beach are
the sun-whitened bones of schooners and ships; and all about them, and
partially covering them, is sand, sand, sand, as white and much coarser
than granulated sugar.

Hazeltine's post-office trip and other errands had taken much more
time than he anticipated, and more than two hours had gone by before
he called for Captain Eri. During the row to the beach the electrician
explained to the Captain the processes by which a break in the cable is
located and repaired.

"You see," he said, "as soon as the line breaks we set about finding
where it is broken. To do this we use an instrument called the
Wheatstone bridge. In this case the break is about six hundred miles
from the American shore. The next thing is to get at the company's
repair ship. She lies, usually, at Halifax when she isn't busy, and
that is where she was this time. We wired her and she left for the spot
immediately. It was up to me to get ready the testing apparatus--we
generally set up special instruments for testing. Judging by the
distance, the ship should have been over the break early this morning.
She will grapple for the broken cable ends, and as soon as she catches
our end she'll send us a message. It's simple enough."

"Like takin' wormwood tea--easy enough if you've been brought up that
way. I think I'd make more money catchin' codfish, myself," commented
the Captain dryly.

Ralph laughed. "Well, it really is a very simple matter," he said. "The
only thing we have to be sure of is that our end of the line is ready
by the time the ship reaches the break. If the weather is bad the
ship can't work, and so, when she does work, she works quick. I had my
instruments in condition yesterday, so we're all right this time."

They landed at the little wharf and plodded through the heavy sand.

"Dismal-looking place, isn't it?" said Hazeltine, as he opened the back
door of the station.

"Well, I don't know; it has its good p'ints," replied his companion.
"Your neighbors' hens don't scratch up your garden, for one thing. What
do you do in here?"

"This is the room where we receive and send. This is the receiver."

The captain noticed with interest the recorder, with its two brass
supports and the little glass tube, half filled with ink, that, when
the cable was working, wrote the messages upon the paper tape traveling
beneath it.

"Pretty nigh as finicky as a watch, ain't it?" he observed.

"Fully as delicate in its way. Do you see this