Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/101

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THE BATTERY AND THE BOILER.
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restored and revived cable passed over the stern, went merrily as a marriage bell.

The detention had been only about twelve hours; the great work was going on again as favourably as before the mishap occurred, and about half a mile had been payed out, when—blackness of despair—the electric current suddenly ceased, and communication with the shore was ended altogether!