He moved the plate, and waited; then he crawled halfway through the opening and secured the belt, Backing carefully, he worked his way aft to the thrust block.
He now had a belt and a bolt and with these crude tools he intended boring through the planks over his head. The task was a painful one. He would have to arrange the belt so that it would run under the shaft and over the bolt, which was turned by the shaft's power. Its corners might work through the plank.
He found that the bolt was too small in diameter to secure any result, and that the belt slipped and would not turn the shank. He laid the bolt down and picked up the oil can, whose shape suggested the solution of the problem.
Removing the oil spout by unscrewing it from the top of the can, he inserted the bolt in its place. The can turned freely with the bolt as an axle.
Stirling smiled through the grime upon his features. His mind had evolved a saw of the superior order, power driven and bound to be effective. He waited before he went on with the experiment.
The seething of the water told him that they were still hurtling through the lane of ice, and floes grated alongside. A shout echoed backward from the engine room, and the clank of steam-driven rods rose to a crescendo of effort. The Pole Star was striking out to open sea and the unknown waters to the north and east of Point Barrow.
The cutter cruiser had been distanced, and the Bear was a slow third in the chase. There was no way to tell where the pursuit would lead. Stirling thought dimly of the northeast passage and the way to Baffin Bay. Only madmen could effect such an enterprise.
Steps sounded above as Stirling toyed with the can, and he heard them going aft. Others followed; these were lighter. There came then the faint echo of a scuffle and the low cry of a woman, followed by a man's rude laugh as the light steps ran forward and a door slammed.
Stirling constructed the scene in his mind: The dock rat had seized the girl and embraced her, and she had torn herself from his grasp. The slamming door told that she had barricaded herself in the cabin. It was time to interfere. The inch-thick planks overhead formed the only obstruction, and he felt of them, then reached for the oil can.
The belt tightened over the polished shaft and over the rim of the can, which was at least three inches in diameter. The bolt acted as a rod, and the cutting edge as it touched the plank ground through for a quarter inch and then refused to work deeper.