Bob groaned.
"I'm going to yell."
"Yell, if you can. I've too much ore in my mouth to make much of a noise."
Jarvis raised his voice in a shout. It did not seem to attract any attention. The lad shouted again and again. By this time the ship was trembling from stem to stern under the jar of the propeller that was beating the water at many hundred revolutions a minute.
"Nobody on this ship, I guess," muttered Bob. "Come, suggest something. You've always got something to say," urged Jarvis.
"I was about to say that you might as well save your breath. No one can hear us through the thick decks; in fact, I presume every one has turned in except those on watch forward, and the engine room crews at the rear end of the ship."
"Then I am going to lie down and go to sleep," declared Jarvis.
"Don't do anything of the sort. The ore is likely to slide down and bury you. The less disturbance we make here the better it will be for us."
"Why didn't you think of that before we fell in? I suppose we are pretty deep down in the ship, aren't we?"