With a determined effort the Sub of the whaler heaved his chum upon the cutter's waterways.
"Where are you hit, old man?" he asked, but the question was unanswered. Sub-lieutenant Tom Webb was unconscious.
CHAPTER XI
Osborne's Capture
With assistance Dicky Haynes contrived to carry his brother Sub to the diminutive cabin, where three badly wounded men had already been placed in comparative shelter. More for his chum, Dicky Haynes was unable to do for the present. His duty required him to be on deck to assist the already hard-worked Osborne.
The bow gun was still firing. Not that any of the enemy were visible, but merely to let them know that sections of the cliffs in the vicinity of the steamboat were decidedly "unhealthy". The Turkish infantry had suffered fairly heavily when they appeared above the crest, and the renewed fire from the steam cutter was sufficient to keep them at a discreet distance.
"Easy astern!" ordered the Lieutenant. "One of you nip below and see if she's strained."
A seaman disappeared down the hatchway of the fore-cabin, quickly reappearing with the disconcerting news that there was water on the floorboards.
"A couple of hands to try and locate the leak," continued Osborne. Then grasping the flexible voice-tube he gave the leading stoker instructions to couple up the steam bilge-pump.