AT GATUN LOCKS
"Steady there now, men! Pass forward those lashings! Careful! Look out, or you'll be caught by it when she rolls! Another turn around the bitts!"
It was the officer of the deck giving orders to a number of marines and sailors as Tom hastily clad, leaped on deck, followed by his chum. The warship was pitching and tossing worse than ever in the heaving billows, and the men were engaged in making fast the giant cannon, which, as Tom had surmised, had torn loose from the steel cables holding it down on deck.
"Come on, Ned!" cried Tom. "We've got to help here!"
"That's right. Look at her swing, would you? If she hits anything it's a goner!"
The breech of the gun appeared to be the end that had come loose, while the muzzle still held fast. And this immense mass of steel was swinging about, eluding the efforts of the ship's officers and crew to capture it. And it seemed only a question of time when the muzzle would tear loose, too. Then, free on deck, the giant cannon would roll through the frail bulwarks, and plunge into the depths of the sea.
"Look out for yourselves, boys!" cried the officer, as he saw Tom and Ned. "This is no plaything!"
"I know it!" gasped Tom. "But we've got to fasten it down."
"That's what we're trying to do," answered the other. "We did get the bight of a cable over the breech, but the men could not hold it, even though they took a couple of turns around the bitts."
"Ned, go call Koku!" cried Tom. "We need him up here."