“I say, Robin1,” said Samuel Shipton, as he encountered our hero and Slagg that same evening in the streets of Bombay, “the government land telegraph was reported this morning to have recovered its health.”
“Well, what of that?”
“I have taken advantage of the lucid2 interval3 to send a telegram to uncle Rik. No doubt your father has by this time received the telegram we sent announcing our safety and arrival here, so this one won’t take them by surprise.”
“But what is it about?” asked Robin.
“It is sent,” replied Sam, “with the intention of converting uncle Rik into a thief-catcher. That stupid waiter told me only this morning that the time he followed Stumps4 to the harbour, he overheard a sailor conversing5 with him and praising a certain tavern6 named the Tartar, near London Bridge, to which he promised to introduce him on their arrival in England; so it struck me that by telegraphing to uncle Rik to find out the owners of the Fairy Queen and the position of the Tartar, he might lay hold of Stumps on his arrival and recover our stolen property.”
“But I hope he won’t put him in limbo7, sir,” said Jim Slagg. “I’ve no objection to recover our property, but somehow I don’t like to have the poor fellow transported. You see I can’t help thinkin’ he was half-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 act with discretion8.”
“I agree with Jim,” said Robin, “and should be sorry to be the means of ruining our old comrade.”
“It did not strike me in that light,” returned Sam, a little troubled at the thought. “But it can’t be helped now. In any case I suppose he could 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 they couldn’t very well take him up without some proof that the property wasn’t his.”
“It may be so,” returned Sam; “we shall see when we get home. Meanwhile it behoves us to square up here, for the Great Eastern starts early to-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 a second time through all the details of laying a deep-sea cable. The process of laying was much the same in its general principles as that already described, but of course marked by all the improvements in machinery9, etcetera, which time and experience had suggested. Moreover, the laying of the Indian cable was eminently10, we might almost say monotonously11, successful, and, consequently, devoid12 of stirring incident. We shall therefore merely touch on one or two features of interest connected with it, and then pass on to the more important incidents of our story.
When Robin and his comrades drew near to the big ship, she was surrounded by a perfect fleet of native boats, whose owners were endeavouring to persuade the sailors to purchase bananas and other fruits and vegetables; paroquets, sticks, monkeys, and fancy wares13.
Next morning, the 14th of February 1870, the Great Eastern lifted her mighty14 anchor, and spliced15 the end of the 2375 miles of cable she had on board to the shore-end, which had been laid by the Chiltern. This splice16 was effected in the presence of the Governor of Bombay, Sir Seymour Fitzgerald, who, with a small party, accompanied the Great Eastern a short distance on its way. Then, embarking17 in his yacht, they bade God-speed to the expedition, gave them three ringing cheers, and the voyage to Aden began.
Soon the cable-layers were gliding18 merrily over the bright blue sea at the rate of five or six knots an hour, with the cable going quietly over the stern, the machinery working smoothly19, the electrical condition of the cable improving as the sea deepened, and flocks of flying-fish hovering20 over the crisp and curly waves, as if they were specially21 interested in the expedition, and wished to bear it company.
All went well, yet were they well prepared for accident or disaster, as Sam informed Robin on the morning of the 16th while sitting at breakfast.
“They have got two gongs, as you’ve observed, no doubt,” he said, “which are never to be sounded except when mischief22 is brewing23. The first intimation 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 the engines reversed.”
“Everything is splendidly prepared and provided for,” said Robin; “hand me the sugar, Sam.”
“The elasticity24 and good behaviour of the big ship are all that could be desired,” remarked one of the engineers, “though she carries 3000 tons more dead-weight than when she started with the Atlantic cable in 1865.”
At that moment there was a lull25 of consternation26 round the breakfast-table, for a drumming upon metal was heard! For one instant there 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 racing27 speed,—Captain Halpin leading—the stair-case surmounted28, and a rush made to the testing-room.
