“The boat is leaking a good deal more than I like. The strain she received back there, yesterday or the day before, or a thousand years ago—I’m sure I don’t remember when it was—is beginning to tell upon her. One pump is no longer quite enough to keep the water in the bilge. We must keep both going—not quite all the time, of course, and not very violently, but pretty steadily. So that’s the order for to-night. Two fellows on watch all the time, and both pumps to be kept going most of the time. I’ll sleep till two o’clock. Then wake me, and I’ll take my turn at a pump.”
The boys would have liked to exempt him from that duty. But his tone did not invite question or protest of any kind. It did not admit even of argument. It was a command—and Phil was commander.
[CHAPTER XXVII]
A STRUGGLE IN THE DARK
But Phil was up long before the hour appointed. It was not yet midnight when he got out of his bunk to get a drink of water. As he did so he stepped into water half way up to his knees.
He instantly aroused his companions.
“The boat is sinking,” was his explanation. “Get to the pumps quick.”
Then lighting a lantern he made a thorough search of the hold in the hope of finding and stopping the leaks, but it was without avail.