Rob and Merritt exchanged despairing glances.
"Can't you get any more power out of her?" asked Merritt anxiously.
Rob shook his head.
"Not a bit more, old man. She's running at her utmost now."
"Then we're stuck?"
"It looks that way."
"And we're doomed to die right here unless the nose of the boat can be got out of that cliff!"
"Never say, 'die,' Merritt. We've done the best we can, and remember the ensign said that he had a plan if all else failed."
"Yes, 'a forlorn hope' he called it."
"In a case like this we can endure anything. Desperate situations require desperate means to solve them."