e wouldn't move at all,
when they tried to launch her; then they had to shove her off sidewise
like a crab; then she lost her rudder in a gale, an' smashed all her
cabin furniture like a bad boy with his toys. Bah! I only hope I may
be there when she bu'sts, for it'll be a grand explosion."

"I'm sorry you have so bad an opinion of her, uncle, for I am appointed
to serve in the Great Eastern while layin' the Atlantic Cable."

"Sorry to hear it, lad; very sorry to hear it. Of course I hope for
your sake that she won't blow up on _this_ voyage, though it's nothin'
more or less than an absurd ship goin' on a wild-goose chase."

"But, uncle, submarine cables have now passed the period of experiment,"
said Robin, coming warmly to the defence of his favourite subject.
"Just consider, from the time the first one was laid, in 1851, between
Dover and Calais, till now, about fifteen years, many thousands of miles
of conducting-wire have been laid along the bottom of the sea to many
parts of the world, and they are in full and successful operation at
this moment. Why, even in 1858, when the first Atlantic Cable was laid,
the Gutta-percha Company had made forty-four submarine cables."

"I know it, lad, but it won't last. It's all sure to bu'st up in course
of time."

"Then, though the attempt to lay the last Atlantic Cable proved a
failure," continued Robin, "the first one, the 1858 one, _was_ a success
at the beginning, no one can deny that."

"Ay, but how long did it last?" demanded the skipper, hitting the table
with his fist.

"Oh, please, have pity on the tea-cups, uncle Rik," cried the hostess.

"Beg pardon, sister, but I can't help getting riled when I hear younkers
talkin' stuff. Why, do you really suppose," said the captain, turning
again to Robin, "that because they managed in '58 to lay a cable across
the Atlantic, and exchange a few messages, which refused to travel after
a few days, that they'll succeed in layin' down a permanent speakin'
trumpet between old England and Noof'nland--2000 miles, more or less--in
spite o' gales an' currents, an' ships' anchors, an' insects, an'
icebergs an' whales, to say nothing o' great sea-sarpints an' such
like?"

"Uncle Rik, I do," said Robin, with intensely earnest eyes and glowing
cheeks.

"Bravo! Robin, you'll do it, I do believe, if it is to be done at all;
give us your hand, lad."

The old sailor's red countenance beamed with a huge smile of kindness as
he s