“Are you going to abandon the ship, sir?” asked Jack respectfully.
“No. My duty is to stay by her as long as I think there is a chance of saving her. The report from the engine room is that she can be run several miles yet before the water reaches the boilers. All the pumps are at work, full force, and that is the reason there is no power left for the dynamos.”
“Do you mean you are going to try to beach her, sir?” inquired Jack.
“If I can possibly do so,” was the reply. “There is an island not far to the south of here called Castle Island. If I can reach it in time and beach her, there may be one chance in a thousand of salving her, after all.”
Jack had asked all the questions he dared. Had it not been a time of such stress, he would not have ventured to ask so many.
He hurried back to the wireless room. Sam was busy at the key, but he shook his head in reply to Jack’s inquiring glance.
“Nothing doing,” he said. “Any news forward?”
“Yes. All the passengers are off and there are now on board only the officers and crew. The skipper means to run for an island called Castle Island and beach her there. He thinks that later there may be a chance of getting her hull off, if he can make it.”
“Then she is leaking fast?”
“Yes, they’ve got all the pumps going to keep the water from getting to the fires. That’s the reason we’ve got no juice.”