The Battery and the Boiler: Adventures in Laying of Submarine Electric Cables by - (top 100 novels TXT) đ
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Somewhere about the middle of this nineteenth century, a baby boy was born on the raging sea in the midst of a howling tempest. That boy was the hero of this tale.
He was cradled in squalls, and nourished in squalorâa week of dirty weather having converted the fore-cabin of the emigrant ship into something like a pig-sty. Appreciating the situation, no doubt, the baby boy began his career with a squall that harmonised with the weather, and, as the steward remarked to the shipâs cook, âcontinued for to squall straight on end all that day and night without so much as ever takinâ breath!â It is but right to add that the steward was prone to exaggeration.
âStooard,â said the shipâs cook in reply, as he raised his eyes from the contemplation of his bubbling coppers, âtake my word for it, that there babby what has just bin launched ainât agoinâ to shovel off his mortal coilâas the play-actor saidâwithout makinâ his mark someâow anâ somewâeres.â
âWhat makes you think so, Johnson?â asked the steward.
âWhat makes me think so, stooard?â replied the cook, who was a huge good-natured young man. âWell, Iâll tell âee. I was standinâ close to the fore hatch at the time, a-talkinâ to Jim Brag, anâ the father oâ the babby, poor feller, he was standinâ by the foretopsâl halyards holdinâ on to a belayinâ-pin, anâ lookinâ as white as a sheetâfor I got a glance at âim two or three times doorinâ the flashes oâ lightninâ. Well, stooard, there was lightninâ playinâ round the mizzen truck, anâ the main truck, anâ the fore truck, anâ at the end oâ the flyinâ jib-boom, anâ the spanker boom; then there came a flash that seemed to set afire the entire univarse; then a burst oâ thunder like fifty great guns gone off all at once in a hurry. At that identical moment, stooard, there came up from the fore-cabin a yell that beatâwell, I canât rightly say what it beat, but it minded me oâ that unfortnit pig as got his tail jammed in the capstan off Cape Horn. The father gave a gasp. âItâs born,â says he. âMore likeâs if itâs basted,â growled Jim Brag. âYouâre a unfeelinâ monster, Brag,â says I; âanâ though you are the shipâs carpenter, I will say it, you âavenât got no more sympathy than the fluke of an anchor!â Howsâever the poor father didnât hear the remark, for he went down below all of a heapâhead, legs, and armsâanyhow. Then there came another yell, anâ another, anâ half a dozen more, which was followed by another flash oâ lightninâ anâ drownded in another roar oâ thunder; but the yells from below kepâ on, anâ came out strong between times, makinâ no account whatever oâ the whistlinâ wind anâ rattlinâ ropes, which they riz aboveâeasy.âNow, stooard, do you mean for to tell me that all that signifies nothink? Do you suppose that that babby could go through life like an orânary babby? No, it couldnâtânot even if it was to tryâwâich it wonât!â
Having uttered this prophecy the cook resumed the contemplation of his bubbling coppers.
âWell, I suppose youâre right, John Johnson,â said the steward.
âYes, Iâm right, Tom Thomson,â returned the cook, with the nod and air of a man who is never wrong.
And the cook was right, as the reader who continues to read shall find out in course of time.
The gale in which little Robin Wright was thus launched upon the sea of Time blew the sails of that emigrant shipâthe Seahorseâto ribbons. It also blew the masts out of her, leaving her a helpless wreck on the breast of the palpitating sea. Then it blew a friendly sail in sight, by which passengers and crew were rescued and carried safe back to Old England. There they separatedâsome to re-embark in other emigrant ships; some to renew the battle of life at homeâthenceforward and for ever after to vilify the sea in all its aspects, except when viewed at a safe distance from the solid land!
Little Robinâs parents were among the latter. His father, a poor gentleman, procured a situation as accountant in a mercantile house. His mother busied herselfâand she was a very busy little creatureâwith the economics of home. She clothed Robinâs body and stored his mind. Among other things, she early taught him to read from the Bible.
As Robin grew he waxed strong and bold and lively, becoming a source of much anxiety, mingled with delight, to his mother, and of considerable alarm, mixed with admiration and surprise, to his father. He possessed an inquisitive mind. He inquired into everythingâincluding the antique barometer and the household clock, both of which were heirlooms, and were not improved by his inquiries. Strange to say, Robinâs chief delight in those early days was a thunderstorm. The rolling of heavenâs artillery seemed to afford inexpressible satisfaction to his little heart, but it was the lightning that affected him most. It filled him with a species of awful joy. No matter how it cameâwhether in the forked flashes of the storm, or the lambent gleamings of the summer skyâhe would sit and gaze at it in solemn wonder. Even in his earliest years he began to make inquiries into that remarkable and mysterious agent.
âMusser,â he said one day, during a thunderstorm, raising his large eyes to his motherâs face with intense gravity,ââMusser, what is lighteninâ?â
Mrs Wright, who was a soft little unscientific lady with gorgeous eyes, sat before her son, perplexed.
