accom- 

 plishment of the great work ! The cable laid, and they un- 

 conscious of it! — they, who had waited and watched so many 

 weary days and weeks for the ships they had begun to be- 

 lieve would never come! And they were now in the bay, 

 — those same ships, — within a mile of them ! Can they be 

 dreaming? Dreaming! No. What they have heard is true, — 

 all true; and there is the living witness before them. 



" 'What do you want?' was the exclamation of the first who 

 was awakened, as he endeavored to rub the sleep out of his eyes. 



" 'I want you to get up,' said Mr. F ; eld, ' and help us to 

 take the cable ashore.' 



" ' To take the cable ashore ?' re-echoed the others, who were 

 now just awakening, and who heard the words with a dim, 

 dreamy idea of their meaning; 'to take the cable ashore?' 



" 4 Yes,' said Mr. Field; 'and we want you at once.' 



"They were now thoroughly aroused; and, directing Mr. 

 Field to the bedrooms of the other sleepers, — for there were 

 four or five others in the house, — they prepared themselves 

 with all haste to assist in landing the cable. Mr. Field found 

 that the telegraph office would not be open till nine o'clock 



