disappeared in some aperture of the nascent ship, never to be seen of mortal eye again, and who was supposed to have been riveted up by the hammers of preparation so closely that not even his spirit could escape. And so it, or he, is heard at all hours, with ghostly hammer, tap-tap-tapping on the iron walls of his prison as incessant as that cruel Raven, even through the clangour of donkey-engines and the crash of matter. There was now and then a slight indication of unsteadiness, which made one uncertain whether the wine was very strong or the Great Eastern unusually frolicsome; but, as a matter of fact and truth, not a man aboard could imagine as he sat in the grand saloon that he was at sea at all. Every hour on board the ship increased our regard for all her qualities, except her capacity of making noise and producing smoke, but both of these were tokens and necessary conditions of her high working energies. _July 28th._--A night more of joyous progress--all going on most successfully--not a hitch in Cable, machinery, or ship. It was worth while to go aft and look at the Cable as, every inch scanned by watchful eyes, and noted in books, it flew through the whole apparatus of jockeys and drums and dynamometers, and then in a gentle curve skimmed the surface of the ocean more than 200 feet astern ere it went “plump, plunging down amid the assembly of the whales.” Our course was N.W. ½ W., and the wind at W.N.W., not too strong, was just what we desired. The Terrible kept on our port beam. The Sphinx was not to be seen. Our position at noon was Lat. 52° 45´, Long. 23° 18´ 4´´ (another reading gave 23° 15´ 45´´), distance run since yesterday 155½ miles, Cable paid out 174 miles. Distance from Valentia 474 miles; distance from Heart’s Content 1,188·5 miles. The water was supposed to vary from 1,529 to 1950 fathoms in depth. There was something almost monotonous in our success; no ships to be seen, only our severe-looking consort, with her black hull and two funnels and paddle-boxes, on the round blue shield of which the Great Eastern was the boss. Even the sea-birds had begun to leave us, and a whale and a few porpoises which revealed their beauties to a favoured few were regarded as an envied treat. As the departure of the Sphinx had left one flank open, and that the most vulnerable, the Great Eastern signalled to the Terrible to prevent any vessel from the N.W. crossing our course, and soon afterwards the man-of-war steamed and took up her station on our starboard quarter, where she remained throughout the day and night. There was a sense of companionship in seeing her near us.