not much, and went to bed early; I thought I should never sleep again, but in sheer desperation got up in the middle of the night and gulped a lot of raw whisky, and slept at last. But not long. A Mr. F---- washed my face and hands and dressed me; and we hauled the cable out of the sea, and got it joined to the telegraph station, and on October 3rd telegraphed to Lowestoft first, and then to London. Miss Clara Volkman, a niece of Mr. Reuter's, sent the first message to Mrs. Reuter, who was waiting (Varley used Miss Clara's hand as a kind of key), and I sent one of the first messages to Odden. I thought a message addressed to him would not frighten you, and that he would enjoy a message through papa's cable. I hope he did. They were all very merry, but I had been so lowered by pain that I could not enjoy myself in spite of the success." V Of the 1869 cruise in the _Great Eastern_ I give what I am able; only sorry it is no more, for the sake of the ship itself, already almost a legend even to the generation that saw it launched. "_June 17, 1869._--Here are the names of our staff, in whom I expect you to be interested, as future _Great Eastern_ stories may be full of them; Theophilus Smith, a man of Latimer Clark's; Leslie C. Hill, my prizeman at University College; Lord Sackville Cecil; King, one of the Thomsonian Kings; Laws, goes for Willoughby Smith, who will also be on board; Varley, Clark, and Sir James Anderson, make up the sum of all you know anything of. A Captain Halpin commands the big ship. There are four smaller vessels. The _Wm. Cory_, which laid the Norderney cable, has already gone to St. Pierre to lay the shore-ends. The _Hawk_ and _Chiltern_ have gone to Brest to lay shore-ends. The _Hawk_ and _Scanderia_ go with us across the Atlantic, and we shall at St. Pierre be transhipped into one or the other. "_June 18, somewhere in London._--The shore-end is laid, as you may have seen, and we are all under pressing orders to march, so we start from London to-night at 5.10.