There all was quiet and orderly; the operators placidly29 pursuing their labours, working out their calculations, or watching the tell-tale spot of light on the scale, and all looking up in silent surprise at the sudden hubbub30 round their door. It was a false alarm, caused by the steady dripping of a shower-bath on its metal bottom! That was all, but it 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 the centre of the vessel’s deck, dividing it into two streets an eighth of a mile long. At the end of one of these were the wheels and drums running from the top of the aft-tank to the stern; and between them and the two thoroughfares were wooden houses which shut them out from view. There was a farmyard also, where cattle were regularly turned out for exercise; there were goats which were allowed to go free about the decks, and chickens which took the liberty of doing so, sometimes, without leave; there were parrots being taken home by the sailors which shrieked31 their opinions noisily; and there were numerous monkeys, which gambolled32 in mischievous33 fun, or sat still, the embodiment of ludicrous despair; while, intermingling with the general noise could be heard the rattle34 of the paying-out wheels, as the cable passed with solemn dignity and unvarying persistency35 over the stern into the sea, it seemed almost unheeded, so perfect and self-acting was the machinery; but it was, nevertheless, watched by keen sleepless36 eyes—as the mouse is watched by the cat—night and day.
The perfection not only achieved but expected, was somewhat absurdly brought out by the electrician in the cable-house at Bombay, who one day complained to the operators on board the Great Eastern that the reply to one of his questions had been from three to twelve seconds late! It must be understood, however, that although the testing of the cable went on continuously during the whole voyage, the sending of messages was not frequent, as that interfered37 with the general work. Accordingly, communication with the shore was limited to a daily statement from the ship of her position at noon, and to the acknowledgment of the same by the electrician at Bombay.
One of the greatest dangers in paying-out consists in changing from tank to tank when one is emptied, and a full one has to be commenced. This was always an occasion of great interest and anxiety.
About midnight of the 19th the change to the fore-tank was made, and nearly every soul in the ship turned out to see it. The moon was partially38 obscured, but darkness was made visible by a row of lanterns hung at short intervals39 along the trough through which the cable was to be passed, making the ship look inconceivably long. As Robin Wright hurried along the deck he observed that both port and starboard watches were on duty, hid in the deep shadow of the wheels, or standing40 by the bulwark41, ready for action. Traversing the entire length of the deck—past the houses of the sheep and pigs; past the great life-boats; past the half-closed door of the testing-room, where the operators maintained their unceasing watch in a flood of light; past the captain’s cabin, a species of land-mark or half-way house; past a group of cows and goats lying on the deck chewing the cud peacefully, and past offices and deck-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 on the 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 a subterranean42 church, with its hands, like Lilliputians, attending to the last 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 captain was giving directions in a low voice, and seeing that every one was in his place. The chiefs of the engineers and electricians were on the alert. Every few minutes a deep voice from below announced the number of “turns” before the last one. At last the operation was successfully accomplished43 and the danger past, and the cable was soon running out from the fore-tank as smoothly as it had run out of the other.
The tendency of one flake44 or coil of cable to stick to the coil immediately below, and produce a wild irremediable entanglement45 before the ship could be stopped, was another danger, but these and all other mishaps46 of a serious nature were escaped, and the unusually prosperous voyage was brought to a close on the 27th of February, when the Great Eastern reached Aden in a gale47 of wind—as if to remind the cable-layers of what might have been—and the cable was cut and buoyed48 in forty fathoms49 water.
The continuation of the cable up the Red Sea, the successful termination of the great enterprise, and the start of our hero and his companions for Old England after their work was done, we must unwillingly50 leave to the reader’s imagination.
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1
robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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lucid
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| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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limbo
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| n.地狱的边缘；监狱 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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monotonously
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| adv.单调地，无变化地 | |
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devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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spliced
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| adj.（针织品）加固的n.叠接v.绞接( splice的过去式和过去分词 )；捻接（两段绳子）；胶接；粘接（胶片、磁带等） | |
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splice
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| v.接合，衔接；n.胶接处，粘接处 | |
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embarking
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| 乘船( embark的现在分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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brewing
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| n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式 | |
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elasticity
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| n.弹性，伸缩力 | |
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lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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28
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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gambolled
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| v.蹦跳，跳跃，嬉戏( gambol的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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40
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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bulwark
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| n.堡垒，保障，防御 | |
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subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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43
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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44
flake
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| v.使成薄片；雪片般落下；n.薄片 | |
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entanglement
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| n.纠缠，牵累 | |
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46
mishaps
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| n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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47
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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48
buoyed
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| v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神 | |
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49
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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50
unwillingly
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| adv.不情愿地 | |
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