disc on the end of a rod, a shutter apparatus,
a collapsing cone or drum (such as is
used on the coast for storm-signals), or
lamps at night, become available. The
code or alphabet of the signals is in all
these cases the same, and consists in what
may be called long and short flashes,
long and short durations in position,
of the article employed. Any number of
long and short flashes, pauses (or sounds
in foggy weather) can be communicated
from one observing station to another, each
short flash representing a dot, each long
one a dash; and by means of combinations
of these dots and dashes, words or syllables
are spelled out, which can be interpreted
by a code-book. The use of the code-book
effects a great saving of time, seeing that
it supplies many whole phrases and long
words in a very compendious way; but if
it be lost or not at hand, a message can
still be spelled out by the dot and dash
alphabet, letter by letter.

But what are all these appliances
compared with the marvellous electric
telegraph, as a messenger of signals to any
distance? We know that during the
Crimean War, the wire and cable together
placed the War Office in Pall Mall in direct
and almost instantaneous communication
with the commander outside Sebastopol.
But this was a different kind of thing from
the field electric telegraphs with which all
the best armies are now provided. There
is now a corps drilled to this duty at
Chatham. There are provided waggons of
peculiar construction, each carrying coils
of four miles length of telegraph wire,
together with pickaxes, shovels, and other
tools. There are also office-waggons, each
fitted up with instruments and batteries,
and a desk at which a clerk can sit and
write. The men are carefully drilled in
laying and using these wires. The wire is
mostly laid down simply on the ground,
being raised over road-crossings on light
iron poles, a supply of which is provided.
During the civil war in America the armies
carried their telegraphic wires and poles
with them as they marched, and set them
in action at a few minutes' notice. Field
telegraphs of a similar kind were used by
the Prussians during the "seven weeks'
war" against Austria.

Even the achievements of our volunteers
have shown what this telegraphic system
can effect. Those who buffeted against the
wind, rain, sleet, snow, mud, and slimy chalk
at Dover last Easter Monday were (more or
less) aware that the electric wire was made
to do the duty of aides-de-camp, conveying
messages from head-quarters to various
parts of Dover heights. The telegraph-
van was a four-horse vehicle, containing a
store of wire, and the means for paying it
out and laying it down as fast as the
vehicle travelled; while at the telegraphic
head-quarters was a sort of omnibus
containing a set of telegraphing instruments,
with which messages could be sent to any
part of the line. Small as the arrangements
were, they gave a fair idea of the
kind of service which the wire can render
on an extensive range of battle-field. It
has been clearly ascertained that, under
favourable conditions of firm, flat ground,
without intervening obstacles, and with a
staff of well-trained men, four miles of wire
can be laid in an hour, outstripping an
infantry soldier's ordinary rate of marching.

Sea signals are being improved almost
as decidedly as land signals. A simple and
handy system of dash-and-dot flash signals,
for use at night when flags cannot be seen,
has also been introduced into the navy.
The electric light, the lime light, and a
peculiar lamp which burns petroleum
vapour incited by a kind of blowpipe, all
have been tried, and all are available under
diverse circumstances, as well as Argand
and other lamps. The principle is to give
long flashes and short flashes, the light
being visible for a greater or less number
of seconds at a time. Various modes of
applying opaque screens and other
temporary obstacles have been adopted to
regulate the alternations of long and short
flashes; but, when once adjusted, and
properly worked, the long and short flashes
are translated into nautical words and
phrases by means of a dot-and-dash code-
book. Two ships are thus able to "speak
with" each other at night when several
miles apart; and an admiral commanding
a fleet may be able to signal to every point
of the compass at once, by using what is
called an "all-round" light.

          THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS.
             A YACHTING STORY.

          CHAPTER XVIII. A PLOT.

A FLUSTER, a tramping, a creaking, and
blowing: the doctor was beating in. "My
dear lord, you here! This is my daughter.
Did you offer any wine or lunch? No.
Such a thing! You should have sent for
me."

"Miss Bailey and I have got on very
well."