Andy ran back to the engine room where he telephoned Serge to reduce their speed to a minimum. The same call brought Bert and Harry back on the run and another call brought two expert riggers with a roll of the metal cloth and a can of cement, which they heated in the engine room.
The chief rigger, Mac Glassgow, looked at the rip in the elevator.
“It’s a mean one to fix,” he asserted, “but we’ll do the job.”
“We’ve got to,” urged Andy. “It’s growing larger every minute.”
“An inside job won’t be so hard,” said Mac, “but to make it stick, it should be patched from the outside.”
“There’s no place to land and do that,” protested Bert.
“I know, I know,” said Mac, “but an inside patch will never hold.”
“You mean someone ought to go up top, lower themselves down on the outside, and make the patch?” asked Andy.
Mac nodded.
“That’s the ticket,” he said. “I’m a bit too old and stiff or I’d do it in a minute. The Graf Zeppelin’s crew had to do it one time off the Atlantic coast in weather about as bad as this.”