Mr.Vapoor heard the sound in the engine-room, and felt the jar; and before any bell came to him, he had stopped the machine, and reversed it so as to check the steamer's headway.
"Run her back with all the steam you can crowd on, Mr.Vapoor," said Captain Breaker, as he hastened to the door of the engine-room.
"I don't think she hit the ground very hard, captain," added the chief engineer.
"No; she will come off.

The ground has shifted since I was here last," said the captain of the vessel.
But it was half an hour before she yielded to the pressure brought to bear upon her, and then only because a few inches had been added by the tide to the depth of water.

She went back, and came into depth enough to give her a foot under her keel.
"It don't look very hopeful," said Captain Passford, as he joined the commander at the door of the engine-room.
"Oh, I think we shall be all right now!" replied Captain Breaker very cheerfully.

"I have found where the shoal is now, and I know where to find deeper water .-- Keep her going astern, Mr.Vapoor." "A boat from the fort, sir," reported a messenger, who had been sent aft by the second officer on the forecastle.
"That looks like an inquiry into our business here," added the owner.
"Now we are all right," said the commander, who was watching the position of the vessel very carefully.

"I must go to the wheel, and look out for the course myself." Again the Bellevite went ahead; and she soon reached a point half way between the two forts, and her speed was reduced to not more than three knots.