With two boys at each pump the water could be kept down. That fact was established by an hour’s hard work.
“But we can’t keep up that sort of thing,” said Phil. “We must stop the leaks or abandon the boat.”
He thought for a while. Then he said to Ed:—
“Get some ropes, Ed, and make them fast to the four corners of the tarpaulin. Bring each pair together about twenty feet away from the rag, and fasten them to another rope.”
“What’s your plan?” asked Irv, who was diligently pumping.
“I’m going to stretch the tarpaulin under the boat. Sailors stretch a sail that way sometimes to stop a leak.”
But this was much more easily said than done. When the tarpaulin was ready, Phil took all hands away from the pumps and, sending them to the skiffs, made an effort to force the great stiff cloth under the bow. It was a complete failure. The current was much too strong.
Then he went to the stern, where he hoped that the current would be of assistance. But that attempt also failed. The current doubled up the tarpaulin against the end of the boat, and it refused to slip under. The effort was several times repeated, but always with the same result—failure.
Finally Phil ordered all hands back to the flatboat. He went below and presently returned with a ball of twine. Unwinding its entire length and carefully coiling it on deck, he told Ed to fasten its farther end to one of the ropes attached to the tarpaulin strings.
“What are you going to do, Phil?”