t makes one laugh to remember
one is still tied to the shore. Click, click, click, the pecker is at
work; I wonder what Herr P---- says to Herr L----; tests, tests,
tests, nothing more. This will be a very anxious day.

"_June 14._

"Another day of fatal inaction.

"_June 15._

"9.30.--The wind has gone down a deal; but even now there are doubts
whether we shall start to-day. When shall I get back to you?

"9 P.M.--Four miles from land. Our run has been successful and
eventless. Now the work is nearly over I feel a little out of
spirits--why, I should be puzzled to say--mere wantonness, or reaction
perhaps after suspense.

"_June 16._

"Up this morning at three, coupled my self-acting gear to the break,
and had the satisfaction of seeing it pay out the last four miles in
very good style. With one or two little improvements, I hope to make
it a capital thing. The end has just gone ashore in two boats, three
out of four wires good. Thus ends our first expedition. By some odd
chance a _Times_ of June the 7th has found its way on board through
the agency of a wretched old peasant who watches the end of the line
here. A long account of breakages in the Atlantic trial trip. To-night
we grapple for the heavy cable, eight tons to the mile. I long to
have a tug at him; he may puzzle me, and though misfortunes or rather
difficulties are a bore at the time, life when working with cables is
tame without them.

"2 P.M.--Hurrah, he is hooked, the big fellow, almost at the first
cast. He hangs under our bows, looking so huge and imposing that I
could find it in my heart to be afraid of him.

"_June 17._

"We went to a little bay called Chia, where a fresh-water stream falls
into the sea, and took in water. This is rather a long operation, so I
went a walk up the valley with Mr. Liddell. The coast here consists of
rocky mountains 800 to 1,000 feet high, covered with shrubs of a
brilliant green. On landing, our first amusement was watching the
hundreds of large fish who lazily swam in shoals about the river; the
big canes on the further side hold numberless tortoises, we are told,
but see none, for just now they prefer taking a siesta. A little
further on, and what is this with large pink flowers in such
abundance?--the oleander in full flower. At first I fear to pluck
them, thinking they must be cultivated and valuable; but soon