After breakfast he went down and remained two hours. He had scarcely discarded his diving suit before I saw he was jubilant.
"Wood,—I believe now it's only a case of making pump connections to the freight hold and get the water out of there first. I still believe, if we pump out the submerging tanks after that, she has got to come to the top even if the engine-room and crew's quarters aft are injured," he said enthusiastically.
"How do you know the submerging tanks are intact and water tight?"
"Can't find a trace of anything wrong I cannot fix with little trouble."
I knew it was not an amateur talking. He had been able to do anything with machinery of a hydraulic nature, his paper-mill experience being largely along that line. Besides, he had spent the last fifteen years in and about the water with practical knowledge of marine machinery and pumps.
He rested a short while and went down, this time with tools he thought he needed, and in another two hours the full engine force of the Anti-Kaiser was drawing the water out of the freight hold. Howard descended repeatedly to see that it continued to work properly.
Scotty stood watch continuously during the day, scanning every sail or smoke that came within range of his glasses. We all prayed for good weather. A storm such as they have in the Gulf occasionally would be very bad, but that was a risk we had to take.
Howard induced a big sponger, a friend of his, to bring supplies of all sorts. After twenty-four hours of steady pumping the hold was cleared. Howard said the wreck had righted itself slightly.
During this time Don and I disposed of the Hun bodies a long way from the scene of our operations, for obvious reasons.