Measures were at once taken to make a new splice and joint, rejecting the Cable picked up, a good deal of which had been strained in the process. Signals were made to the fleet that the enemy had been detected, at 9 a.m., and the Terrible replied, “I congratulate you.” First a splice was made in the Cable where it had been cut, for the purpose of testing between the after and fore tanks, and all admired the neatness and strength with which it was performed--the conducting wires soldered and lapped over--the gutta percha heated and moulded on the junction; and, finally, the strands carried over the core and secured. During the operation the Hawk returned to Valentia with our letters, and with the good news, which, however, must have been anticipated by the Cable itself. The splice and joint of the end of Cable towards the shore and the end from the after tank was next made. Then these splices were carefully tested and found perfect, and the stream of electricity was once more sent direct to Valentia. After a detention of some twelve hours, the paying-out machinery was again put in action, and the Cable glided out rapidly astern. All seemed to go well. About half a mile of wire had been paid out, when suddenly all communication between the shore and ship ceased altogether! From great contentment there was sudden blank despair! The operators were in consternation. The news spread from end to end of the ship, which again lay in restless quiet on the waters. The faces of the most cheerful became overcast--gloomy forebodings filled men’s minds all at once. Why had the Hawk been sent back? Why were not more tests made before she left? Away worked the electricians in their room, connecting and disconnecting, putting in and taking out stops--intensifying and reducing currents. Not a sign! Not a shadow of a sign! Mr. de Sauty suggested they had got hold of the wrong wires, and professors opined that the operators had done wrong in spending time over the splice between the two tanks at the critical moment when they should have been watching the signals from the shore. Anxious groups gathered round the Testing-Room, and the bolder popped in their heads, as if they could learn anything from the dumb mute wires and the clicking of the chronometers, or from the silent operators who bent over the instruments. At 3·15 p.m. the Cable between the two tanks was again cut, and examination was made to make sure no error had been made in the communications. Again the wearisome energy of the picking-up apparatus was to be called into play--once more the Cable was to be shackled and thrown overboard, and hauled up to the bows and pulled out of the water. Such a Penelope’s web in 24 hours, all out of this single thread, was surely disheartening. The Cable in the fore and the main tanks answered to the tests most perfectly. But that Cable which went seaward was sullen, and broke not its sulky silence. Even the gentle equanimity and confidence of Mr.