CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
THE CABLE LAID.
"I say, Robin," said Samuel Shipton, as he encountered our hero andSlagg that same evening in the streets of Bombay, "the government landtelegraph was reported this morning to have recovered its health."
"Well, what of that?"
"I have taken advantage of the lucid interval to send a telegram touncle Rik. No doubt your father has by this time received the telegramwe sent announcing our safety and arrival here, so this one won't takethem by surprise."
"But what is it about?" asked Robin.
"It is sent," replied Sam, "with the intention of converting uncle Rikinto a thief-catcher. That stupid waiter told me only this morning thatthe time he followed Stumps to the harbour, he overheard a sailorconversing with him and praising a certain tavern named the Tartar, nearLondon Bridge, to which he promised to introduce him on their arrival inEngland; so it struck me that by telegraphing to uncle Rik to find outthe owners of the Fairy Queen and the position of the Tartar, he mightlay hold of Stumps on his arrival and recover our stolen property."
"But I hope he won't put him in limbo, sir," said Jim Slagg. "I've noobjection to recover our property, but somehow I don't like to have thepoor fellow transported. You see I can't help thinkin' he washalf-cracked when he did it."
"He must take his chance, I suppose," said Sam, thoughtfully. "However,the telegram is off, and, if it ever reaches him, uncle Rik will actwith discretion."
"I agree with Jim," said Robin, "and should be sorry to be the means ofruining our old comrade."
"It did not strike me in that light," returned Sam, a little troubled atthe thought. "But it can't be helped now. In any case I suppose hecould not be tried till we appear as witnesses against him."
"I ain't much of a lawyer," said Slagg, "but it do seem to me that theycouldn't very well take him up without some proof that the propertywasn't his."
"It may be so," returned Sam; "we shall see when we get home. Meanwhileit behoves us to square up here, for the Great Eastern starts earlyto-morrow and we must be on board in good time to-night."
Now, you must not imagine, good reader, that we intend to drag you asecond time through all the details of laying a deep-sea cable. Theprocess of laying was much the same in its general principles as thatalready described, but of course marked by all the improvements inmachinery, etcetera, which time and experience had suggested. Moreover,the laying of the Indian cable was eminently, we might almost saymonotonously, successful, and, consequently, devoid of stirringincident. We shall therefore merely touch on one or two features ofinterest connected with it, and then pass on to the more importantincidents of our story.
When Robin and his comrades drew near to the big ship, she wassurrounded by a perfect fleet of native boats, whose owners wereendeavouring to persuade the sailors to purchase bananas and otherfruits and vegetables; paroquets, sticks, monkeys, and fancy wares.
Next morning, the 14th of February 1870, the Great Eastern lifted hermighty anchor, and spliced the end of the 2375 miles of cable she had onboard to the shore-end, which had been laid by the Chiltern. Thissplice was effected in the presence of the Governor of Bombay, SirSeymour Fitzgerald, who, with a small party, accompanied the GreatEastern a short distance on its way. Then, embarking in his yacht, theybade God-speed to the expedition, gave them three ringing cheers, andthe voyage to Aden began.
Soon the cable-layers were gliding merrily over the bright blue sea atthe rate of five or six knots an hour, with the cable going quietly overthe stern, the machinery working smoothly, the electrical condition ofthe cable improving as the sea deepened, and flocks of flying-fishhovering over the crisp and curly waves, as if they were speciallyinterested in the expedition, and wished to bear it company.
All went well, yet were they well prepared for accident or disaster, asSam informed Robin on the morning of the 16th while sitting atbreakfast.
"They have got two gongs, as you've observed, no doubt," he said, "whichare never to be sounded except when mischief is brewing. The firstintimation of fault or disaster will be a note from one of these gongs,when the ship will be instantly stepped, the brakes put on, and theengines reversed."
"Everything is splendidly prepared and provided for," said Robin; "handme the sugar, Sam."
"The elasticity and good behaviour of the big ship are all that could bedesired," remarked one of the engineers, "though she carries 3000 tonsmore dead-weight than when she started with the Atlantic cable in 1865."
At that moment there was a lull of consternation round thebreakfast-table, for a drumming upon metal was heard! For one instantthere was a gaze of doubt round the table. Then they rose _en masse_;cups were upset, and chairs thrown over; the cabin was crossed at racingspeed,--Captain Halpin leading--the stair-case surmounted, and a rushmade to the testing-room.
