It had been so well hidden, under a mass of rocks, that it would not have been astonishing had Tom missed it altogether.
Attached to the magneto was the wire that must connect, in some way, with the series of tubes that would soon be fastened in the retaining wall out yonder.

Yet this wire ran into the ground, and then vanished.
"Now, I've simply got to hustle!" sighed Tom Reade nervously.

"If I don't succeed in raising the wire, and in a mighty short space of time, I may be to-night's fool yet.

I'd really like to wish that on the black man, too!" By using his eyes and his reasoning powers Reade, after twenty minutes more of search, with some sly digging, unearthed a section of the wire some dozen feet from the magneto.
"Now, it must be really the swiftest sort of work," murmured the young engineer, after a glance seaward.

He seated himself with his face turned toward the Gulf, gathered the exposed section of wire up into his lap, then drew a pair of wire nippers from his pocket.
Snip! Tom now had two ends of wire in his hands.