“Ten feet!” shouted Bates with more energy than before.
The gong rang at this report, and two strokes followed instantly. The screw began to turn backwards; and, when her headway was checked, a single stroke stopped her.
“Dory is doing it all right,” said Captain Gildrock. “When he backed her he put the helm to port, so as to get her head pointed east-south-east. If he had not stopped the boat when he did, she would have been aground in a couple of minutes; for there is a shoal south of the mouth of the river on which the water is only from one to six feet deep.”
“What harm would it have done if we had got aground?” asked Bob Swanton.
“It would have done no harm, as we were going slowly; though we might have had to stay here all night. If there had been a rock there, it would probably have stove a hole in the bottom of the boat.”
“Ten feet!” reported Bates again.
The gong rang to go ahead, but the steamer
hardly moved through the water. The captain said the pilot had told the engineer, through the speaking-tube, to go very slowly. Bates continued to sound, reporting the same water as before.
“I see the point, sir,” said Bates a little later.
“All right! I have it,” replied Dory. The boat began to move a little faster, but she did not get above half speed.