As soon as the hatch had been removed, and the bread and water lowered down, and they heard heavy weights again laid on the hatch, two of the party took one of the irons and began to bore a hole, while the others proceeded to eat their food.

Several times, the workers had to be relieved.

The iron penetrated comparatively easily for a short distance, but beyond that the difficulty greatly increased; and it was fully four hours before one of the workers, applying his eye to the hole, said that he could see a gleam of light through.
In another quarter of an hour, the orifice was sufficiently enlarged to enable a view to be obtained of the central hold.

It was comparatively light there, for the hatch was off, and they could see two men at work, opening a cask for some stores that were required.
"We must wait till it gets dark now," Francis said.

"I do not think that we shall make much noise, for the nails will be likely to draw quietly; but we had better choose the time between nightfall and the hour for the crew to turn in, as there will be a trampling of feet on deck, and talking and singing, which would prevent any slight noise we might make, being heard." "The difficulty will be to force the ends of the iron down, between the beams and the planks, so as to give us a purchase," Matteo said.
"I think we shall be able to manage that," Francis replied.