The insulation tests showed an improvement, and the transmission of signals between the ship and the shore afforded most satisfactory indications. At night the wind came round to the north-west, the sea somewhat decreased, and as evening closed in, the Terrible drew up on our beam, working two boilers; but when night fell, the Sphinx was scarcely visible on the distant horizon. [Illustration: E. Walker, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons. Limited, Lith. VIEW (LOOKING AFT) FROM THE PORT PADDLE BOX OF GREAT EASTERN SHOWING THE TROUGH FOR CABLE &c.] [Illustration: G. McCulloch, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. THE FORGE ON DECK. NIGHT OF AUGUST 9TH PREPARING THE IRON PLATING FOR CAPSTAN.] _July 27th._--Morning broke on a bright bounding sea and clear blue sky. From the Testing-Room came gratifying reports of the improved insulation of the Cable, which had been caused by the immersion of the Cable in colder water. We were now approaching an undulation in the bed of the Atlantic in which the soundings decreased rather abruptly from 2,100 to 1,529 fathoms. The engineers were perfectly satisfied with the manner in which the machinery was working, and the mode in which the Cable ran out. The complete success of the enterprise, after this fair start, appeared to be a matter beyond doubt. The fore tank was now got ready for the paying-out of the Cable as soon as the coils in the after tank should be exhausted, and the framework for the crinoline was erected over the hatchway. At noon, our position by observation was Lat. 52° 34´ 30´´, Long. 19° 0´ 30´´, distance run 141 miles, distance from Valentia 320 miles, Cable paid out 158 miles. The Terrible was on our port beam at some distance, but the Sphinx was nowhere visible, although our speed had not much exceeded 6 knots an hour. There was in the universal benevolence of the moment a feeling of sympathy for our lagging guardians. The conviction grew that the work was nearly accomplished. Some were planning out journeys through the United States, others speculated on the probability of sport in Newfoundland: the date of our arrival was already determined upon. The sound of the piano, a tribute to our own contentment, rose from the saloon, and now and then the notes of a violin became entwined in the melodious labyrinth through which the amateur professors wandered with uncertain fingers. The artists sketched vigorously. Men stretched their legs lustily along the decks, or penetrated, with easy curiosity for the first time into the recesses of the Leviathan that bore them. None of them indeed found out the hiding-place of the ghost who haunts the ship; but they discovered crypts under the tanks, and meandered and crept about the shafts and boilers of the tremendous gloominess--vast and dark as the Halls of Eblis. The ghost on board the Great Eastern, to which I have alluded, is believed to be the disembodied essence of a poor plate-riveter, who