Haste and Waste Part 15

"Perhaps it is; but I don't know what your way is."

"I'll tell you, Lawry, for I don't like to have you waste your time and strength doing nothing; besides, we want the steamer as soon as we can get her, or the season will be over."

"What do you mean by we, Ben?" asked Lawry quietly.

"Why, you and me, of course. I know something about steamers, and perhaps I should be willing to go captain of your boat, if you ever get her into working order."

"Perhaps you would," answered Lawry.

"Of course you mean to use the boat for the benefit of the family, now the old man is jugged and can't do anything more for them."

"To be sure I do."

"I'm willing to do my part. You can be the pilot, and the other fellow can be the engineer."

"And we can both of us have the privilege of obeying your orders,"

laughed Lawry.

"Well, I shouldn't be likely to interfere with you; your place would be in the wheel-house."

"And yours in the cabin, Captain Wilford. I can't stop to talk about this now. There comes Ethan with the cask."

"You might as well stop this foolish work first as last," sneered the would-be captain of the _Woodville_. "I was going to tell you how to raise her."

"Go on; we'll hear you, and work at the same time," said Ethan.

"I should get two of those ca.n.a.l-boats, having about eight feet depth of hold," continued Ben.

"Where would you get them?" demanded Lawry.

"Get them? Hire them, of course. You can get plenty of them at Port Henry."

"Have you any money in your pocket?"

"They wouldn't cost more than a hundred dollars."

"I haven't got even fifty dollars," said Lawry.

"They would trust you on the security of your steamer."

"I don't want to be trusted for any such purpose. What would you do with your ca.n.a.l-boats when you had got them?" asked Lawry.

"I would moor one on each side of the steamer, put a couple of timbers across them, pa.s.s a chain under the bow and stern of the sunken hull, and make fast to the timbers. Then I would let the water into the ca.n.a.l-boats, and sink them down to the rails. When I got them down as deep as I could, I would tighten the chains, till they bore taut on the timbers. Do you understand it, Lawry?"

"Certainly; I know all about the plan," replied the young pilot, with a smile.

"I don't believe you do," said Ben incredulously. "What would you do next?"

"Pump the water out of the two ca.n.a.l-boats, which would take about two days' time."

"You could rig extra pumps."

"Three of us, with three pumps, couldn't pump them out in two days."

"Well, the job is done when you have pumped them out."

"When you get the water out of the boats, you will have raised the steamer but three or four feet at most."

"Six feet, at least, for the ca.n.a.l-boats will come up where they were before."

"No; they won't; the weight of the steamer will press them down two or three feet."

An excited discussion followed upon this question; but Lawry and Ethan carried their point. It was plain that the buoyant powers of the two boats, as the water was pumped but of them, would raise the steamer three or four feet, leaving her suspended half-way between the surface and the bottom of the lake. Lawry wanted the aspirant for the captaincy of the _Woodville_ to tell him what he would do next, for she could not be repaired while she was under water; but Ben was "nonplussed" and unable to answer.

"I can finish that job for you," said Lawry.

"She could be moored on the ways, and then hauled up."

"Perhaps she might, but I should rather put her on the ways from the top of the water. When I got her three feet from the bottom, I should move her toward the sh.o.r.e till she grounded."

"What then?" asked Ben.

"I should sink the ca.n.a.l-boats again, pump them out once more, and thus raise her three feet more; but it would take about three days every time we lifted her three feet. Ben, I think we could get her to the top of the water in about a fortnight by your plan. By mine, I shall have her up by to-morrow night."

"I'll bet you won't; or in a month, either. You know too much, Lawry," said Ben.

"I don't bet; but you shall see her at the ferry-landing by seven to-morrow evening if you are there."

The older brother, finding himself only a cipher on the raft, had consented to run the ferry in the afternoon, when the horn sounded; and the pilot and engineer were thus enabled to continue their labor without interruption.

CHAPTER X

HARD AT WORK

When Lawry and Ethan returned to the Goblins in the afternoon, they were delighted to find that the casks, all of which had been placed under the guards abaft the wheel, had actually produced an effect upon the steamer. The smokestack stood up more perpendicularly, indicating that the stern had been lifted from the bottom. Ethan was sure that the casks would bring the _Woodville_ to the surface; but a very serious difficulty now presented itself.

About two-thirds of the length of the steamer's keel rested on a flat rock, whose surface was inclined downward toward the body of the lake, leaving the third next to the stern unsupported, under which the ropes had been easily drawn to retain the casks in their places.

Of course it was impossible to draw any lines under the forward part of the keel, which rested on the flat rock, and it was necessary to devise some means for securing the casks to this portion of the hull.

"I have it," said Lawry.

"What is it?"

"We must sink more casks under the stern."