“Hark!” exclaimed Bart. “What’s that sound?”
“The pumps!” replied Fenn. “They’ve started ’em. It must be a bad leak. We’d better get life preservers.”
“Don’t get excited,” counseled Frank coolly. “Wait until you see how bad it is. These steamers are all built with water-tight compartments, and it would take quite a hole to make one of them sink. The starting of a few plates wouldn’t do it.”
His words calmed his chums, and, when Captain Wiggs came on deck, a few minutes later, he announced that the leak was not a serious one, though it would be necessary to go ashore to make repairs.
It was found, on docking the Modoc that the repairs would take about a week, and this period the boys spent in making excursions on shore, in the vicinity of the town. They had a good time, and the delay did not seem very long because of the many interesting sights.
They visited a large saw mill where the logs, that had been brought down the lake in big rafts, were cut up into lumber, and the foreman of the plant showed them the various processes through which the tree trunks went before they were turned out in the shape of boards, planks or timbers.
“Well, we’ll start in the morning, boys,” announced Captain Wiggs one night. “The Modoc is in good shape again, and we’ll have to make good time from now on, because of our delays.”
Early the next morning the vessel was under way again. Out on Lake Huron it steamed, plowing through the blue waters, under a sunny sky, while a gentle breeze stirred up little waves.
“Why don’t you boys do some fishing?” asked Captain Wiggs, as he noticed the four chums sitting near the after rail, talking among themselves.
“We didn’t know we could catch anything here,” replied Ned.