Cartwright had talked about another opening and this would be awkward to
reach.

Signing the diver to go on, he followed him round the vessel's stern.
The sand on the other side was high and one could climb on board, but
Lister shrank from the dark alleyway that led to the engine-room. For
all that, he went in and saw the diver had opened the jambed door. When
he reached the ledge a flash from the other's electric lamp pierced the
gloom and he tried to forget his throbbing head and looked about.

Sparkling bubbles from his and the diver's helmets floated straight up
to the skylights, along which they glided and vanished through a hole in
the glass. The water, moving gently with the pulse of the swell, broke
the beam of light and objects it touched were distorted and magnified.
The top of the big low-pressure cylinder looked gigantic, and the thick
columns appeared to bend. Long weed clung to the platforms, from which
iron ladders went down, but so far as Lister could distinguish, all
below was buried in sand.

He had seen enough. To clear the engines would be a heavy task, and one
must work in semi-darkness amidst a maze of ladders, gratings, and
machinery. To keep signal-line and air-pipe free from entanglement
looked impossible, but perhaps when they had broken the surface the pump
would lift the sand. Anyhow, he was getting dizzy and his breath was
labored.

He touched the diver and they went back along the alleyway and round the
vessel's stern. Lister was desperately anxious to reach the ladder and
it cost him an effort to use control. As he went up his dress got heavy
and he was conscious of his weighted boots. The pressure on his lungs
lessened, he was dazzled by a strong light, and feeling the edge of the
hulk's deck, he got his knee on her covering-board and lurched forward.
Somebody took off his helmet and lifted the weight from his chest. He
shut his eyes and for a few moments lay on the deck.

"Well?" said Brown presently. "You reached the engine-room?"

Lister nodded. "She's badly sanded up. It's plain we shan't get much
coal from the starboard bunkers until we can lift her to an even keel."

"That will be long," Brown rejoined and pondered. "We must have coal,"
he resumed. "If I can't find another plan, you must take the tug to
Sierra Leone and bring a load; but we'll let it go just now. The first
thing is to hire some negro laborers, and as soon as I can leave the
wreck I'll try again."

CHA