'No,' I replied. 'But I'll probe ahead as soon as we've finished the charge holes.'
He nodded. 'I'll bring it down next time I come. I want to get this rock clear now. When will you be ready to blow?'
I looked at my watch. It was nearly ten. 'Midday,' I told him.
'What are the chances of being through to the sea bed tonight?'
'All depends how quickly you can clear the debris,' I said. 'Reckon I can blast faster than you can clear. Trouble is it may not be a very neat job. Rock's faulty here.'
He nodded and climbed down. I turned on the air again. The drill leapt in my hand and bored into the rock. Pieces flaked off. Nose, eyes and mouth were full of rock dust despite the spray of water that hissed into the drill hole. Every few seconds I paused to examine the rock. I was scared of a fall. Down below us Captain Manack, stripped to the waist, drove himself and the other two. They were clearing the pile of rock fast. He brought me two long drills when he returned from disposing of the first load of rock. By eleven-thirty I had finished the charge holes and Friar and I started to drill the probing hole. When the drill was only three feet in, water began to trickle along my hand and down my upturned arms. By the time the drill was full home there was a steady flow from the hole, running out of it as though from a tap only half turned on.
I called to Captain Manack. 'I think your figures are wrong,' I told him when he'd clambered up on to the ladders beside us. 'It may be due to the flaws in the rock. But I'd say we'd drilled pretty near to the sea bed.'
He nodded. 'Asdic wouldn't take into account a deep fissure in the rock,' he said. 'It gives you the general level of the sea bed. You think we'll be through at this blow?'
'No,' I answered. 'But we may come pretty near it, and that may make it unsafe to do any more drilling. I don't like this rock If you want my advice,' I added, 'you'll start the whole thing again somewhere else where the rock isn't faulty.'
But he shook his head. 'No time for that. If I'm to run any more cargoes I must have this undersea route open. I'll take a chance on it opening with a clean break.'