Then he said:
"Well, perhaps we can make a shift if we can repair the broken
rudder. We must have struck a powerful cross current, or maybe a
whirlpool, that tore the main rudder loose. We've rammed a sand
bank, or stuck her nose into the bottom in some shallow place,
I'm afraid. We can't go ahead or back up."
"Do you mean we're stuck, as we were in the mud bank?" asked
Mr. Hardley.
"Yes," answered Tom, and Earle nodded to confirm that version
of it.
"But we'll get out!" declared Tom. "This is only a slight
accident. It doesn't amount to anything, though I'm sorry now I
didn't take my father's advice and bring the gyroscope rudder
along. It would have acted automatically to have prevented this.
Now, Mr. Earle, we'll see what's to be done."
All night long they worked, but when morning came, as told by
the clocks, they were still in jeopardy.
And then a new peril confronted them!
Earle, coming from the crew's quarters, spoke to Tom quietly in
the main cabin.
"We'll have to turn on one of the auxiliary air tanks," he
said.
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