There all was quiet and orderly; the operators placidly pursuing theirlabours, working out their calculations, or watching the tell-tale spotof light on the scale, and all looking up in silent surprise at thesudden hubbub round their door. It was a false alarm, caused by thesteady dripping of a shower-bath on its metal bottom! That was all, butit was sufficient to prove how intensely men were on the _qui vive_.
It was a wonderful scene, the deck of the Great Eastern--incomprehensible by those who have not seen it. The cabins, offices,workshops, and machinery formed a continuous line of buildings up thecentre of the vessel's deck, dividing it into two streets an eighth of amile long. At the end of one of these were the wheels and drums runningfrom the top of the aft-tank to the stern; and between them and the twothoroughfares were wooden houses which shut them out from view. Therewas a farmyard also, where cattle were regularly turned out forexercise; there were goats which were allowed to go free about thedecks, and chickens which took the liberty of doing so, sometimes,without leave; there were parrots being taken home by the sailors whichshrieked their opinions noisily; and there were numerous monkeys, whichgambolled in mischievous fun, or sat still, the embodiment of ludicrousdespair; while, intermingling with the general noise could be heard therattle of the paying-out wheels, as the cable passed with solemn dignityand unvarying persistency over the stern into the sea, it seemed almostunheeded, so perfect and self-acting was the machinery; but it was,nevertheless, watched by keen sleepless eyes--as the mouse is watched bythe cat--night and day.
The perfection not only achieved but expected, was somewhat absurdlybrought out by the electrician in the cable-house at Bombay, who one daycomplained to the operators on board the Great Eastern that the reply toone of his questions had been from three to twelve seconds late! Itmust be understood, however, that although the testing of the cable wenton continuously during the whole voyage, the sending of messages was notfrequent, as that interfered with the general work. Accordingly,communication with the shore was limited to a daily statement from theship of her position at noon, and to the acknowledgment of the same bythe electrician at Bombay.
One of the greatest dangers in paying-out consists in changing from tankto tank when one is emptied, and a full one has to be commenced. Thiswas always an occasion of great interest and anxiety.
About midnight of the 19th the change to the fore-tank was made, andnearly every soul in the ship turned out to see it. The moon waspartially obscured, but darkness was made visible by a row of lanternshung at short intervals along the trough through which the cable was tobe passed, making the ship look inconceivably long. As Robin Wrighthurried along the deck he observed that both port and starboard watcheswere on duty, hid in the deep shadow of the wheels, or standing by thebulwark, ready for action. Traversing the entire length of the deck--past the houses of the sheep and pigs; past the great life-boats; pastthe half-closed door of the testing-room, where the operators maintainedtheir unceasing watch in a flood of light; past the captain's cabin, aspecies of land-mark or half-way house; past a group of cows and goatslying on the deck chewing the cud peacefully, and past offices anddeck-cabins too
numerous to mention,--he came at last to the fore-tank,which was so full of cable that the hands ready to act, and standing onthe upper coil, had to stoop to save their heads from the deck above.
The after-tank, on the contrary, was by that time a huge yawning pit,twenty-five feet deep, lighted by numerous swinging lamps like asubterranean church, with its hands, like Lilliputians, attending to thelast coil of the cable. That coil or layer was full four miles long,but it would soon run out, therefore all was in readiness. The captainwas giving directions in a low voice, and seeing that every one was inhis place. The chiefs of the engineers and electricians were on thealert. Every few minutes a deep voice from below announced the numberof "turns" before the last one. At last the operation was successfullyaccomplished and the danger past, and the cable was soon running outfrom the fore-tank as smoothly as it had run out of the other.
The tendency of one flake or coil of cable to stick to the coilimmediately below, and produce a wild irremediable entanglement beforethe ship could be stopped, was another danger, but these and all othermishaps of a serious nature were escaped, and the unusually prosperousvoyage was brought to a close on the 27th of February, when the GreatEastern reached Aden in a gale of wind--as if to remind the cable-layersof what _might_ have been--and the cable was cut and buoyed in fortyfathoms water.
The continuation of the cable up the Red Sea, the successful terminationof the great enterprise, and the start of our hero and his companionsfor Old England after their work was done, we must unwillingly leave tothe reader's imagination.