He went right forward, and peered into the darkness. Adolphe set the
engines going full speed, reversed, and Tinker cried, "She's moving!"
He saw the anchor chain slowly tauten, then the _Petrel_ moved no more.
The propeller thrashed away, but to no purpose, and to his great joy he
was sure that the anchor held her. However, he cheered them on to
persevere, and for nearly half an hour the propeller thrashed away.
Then they gave it up, sat down gloomily on the hatch of the engine
room, and lighted their pipes. Tinker and Elsie went back to the
cabin, rolled themselves in rugs, and were soon enjoying the innocent
sleep of childhood.
It was twelve o'clock when Tinker awoke, and at once he went on deck
and found that Alphonse, by way of keeping watch, had gone comfortably
asleep in the bows, while Adolphe snored from the forecastle. He
kicked Alphonse awake, and said, "Don't you think you could get her off
if you hauled up the anchor?"
For a minute or two Alphonse turned the idea hazily over in his apology
for a mind; then, with a hasty exclamation, he ran to the side, and saw
dimly the taut anchor chain. He blundered below, lugged Adolphe out of
his berth and on deck, and for five excited minutes they explained to
one another that the anchor was embedded in the sandbank, and that it
held the _Petrel_ on it.
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