Whether it is only an anchor or one of the two
other cables, we know not. We hope it is not the cable just laid
down.
'June 19.
'10 A.M. - All our alarm groundless, it would appear: the odd
noise ceased after a time, and there was no mark sufficiently
strong on the large cable to warrant the suspicion that we had cut
another line through. I stopped up on the look-out till three in
the morning, which made 23 hours between sleep and sleep. One goes
dozing about, though, most of the day, for it is only when
something goes wrong that one has to look alive. Hour after hour,
I stand on the forecastle-head, picking off little specimens of
polypi and coral, or lie on the saloon deck reading back numbers of
the TIMES - till something hitches, and then all is hurly-burly
once more. There are awnings all along the ship, and a most
ancient, fish-like smell beneath.
'1 O'CLOCK. - Suddenly a great strain in only 95 fathoms of water -
belts surging and general dismay; grapnels being thrown out in the
hope of finding what holds the cable.
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