2 a.m. when our adventurers came upon the scene. The
trench was cut through ground on which a number of soldiers were
encamped, whose white tents looked ghostlike in the feeble star-light,
and lines of naked natives were seen, waving lanterns, pushing along the
mysterious cable, or, with hands and feet busily pressing down the loose
soil that covered the buried portion.

The whole operation was conducted with a superabundance of noise, for
the burying of a rope in a trench three feet deep was in itself such a
tremendous joke to the coolies, that they entered upon it with much
excitement as a sort of unusual piece of fun. That they were in some
degree also impressed with the mysterious and important object of their
work might have been gathered from their chant:--"Good are the
cable-wallahs, great are their names; good are the cable-wallahs, wah!
wah! wah! great are the cable-wallahs, wah!" which they continued
without intermission all through the night, to their own intense delight
and to the annoyance no doubt of the military unfortunates who were
encamped on the ground.

Besides the naked fellows who, in their excitement and activity,
resembled good-humoured, brown demons, there were many other figures in
English dress moving about, directing and encouraging, running from
point to point, flitting to and fro like wills-o'-the-wisp, for all bore
lights, and plunged ever and anon out of sight in the trench. Between
three and four o'clock the work was completed; tests were taken, the
portion of cable was pronounced perfect, and communication was thus
established between the cable-house and Rampart Row. This was the first
link in the great chain of submarine telegraphy between India and
England.

"Now, Robin," said Sam, with a tremendous yawn, "as we've seen the first
act in the play, it is time, I think, to go home to bed."

With a yawn that rivalled that of his comrade, Robin admitted the
propriety of the proposal, and, half an hour later, they turned in, to
sleep--"perchance to dream!"

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

DESCRIBES SEVERAL IMPORTANT EVENTS.

The laying of this thick shore-end of the cable was an important point
in the great work.

By that time Robin and cousin Sam had been regularly installed as
members of the expedition, and were told off with many others to assist
at the operation.

The Chiltern carried the great coil in her tanks. After rounding Colaba
Point into Back Bay, she found a barge w