ed by those on board. Mr. Field, Professor Morse,
and several other officers of the company were on board the "Niagara,"
as that ship was to conduct the first part of the sinking of the cable.

At length all was in readiness. The shore end of the cable was landed
and made fast on Wednesday afternoon, the 5th of August, and the next
morning the fleet stood out to sea. "Before they had gone five miles the
heavy shore end of the cable caught in the machinery and parted. The
'Niagara' put back, and the cable was 'underrun' the whole distance. At
length the end was lifted out of the water and spliced to the gigantic
coil, and as it dropped safely to the bottom of the sea, the mighty ship
began to stir. At first she moved very slowly, not more than two miles
an hour, to avoid the danger of accident; but the feeling that they are
at last away is itself a relief. The ships are all in sight, and so near
that they can hear each other's bells. The 'Niagara,' as if knowing that
she is bound for the land out of whose forests she came, bends her head
to the waves, as her prow is turned toward her native shores.

"Slowly passed the hours of that day. But all went well, and the ships
were moving out into the broad Atlantic. At length the sun went down in
the west, and stars came out on the face of the deep. But no man slept.
A thousand eyes were watching a great experiment, as those who have a
personal interest in the issue. All through that night, and through the
anxious days and nights that followed, there was a feeling in every soul
on board as if a friend in the cabin were at the turning-point of life
or death, and they were watching beside him. There was a strange,
unnatural silence in the ship. Men paced the deck with soft and muffled
tread, speaking only in whispers, as if a loud voice or a heavy footfall
might snap the vital cord. So much had they grown to feel for the
enterprise, that the cable seemed to them like a human creature, on
whose fate they hung, as if it were to decide their own destiny.

"There are some who will never forget that first night at sea. Perhaps
the reaction from the excitement on shore made the impression the
deeper. What strange thoughts came to them as they stood on the deck and
watched that mysterious cord disappearing in the darkness, and gliding
to its ocean bed! There are certain moments in life when every thing
comes back upon us--when the events of years seem crowded into an hour.
What memorie