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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
281
CHAPTER
XVI.
VICTORY
AT
LAST.
In
these
pages
we
have
led
our
readers
through
twelve
long
years,
and
have
had
to
tell
many
a
tale
of
disaster
and
defeat.
It
is
now
our
privilege
to
tell
of
triumphant
success.
Victory
has
come
at
last,
but
not
by
the
chance
of
fortune,
but
by
the
utmost
efforts
of
man,
by
the
union
of
science
and
skill
with
indomitable
perseverance.
The
failure
of
the
last
year
was
a
sad
disappointment;
but
so
far
from
damping
the
courage
of
those
embarked
in
the
enterprise,
it
only
roused
them
to
a
more
gigantic
effort.
They
were
now
to
prepare
for
a
fifth
expedition.
In
this
they
set
themselves
to
anticipate
every
possible
emergency,
and
to
combine
the
elements
of
success
so
as
to
render
failure
impossible.
The
Great
Eastern
herself,
which
they
had
come
to
regard
with
a
kind
of
fondness,
a
feeling
of
affection
and
pride,
as
the
ark
that
was
to
bear
their
fortunes
across
the
deep,
was
made
ready
for
her
crowning
achievement.
For
months
Captain
Anderson
and
Mr.
Halpin,
his
chief
officer,
worked
day
and
night
to
get
her
into
perfect
trim.
She
had
become
sadly
fouled
in
her
many
voyages.
As
she
swam
the
seas,
a
thousand
things
clung
to
her
as
to
a
floating
island,
till
her
hull
was
encrusted
with
mussels
and
barnacles
two
feet
thick,
and
long
seaweed
flaunted
from
her
sides.
Like
a
brave
old
war-horse,
long
neglected,
she
needed
a
thorough
grooming,
to
have
her
hair
combed
and
her
limbs
well
rubbed
down,
to
fit
her
to
take
the
field.
But
it
was
not
an
easy
matter
to
get
under
the
huge
creature,
to
give
her
such
a
dressing.
Yet
Captain
Anderson
was
equal
to
the
emergency.
He
contrived
a
simple
instrument
by
which
every
part
of
her
bottom
was
raked
and
scrubbed.
Getting
rid
of
this
rough,
shapeless
mass
would
make
her
feel
easy
and
comfortable
at
sea,
and
add
at
least
a
knot
an
hour
to
her
speed.
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