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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
42
But
nothing
daunted,
the
new
Company
undertook
the
great
work
with
spirit
and
resolution.
Gisborne
had
made
a
beginning,
and
got
some
thirty
or
forty
miles
out
of
St.
John's.
This
was
the
easiest
part
of
the
whole
route,
being
in
the
most
inhabited
region
of
the
island.
But
here
he
broke
down,
just
where
it
was
necessary
to
leave
civilization
behind,
and
to
plunge
into
the
wilderness.
Intending
to
resume
the
work
on
a
much
larger
scale,
Mr.
White,
the
Vice-President,
was
sent
down
to
St.
John's
to
be
the
General
Agent
of
the
Company;
while
Mr.
Matthew
D.
Field,
as
a
practical
engineer,
was
to
have
charge
of
the
construction
of
the
line.
The
latter
soon
organized
a
force
of
six
hundred
men,
which
he
pushed
forward
in
detachments
to
the
scene
of
operations.
And
now
began
to
appear
still
more
the
difficulties
of
the
way.
To
provide
subsistence
for
man
and
beast,
it
was
necessary
to
keep
near
the
coast,
for
all
supplies
had
to
be
sent
round
by
sea.
Yet
in
following
the
coast
line,
they
had
to
wind
around
bays,
or
to
climb
over
headlands.
If
they
struck
into
the
interior,
they
had
to
cut
their
way
through
the
dense
and
tangled
wood.
There
was
not
a
path
to
guide
them,
not
even
an
Indian
trail.
When
lost
in
the
forest,
they
had
to
follow
the
compass,
as
much
as
the
mariner
at
sea.
To
keep
such
a
force
in
the
field,
that,
like
an
army,
produced
nothing,
but
consumed
fearfully,
required
constant
attention
to
the
commissary
department.
The
little
steamer
Victoria,
which
belonged
to
the
Company,
was
kept
plying
along
the
coast,
carrying
barrels
of
pork
and
potatoes,
kegs
of
powder,
pickaxes
and
spades
and
shovels,
and
all
the
implements
of
labor.
These
were
taken
up
to
the
heads
of
the
bays,
and
thence
carried,
chiefly
on
men's
backs,
over
the
hills
to
the
line
of
the
road.
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