The second officer descended the bridge ladder and went below. In a couple of minutes he was back again.
"She's sprung a leak, sir," he reported breathlessly. "It's pouring in like a sluice."
Before the skipper could make any observation concerning a circumstance that had occasioned him not the slightest surprise, the chief engineer appeared.
"We've done it this time, Cap'n Quelch," he bawled. "Water's over the engine beds. I'll have to shut off steam."
"No chance of plugging the hole?" inquired the Old Man.
"Not the slightest," replied the chief. "Even if we could get at it. It's my belief the bottom's knocked clean out of her."
"Clear away the boats," shouted the Old Man. "Look alive, there."
By this time the firemen were on deck; apparently the engine-room and the boiler-rooms were no longer tenable.
But the chief engineer went back to his post leisurely enough when out of sight. He rather prided himself upon the success of his part of the scheme, which consisted of opening one of the underwater valves and then reversing the engines so suddenly that the terrific strain had created the impression that the old tramp had bumped into something pretty hard and substantial.
Anyway, the chief engineer had done his bit in the dirty piece of work, and salved the remaining rags of an easy conscience by the fact that he would soon be the richer to the tune of a couple of hundred pounds.