trimmed her by using
the coal on that side first. Well, it's awkward! I reckoned on getting
the fuel!"

"There is some coal on the port side," said Lister.

"If Cartwright's plan and notes are accurate, there's not enough to see
us out. The wrecking pump will burn a lot," Brown rejoined and turned to
the diver. "Did you see any sharks?"

"One big fellow; he hung about as if he was curious and I didn't like
him near my air-pipe, but he left me alone. The pulps you meet in warm
seas are worse than sharks. When I was down at the Spanish boat,
crawling through the holes in her broken hull was nervous work. Once I
saw an arm as thick as mine waving in the dark, and started for the
ladder. We blew in that piece of her bilge with dynamite before I went
on board again. However, when I've cleared up a bit, I'll take Mr.
Lister down."

The diver got into the boat and rowed to the tug, but the others stopped
in the shade of the awning. They had brought a spare diving dress, and
before they tried to lift the wreck Lister must find out if Cartwright's
supposition was correct, because if Cartwright had found the proper clew
the job would be easier. For all that, Lister frankly shrank from the
preparatory exercise. Diving in shark-haunted water had not much charm.

In the morning they hauled the tug alongside the wreck and at low-water
rigged a derrick and opened the fore hatch. The palm kernels had rotted
and a horrible pulpy mass, swollen by fermentation, rose nearly to the
ledge. It was glutinous and too thick for the pump to lift, since the
water that filled the vessel drained away through the broken plates as
the tide sank. Brown, kneeling on the hatch-coaming, knitted his brows.

"The stuff's water-borne, forced up by its buoyancy," he said. "We may
find it looser as we get down. In the meantime, suction's no use; we
have got to break it out by hand. Start your winch and we'll fill the
skip."

Lister signaled a man on board the tug, the winch rattled, and a big
iron bucket, hanging by a wire rope, dropped into the hold. A gang of
men climbed across the ledge and began to cut the slimy mass with
spades. The surface heaved beneath them like a treacherous bog and the
smell was horrible. Now and then a spade made an opening for the gases
to escape and the nauseated men were driven back. For all that, they
filled the skip and the swinging derrick carried the load across the
deck and tilted it overboard.

The heat was almost