Cut one of the strands at a and unlay it to c, then cut one of the strands remaining at c and unlay it to b, laying the strand a up again as far as b; then cut the only remaining strand at b, which will be the centre, when your rope will be in two parts. By following the plan the wrong strand cannot possibly be cut. The rope will now appear as in Fig. 116.
Now marry the long end a to the end b, then lay up the long strand c in the lays of the strand a, and marry it to the other strand b as in Fig. 117.
Take a strand about 10 ft. in length of the same size rope and marry one end to the short strand a as shown above, then fill up the space left from a to c by laying in the new strand, and marry the other end to the short strand c. You will then have four splices to finish off as ordinary long splices (Fig. 118).
