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 interfered 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
partially obscured, but darkness was made visible by a row of lanterns
hung at short intervals 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 standing by the
bulwark, 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
subterranean 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
accomplished and the danger past, and the cable was soon running out
from the fore-tank as smoothly as it had run out o