Field became interested in a man who was joining Newfoundland with the mainland by means of a telegraph line. "Why not make a telegraph line to span the Atlantic?" thought Field. He went to work, and put his schemes before Peter Cooper and other generous men. They believed in them. [Sidenote: =Englishmen also approve the plan=] Field next went abroad and laid his plan before a number of Englishmen. He pleaded so eloquently that they, too, were convinced. He returned to America to lay the matter before Congress and ask that body to vote him a sum of money. [Sidenote: =President Pierce signs the bill=] Congress was very slow about it, and the bill did not pass until the last days of that session. President Pierce signed it the last day of his term as president. [Sidenote: =Half a million dollars gone=] Field returned to England and watched over the making of his "cable." In August, 1857, everything was ready. The cable lay coiled on shipboard, ready to be let out in the Atlantic. The great ship started, and everything went well till three hundred thirty-five miles of the cable had been let out, when it broke in two. It was the same as losing half a million dollars. [Illustration: PRESIDENT PIERCE SIGNING THE FIELD BILL] [Sidenote: =A second trial=] [Sidenote: =Breaks again=] Field went back to England and began promptly to prepare for a second trial. He then came to America and made arrangements to use the _Niagara_, a large vessel. The British ship, _Agamemnon_, was also taken to help in this second trial. The ships started in mid-ocean, one going one way and one going the other way. This time only one hundred eleven miles were laid, when the cable again parted. [Sidenote: =A council of war=] Field hastened to London to meet the men who had backed him in his undertaking with their money. It was a council of war after a terrible defeat! But Mr. Field did not believe in surrender, even to the sea. [Sidenote: =Success=] On the seventeenth of July, 1858, the ships again set sail for mid-ocean. They "spliced" the cable, and the _Niagara_ with Mr. Field on board sailed away for Newfoundland. The British ship went the other way. This time they were successful. Both countries were excited. Queen Victoria flashed a message under the sea to President Buchanan. [Sidenote: =A great day in New York=] Great was the rejoicing in New York, the home of Mr. Field. A religious service, expressive of the deep interest of the people in the success of his work, was held in Trinity Church, at which two hundred clergymen in gowns appeared; national salutes were fired, a great procession was formed, an address was made by the mayor of the city and, at a very late hour, a grand banquet was held. While the banquet was going on, the cable gave its last throb, and parted. [Illustration: CYRUS W. FIELD _From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London_] [Sidenote: =The cable parts the third time=]