Mr. Briggs, his face pale with anxiety, stood over half a dozen men who were making the coal fly as they dug into it in search of what they dreaded1 to find. Ned, in a state of semi-collapse, stood by the engineer.
“Now, bear up, Strong,” said that officer, “there’s a chance that he may be all right. Don’t give way.”
But, although the chief engineer spoke2 hopefully, he did not entertain a doubt that Herc must have been crushed into annihilation beneath the subsided3 mass of coal. There was just one chance, though, and it was that which incited4 the engineer to urge the men engaged in the work of rescue to work as they had never worked before.
[150]
But they needed no urging. Herc was a general favorite on board, and the thought that he was in there under that mass of coal gave each man twice the strength that he normally possessed5. They dug on, careless of fatigue6 under the stimulus7 of the work in hand. Suddenly one of them stopped.
“Did you hear something, mates?” he cried excitedly.
“No, what was it?”
“I thought I heard a kind of a tapping sound,” rejoined the man who had first spoken.
“It’ll be the spirit of the poor lad,” remarked an old sailor who was one of the diggers.
“Nonsense,” spoke Mr. Briggs sharply, stepping forward. “What did you say you heard, Adams?”
“I thought I heard a tapping sound, sir; but I couldn’t be sure. Yes; there it is again! Hark!”
They listened with strained ears. If there was really tapping going on within the bunker it could[151] only mean one thing, and that was that Herc was alive!
The next instant they thrilled with excitement. Slowly and not very loudly amid the manifold noises all about, there came the distinct sound of a regular tap-tap—tap-tap-tap!
Mr. Briggs, ordinarily self-contained and reserved, gave a jubilant shout.
“It is the one hope that I held on to in the face of everything!” he cried. “The boy is alive.”
“But how—how could he have avoided being crushed to death when the coal fell in?” demanded Ned.
“When that coal was loaded, as is customary, certain board partitions were put in at intervals8 to keep it from shifting. When I heard that the coal had caved in on you, I made up my mind at once that it was one of these partitions that had been undermined and had given way. My faint hope that by a miracle Taylor might have been saved, was based on a desperate belief that[152] by some marvelous chance the boards might have fallen in such a way as to keep the coal above them from crushing Taylor’s body.”
As may be imagined, while Mr. Briggs was giving this explanation, the digging had been resumed with even more frenzied9 haste than before.
“Stick to it, boy! We’re coming!” shouted the diggers, and each time they uttered these and other encouraging shouts the tapping came back in reply.
Ned, half frantic10 with excitement, had seized upon a shovel11 and was digging with might and main. At last their shovels12 broke through the coal and penetrated13 into a hollow space beyond. The beams falling from above where the bunkers widened out had become wedged in the narrower part of the bunkers below. In this way a shield had providentially been interposed between Herc and the ponderous14 masses of coal above.
[153]
As the opening was widened out and Herc’s face appeared, Ned leaped into the bunker and dragged his chum out amidst the cheers of the men who had taken part in the rescue.
“Wow!” exclaimed Herc, “that was close quarters in there, all right. I thought I’d suffocate15 sure before you got to me.”
“How did it happen?” asked Ned, in a voice still shaky from his shock. “I thought you were beside me.”
“So I was, but I tripped in the darkness. I remember thinking, ‘Good-bye, everybody!’ as that coal came thundering down. When the noise stopped I didn’t know whether I was dead or not for a minute. Then, to my surprise, I found that I could move about. I reached up a short distance above and I felt some planks16. Then I knew what had happened. They’d got wedged across where the bunker grew narrow at the bottom and my life was saved.
“But I was scared stiff that I’d die anyhow[154] before you got to me, and that’s why I kept banging on the planks with my shovel to hurry you up.”
“Well, young man,” said Mr. Briggs, “go up on deck and fill your lungs with fresh air. You’ve been near enough to death to shake hands with him. I believe that you two boys must bear charmed lives. Strong, you may accompany your ship-mate on deck. Carry on, men.”
The work went forward as if nothing out of the way had taken place. On Uncle Sam’s big fighting ships men are expected to take narrow escapes much as a matter of course when there is work in hand.
At eight bells, midnight, so much coal had been removed that it was impossible for the men to work any longer. They were so close to the fire now that only a thin wall of coal separated them from it. The heat was terrific. Above, the steel sides of the bunker began to glow with a dull red color from the seething17 inferno18 inside.
[155]
Mr. Briggs went on deck and reported to the captain what had been done. By this time both Ned and Herc had returned to work and taken their share of the gruelling task just as if nothing had happened to upset them.
The chief engineer was in a quandary19. He dared not try to flood the bunkers with water. A sudden rush of water on the blazing mass of red-hot coals would be likely to blow the side out of the ship, or, at any rate, to cause a serious accident. He was still wrestling with the problem when he came below. A consultation20 with his junior officers followed, but nobody could suggest any solution but to let the fire burn itself out.
But this Mr. Briggs was unwilling21 to do. The fire might communicate to the other bunkers if not promptly22 checked. At length he decided23 to rig steam pipes into the bunkers and throttle24 the blaze in that way. The pipes were rigged through the ventilators and then steam at high[156] pressure was forced through the re?nforced hose employed for the purpose. The experiment was completely successful and by daylight the Manhattan had escaped a grave peril25 and the Dreadnought Boys had passed through an experience which neither of them was likely to forget for a long time to come. Nor till it was all over did a man of the crew, except those immediately concerned, know of the dire26 peril to which the ship had been exposed.
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1
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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2
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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3
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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4
incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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6
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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7
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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8
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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9
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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10
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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11
shovel
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| n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出 | |
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12
shovels
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| n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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13
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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14
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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15
suffocate
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| vt.使窒息，使缺氧，阻碍；vi.窒息，窒息而亡，阻碍发展 | |
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16
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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17
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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18
inferno
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| n.火海；地狱般的场所 | |
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19
quandary
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| n.困惑，进迟两难之境 | |
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20
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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21
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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22
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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23
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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24
throttle
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| n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压 | |
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25
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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26
dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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