thirty miles of the cable, the rest is in larger coils below decks. Abaft
the mizzen mast is a ponderous mass of machinery for regulating the
paying out of the cable, a steam-engine and boiler complete, and they
have just been testing it to see if all is right, and it is found right.
We have the prospect of a fine moon for our expedition.

"I send you the copy of a prayer that has been read in the churches. I am
rejoiced at the manner in which the Christian community views our
enterprise. It is calculated to inspire my confidence of success. What
the first message will be I cannot say, but if I send it it shall be,
'Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will to men.' 'Not
unto us, not unto us, but to Thy name be all the glory.'"

"_July 29, four o'clock afternoon._ On awaking this morning at five
o'clock with the noise of coming to anchor, I found myself safely
ensconced in one of the most beautiful harbors in the world, with
Queenstown picturesquely rising upon the green hills from the foot of the
bay...."

"_August 1._ When I wrote the finishing sentence of my last letter I was
suffering a little from a slight accident to my leg. We were laying out
the cable from the two ships, the Agamemnon and Niagara, to connect the
two halves of the cable together to experiment through the whole length
of twenty-five hundred miles for the first time. In going down the side
of the Agamemnon I had to cross over several small boats to reach the
outer one, which was to take me on board the tug which had the connecting
cable on board. In stepping from one to the other of the small boats, the
water being very rough and the boats having a good deal of motion, I made
a misstep, my right leg being on board the outer boat, and my left leg
went down between the two boats scraping the skin from the upper part of