“Have we got to lay to like this until the bearing is fixed?”
“No,” Tom said, after looking over the motors. “We can taxi along on the surface with one motor, but of course not as fast as if the two were working. However, it will help some, and every mile and minute count. Whew, she certainly got hot!” he exclaimed, as he burned himself slightly from putting his hand for too long a period on the defective bearing.
The three machinists were so eager to make repairs and hop off again that they hurried through their dinner and were soon in the motor room again. There Peltok proved his worth, as did Hartman and Brinkley. They wasted no time, but began taking down the motor.
While the aeroplane man and his tank companion did this, Peltok was busy casting a new bearing, filing it down to a perfect fit so the axle would run smoothly.
“Will it bother you if I start up with one motor?” asked Tom of the three who were working at top speed to finish the repairs in the shortest possible time.
“Not a bit!” Peltok answered. “You can’t go very fast with only one motor running, and she’ll ride on a pretty even keel, for there is scarcely any sea at all—it’s almost a dead calm.”
“But it isn’t going to remain so long,” stated Ned, who knew a little of weather signs.
“Why not?” asked Tom.
“The glass is falling,” and Ned pointed to the barometer. “I think we’re in for a storm.”
“It does look so,” remarked Tom, who noted the reading now and compared it with the height of the mercury column when they had started. “I guess we’re in for a blow. It will be better to take it up above than down here.”