- Should it prove the young
cable! We are apparently crossing its path - not the working one,
but the lost child; Mr. Liddell WOULD start the big one first
though it was laid first: he wanted to see the job done, and meant
to leave us to the small one unaided by his presence.
'3.30. - Grapnel caught something, lost it again; it left its marks
on the prongs. Started lifting gear again; and after hauling in
some 50 fathoms - grunt, grunt, grunt - we hear the other cable
slipping down our big one, playing the selfsame tune we heard last
night - louder, however.
'10 P.M. - The pull on the deck engines became harder and harder.
I got steam up in a boiler on deck, and another little engine
starts hauling at the grapnel. I wonder if there ever was such a
scene of confusion: Mr. Liddell and W- and the captain all giving
orders contradictory, &c., on the forecastle; D-, the foreman of
our men, the mates, &c., following the example of our superiors;
the ship's engine and boilers below, a 50-horse engine on deck, a
boiler 14 feet long on deck beside it, a little steam winch tearing
round; a dozen Italians (20 have come to relieve our hands, the men
we telegraphed for to Cagliari) hauling at the rope; wiremen,
sailors, in the crevices left by ropes and machinery; everything
that could swear swearing - I found myself swearing like a trooper
at last.
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