“Why don’t they do something?” complained more than one fretful voice, and it was evident that many were under a great strain.
“What can they do?” asked Jerry, of one of these complaining soldiers. “The invention hasn’t been dreamed of that will dissipate a fog at sea.”
“Well, why don’t the sailors fire guns, blow horns, or something, so we won’t be run down?” went on the other. “We’re floating around here like a log, and we may have a crash before very long.”
“I fancy they’ll start signaling soon,” said Ned.
“How are they going to when they can’t get up steam for the engines?” Bob asked.
“Oh, they’ve got donkey engines for hoisting out the cargo,” remarked Jerry. “Those boilers can make steam, and I guess it can be conveyed to the whistles. That will warn other vessels of our nearness. And this fog may be a good thing, too.”
“How do you figure that out?” a corporal wanted to know.
“Well, we’ll begin signaling, and we may be heard by some craft which can help us. It’s queer they didn’t blow the whistle when they found the wireless wasn’t working.”
“Yes, they might have done that,” assented Ned. “But I don’t agree with you, Jerry, that the blowing of a whistle by our ship in this fog will help us any.”