Therefore, whatever business is done upon
the wires during these displays has to be accomplished in brief
intervals of from quarter to half a minute in duration.
During one of these intervals, the Boston operator said to the one at
Portland,--
"Please cut off your battery, and let us see if we cannot work with the
auroral current alone."
The Portland operator replied,--
"I will do so. Will you do the same?"
"I have already done so," was the answer. "We are working with the aid
of the aurora alone. How do you receive my writing?"
"Very well indeed," responds the operator at Portland; "much better
than when the batteries were on; the current is steadier and more
reliable. Suppose we continue to work so until the aurora subsides?"
"Agreed," replied the Boston operator. "Are you ready for business?"
"Yes; go ahead," was the answer.
The Boston operator then commenced sending private dispatches, which he
was able to do much more satisfactorily than when the batteries were
on, although, of course, not so well as he could have done with his own
batteries without celestial assistance.
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