Eagerly the boys plied the handle of the pump,
keeping an eye upon the bilge.
Harry went about lifting floor boards and peering here and there in an
effort to discover the source of the great leak.
"Ha!" he shouted from the after cabin. "Here's the trouble! Come here,
you fellows, and bear a hand. Get something to plug this hole in the
Fortuna's side. This is sheer murder!"
Trusting the power pump to keep abreast of the incoming water, Tom and
Arnold deserted their post at the hand pump and sprang to assist their
chum whose cries told them that something had been found.
The sight that met their eyes was a startling one.
Harry had removed the floor boards from the center of the cabin and was
reaching down to the bilge. A spray of water squirted up into his face
drenching him thoroughly.
"Get something to plug this hole!" he gasped. "I'm drowning!"
Looking about hastily for means to plug the hole, Tom offered a jacket
he had picked up from the locker. Arnold seized a fid from another
locker. Harry shut his eyes, turned his head side-wise and gasped for
breath. Reaching out for the jacket he took it from the hand of his
friend and tried to push it into the hole through which the water was
pouring steadily. His efforts were fruitless.
"Here, take this," urged Arnold. "This fid will plug a big hole and jam
it tight, too. Is it a butt started?"
Harry took the fid from his chum. Quickly he inserted the pointed end
into the hole he had been trying to cover with his hand.
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