"'What do you want?" was the exclamation of the first who was awakened, as he endeavored to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
"'I want you to get up," said Mr. Field, "and help us to take the cable ashore."
"'To take the cable ashore?" re-echoed the others, who were now just awakening, and who heard the words with a dim, dreamy idea of their meaning; 'to take the cable ashore?'
"'Yes,' said Mr. Field; 'and we want you at once.'
"They were now thoroughly aroused; and, directing Mr. Field to the bedrooms of the other sleepers,—for there were four or five others in the house,—they prepared themselves with all haste to assist in landing the cable. Mr. Field found that the telegraph office would not be open till nine o'clock that morning, and that the operator of the New York, Newfoundland, and London telegraph was absent at the time. He also ascertained that the nearest station at which he could find an operator was fifteen miles distant, and that the only way of getting there was on foot. Now, fifteen miles in Newfoundland is about equal to twice the distance in a civilized country, and is a tolerably long walk; but it was something to be the bearer of such news to a whole continent, and so two of the young men willingly volunteered for the journey, bearing with them, for transmission to New York and the whole United States, the despatch which contained the first announcement of the successful accomplishment of the work."
Upon the eighth day the cable was landed, the ships being dressed with flags in honor of the occasion. Sixty men from the Niagara, and forty from the British ships Gorgon and Porcupine, took part in this task and the attendant ceremonies. "The landing-place for the cable is a very picturesque little beach, on which a wharf has been constructed. A road, about the dimensions of a bridle-path, has been cut through the forest, and up this road, through bog and mire, you find your way to the telegraph station, about half a mile distant. Alongside of this road a trench has been dug for the cable, to preserve it from accidents to which it might otherwise be liable.
"When the boats arrived at the landing, the officers and men jumped ashore, and Mr. North, first lieutenant of the Niagara, presented Captain Hudson with the end of the cable. Captain Otter, of the Porcupine, and Commander Dayman, of the Gorgon, now took hold of it, and, all the officers and men following their example, a procession was formed along the line. The road or path over which we had to take the cable was a most primitive affair. It led up the side of a hill a couple of hundred feet high, and had been cut out of the thick forest of pines and other evergreens. In some places the turf—which is to be found here on the top of the highest mountains—was so soft with recent rains that you would sink to your ankles in it. Well, it was up this road we had to march with the cable; and a splendid time we had. It was but reasonable to suppose that the three captains who headed the procession would certainly pick out the best parts and give us the advantage of the stepping-stones; but it appeared all the same to them; and they plunged into the boggiest and dirtiest parts with a recklessness and indifference that satisfied us they were about the worst pilots we could have had on land, despite their well-known abilities as navigators.
"This memorable procession started at a quarter to six o'clock, and arrived at the telegraph station about twenty minutes after. The ascent of the hill was the worst part of the journey; but when we got to the top the scene which opened before us would have repaid us for a journey of twenty miles over a still worse road. There beneath us lay the harbor, shut in by mountains, except at the entrance from Trinity Bay; and there, too, lay the steamers of the two greatest maritime nations of the world. On every side lies an unbroken wilderness, and, if we except the telegraph station, at which we will soon arrive, not a single habitation to tell that man has ever lived here.
"Never was such a remarkable scene presented since the world began. Even now, at the very point of its realization, it does not seem as if the work in which we have been engaged has been accomplished. The continuity, however, without which the cable would be utterly valueless, is as perfect now as it ever was. Mr. Laws and Mr. De Santy, the two chief electricians who have accompanied us from England, have 'tasted' the current, and about a dozen others at the head of the procession have done the same thing. The writer himself is a witness on this point, and will never forget the singular acid taste which it had. Some received a pretty strong shock,—so strong that they willingly resigned the chance of repeating the experiment.
"On the arrival of the procession the cable is brought up to the house and the end placed in connection with the instrument. The deflection of the needle on the galvanometer gives incontrovertible evidence that the electrical condition of the cable is satisfactory. The question now is, How shall we properly celebrate the consummation of the great event? How, but by an acknowledgment to that Providence without whose favor the enterprise must have ended in disaster and defeat? Captain Hudson took up his position on a pile of boards, the officers and men standing round amid shavings, stumps of trees, pieces of broken furniture, sheets of copper, telegraph-batteries, little mounds of lime and mortar, branches of trees, huge boulders, and a long catalogue of other things equally incongruous.