âWell, child, it isâitâreally, I donât know what it is!â
âDonât know?â echoed Robin, with surprise, âI sought you knowâd everysing.â
âNo, not everything, dear,â replied Mrs Wright, with a deprecatory smile; âbut here comes your father, who will tell you.â
âDoes he know everysing?â asked the child.
âNâno, not exactly; but he knows many thingsâoh, ever so many things,â answered the cautious wife and mother.
The accountant had barely crossed his humble threshold and sat down, when Robin clambered on his knee and put the puzzling question.ââFasser, what is lighteninâ?â
âLightning, my boy?âwhy, itâsâitâsâlet me seeâitâs fire, of course, of some sort, that comes out oâ the clouds and goes slap into the earthâthere, donât you see it?â
Robin did see it, and was so awestruck by the crash which followed the blinding flash that he forgot at the moment to push his inquiries further, much to his fatherâs satisfaction, who internally resolved to hunt up the Encyclopaedia Britannica that very eveningâletter Lâand study it.
In process of time Robin increased in size. As he expanded in body he developed in mind and in heart, for his little mother, although profoundly ignorant of electricity and its effects, was deeply learned in the Scriptures. But Robin did not hunger in vain after scientific knowledge. By good fortune he had a cousinâcousin Sam Shiptonâwho was fourteen years older than himself, and a clerk at a neighbouring railway station, where there was a telegraphic instrument.
Now, Sam, being himself possessed of strongly scientific tendencies, took a great fancy to little Robin, and sought to enlighten his young mind on many subjects where âmusserâsâ knowledge failed. Of course he could not explain all that he himself knew about electricityâthe child was too young for that,âbut he did what he could, and introduced him one day to the interior of the station, where he filled his youthful mind with amazement and admiration by his rapid, and apparently meaningless, manipulation of the telegraph instrument.
Cousin Sam, however, did a good deal more for him than that in the course of time; but before proceeding further, we must turn aside for a few minutes to comment on that wonderful subject which is essentially connected with the development of this tale.
Sparks, as a rule, are looked upon as a race of useless and disreputable fellows. Their course is usually erratic. They fly upward, downward, forward, and backwardâhere, there, and everywhere. You never know when you have them, or what will be their next flight. They often create a good deal of alarm, sometimes much surprise; they seldom do any good, and frequently cause irreparable damage. Only when caught and restrained, or directed, do sparks become harmless and helpful.
But there is one Spark in this worldâa grand, glowing, gushing fellowâwho has not his equal anywhere. He is old as the hillsâperhaps olderâand wide as the worldâperchance wider. Similar to ordinary sparks in some respects, he differs from them in several important particulars. Like many, he is âfast,â but immeasurably faster than all other sparks put together. Unlike them, however, he submits to be led by master minds. Stronger than Hercules, he can rend the mountains. Fleeter than Mercury, he can outstrip the light. Gentler than Zephyr, he can assume the condition of a current, and enter our very marrow without causing pain. His name is Electricity. No one knows what he is. Some philosophers have said that he is a fluid, because he flows. As well might they call him a wild horse because he bolts, or a thief because he lurks! We prefer to call him a Spark, because in that form only is he visibleâat least when handled by man.
Talking of that, it was not until the last century that master minds found out how to catch and handle our Spark. In all the previous centuries he had been roaming gaily about the world in perfect freedom; sometimes gliding silently to and fro like an angel of light; sometimes leaping forth with frightful energy in the midst of raging tempest, like a destructive demonâripping, rending, shattering all that attempted to arrest his course. Men have feared and shunned him since the beginning of time, and with good reason, for he has killed many of the human race.
But although uncaught and untamed by them, our Spark was not altogether unknown to the ancients. So far back as the year 600 before the Christian era, Thales, one of the Greek sages, discovered that he hid himself in amber, a substance which in Greek is named electronâhence his name Electricity; but the ancients knew little about his character, though Thales found that he could draw him from his hiding-place by rubbing him with silk and some other substances. When thus rubbed he became attractive, and drew light creatures towards himânot unlike human sparks! He also showed himself to be fickle, for, after holding these light creatures tight for a brief space, he let them go and repelled them.
It was not till the days of good Queen Bess, towards the end of the sixteenth century, that a Dr Gilbert discovered that the wild fellow lay lurking in other substances besides amberâsuch as sulphur, wax, glass, etcetera. It is now known that Electricity permeates all substances more or less, and only waits to be roused in order to exhibit his amazing powers. He is fond of shocking peopleâs feelings, and has surprised his pursuers rather frequently in that way. Some of them, indeed, he has actually shocked to death!
It would take a huge volume to give a detailed account of all the qualities, powers, and peculiarities of this wild Spark. We will just touch on a few facts which are necessary to the elucidation of our tale.
A great event in the worldâs history happened in the year 1745. It was nothing less than the capture and imprisonment of wild, daring, dashing Electricity. To the Dutch philosophers belongs the honour of catching him. They caught himâthey even bottled him, like ordinary spirits, and called his prison a Leyden Jar.
From that date our Spark became the useful and obedient slave of man. Yet is he ever ready, when the smallest conceivable door, hole, or chink is left open, to dash out of the prison-house man has made for him, and escape into his
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