he strain on the cable, and we were in
fear that both would break together. Often he had no sleep, except such
as he caught flying on the railway. Indeed, when we remonstrated, he
said he could rest better there than anywhere else, for then he was not
tormented with the thought of any thing undone. For the time being he
could do no more; and then, putting his head in the cushioned corner of
the carriage, he got an hour or two of broken sleep.

"Of this activity we had an instance while in Plymouth. The ships were
then lying in the Sound, only waiting orders from the Admiralty to go to
sea; but some business required one of the directors to go to Paris,
and, as usual, it fell upon him. He left on Sunday night, and went to
Bristol, and thence, by the first morning train, to London. Monday he
was busy all day, and that night went to Paris. Tuesday, another busy
day, and that night back to London. Wednesday, occupied every minute
till the departure of the Great Western train. That night back to
Plymouth. Thursday morning on board the 'Niagara,' and immediately the
squadron sailed."

The plan of operations this time was for the vessels to proceed to a
given point in mid-ocean, and there unite the two ends of the cable,
after which the "Niagara" should proceed toward Newfoundland and the
"Agamemnon" toward Ireland, and it was supposed that each vessel would
make land about the same time. This was believed to be a better plan
than the one pursued in the first expedition.

The squadron sailed from Plymouth on the 10th of June. The weather was
favorable for the first two or three clays of the voyage, but on the
13th a severe gale set in, which lasted for over a week, and came near
causing the "Agamemnon" to founder beneath her immense load, a portion
of which broke loose in her hold. All the vessels succeeded in
weathering the storm, however, and on the 25th reached the rendezvous in
mid-ocean. The next day the splice was made, and the ships set out for
their respective destinations. Before they had gone three miles the
machinery of the "Niagara" caught the cable and broke it. A second
splice was made, but when each ship had paid out about forty miles, the
electric current suddenly ceased. The cable was cut promptly, and the
two vessels at once returned to the rendezvous, where they rejoined each
other on the 28th. A comparison of the logs of the two ships "showed the
painful and mysterious fact that at the same second of time