CHAPTER X.
THE fiddle ended in mid-tune, and the men crowded aft with anxious faces.
The captain sounded the well and found three feet and a half water in it.
He ordered all hands to the pumps.
They turned to with a good heart, and pumped, watch and watch, till daybreak.
Their exertions counteracted the leak, but did no more; the water in the well was neither more nor less, perceptibly.
This was a relief to their minds, so far; but the situation was a very serious one.

Suppose foul weather should come, and the vessel ship water from above as well! Now all those who were not on the pumps set to work to find out the leak and stop it if possible.

With candles in their hands they crept about the ribs of the ship, narrowly inspecting every corner, and applying their ears to every suspected place, if haply they might hear the water coming in.

The place where Hazel had found Wylie at work was examined along with the rest; but neither there nor anywhere else could the leak be discovered.

Yet the water was still coming in and required unremitting labor to keep it under.