ready to communicate
with her, frequent reports were expected from the Master Electrician,
but it would be Sammy who would unlock the cover which had been placed
over the instrument.

Before he retired to his bunk on the first night on board the Dipsey,
Sammy thought it proper to send a message to Mrs. Raleigh. He had not
telegraphed before because he knew that Mr. Clewe would communicate
fully before he left Cape Tariff.

Margaret Raleigh had gone to bed late, and had been lying for an hour
or two unable to sleep, so busy was her mind with the wonderful things
which were happening in the far-away polar regions--strange and awful
things--in which she had such a direct and lively interest. She had
heard, from Roland Clewe, of the successful beginning of the Dipsey's
voyage, and before she had gone to her chamber she had received a last
message from him on leaving Cape Tariff; and now, as she lay there in
her bed, her whole soul was occupied with thoughts of that little party
of people--some of them so well known to her--all of them sent out upon
this perilous and frightful expedition by her consent and assistance,
and now left alone to work their way through the dread and silent waters
that underlie the awful ice regions of the pole. She felt that so long
as she had a mind she could not help thinking of them, and so long as
she thought of them she could not sleep.

Suddenly there was a ring at the door, which made her start and spring
from her bed, and shortly a telegraphic message was brought to her by a
maid. It was from the depths of the Arctic Ocean, and read as follows:

"Getting on very well. No motion. Not cold. Slight rheumatism in Sarah's
shoulder. Wants to know which side of plasters you gave her goes next
skin,

"SAMUEL BLOCK."

An hour afterwards there flashed farther northward than ever current
from a battery had gone before an earnest, cordial, almost affectionate
message from Margaret Raleigh to Sarah Block, and it concluded with the
information that it was the rough side of the plasters which should go
next to the skin. After that Mrs. Raleigh went to bed with a peaceful
mind and slept soundly.

Frequent communications, always of a friendly or domestic nature, passed
between the polar sea and Sardis during the next few days. Mrs. Raleigh
would have telegraphed a good deal more than she did had it not been for
the great expense from Sardis to Cape Tariff, a