All Hands to the Pumps
Leaving the Tenderfoot at the helm, Flemming leapt into the well and thence into the engine-room.
"It must have been that biff when the barge fouled us!" he exclaimed. "Look! the floor-boards are awash!"
Eric went to the semi-rotary bilge-pump and began working the lever desperately. Meanwhile Rayburn had shouted for "Easy ahead."
The moment Roche put the engine in gear the Olivette "squatted", as she always did when under way; in other words, her bows rose and her stern dipped correspondingly. The result was that a lot of water that had found its way into the boat ran aft and the flywheel no longer gave an aquatic display, but subsequent examination found that the level of the bilge-water rose nearly six inches above the floor of the after-cabin.
Flemming kept on pumping for nearly twenty minutes, but the semi-rotary failed to "suck air". It seemed positive that the pump was unable to cope with the inflow of water.
"Where are we now?" he asked breathlessly.
Roche passed the question on to Phil Rayburn.
"Nearly there," replied the Tenderfoot. "It's slow work against the stream."
"We'll have to beach her, I'm afraid," said Flemming.