Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-30

| dents of the sea, but this was beyond their
Ell perience. None who had seen the engine
room believed that anything short of new
engines from end to end could stir the Ha-
liotiS from her moorings.
The engine-room stores were unearthed
and Mr.. Wardrop's face. red with the filth
Of the bilges and the exertion of travelling
| on his stomach, lit with joy. The spare
gear Of the Halotis had been unusually
| complete, and two-and-twenty men armed
| with screw jacks, differential blocks, tackle
vices and forge or so can look Kismet
| between the eyes without winking. The
| crew were ordered to replace the holding
| down and shaft-bearing bolt, and return the
| collars of the thrust-bout. When they had
| finished Mr. Wardrop delivered a lecture on
| repairing compound engines without the aid
| of a dockyard, and the men sat about on
| the cold machinery. The cross-head jam
med in the guides leered at them drunken
| ly, but offered no help. They ran their
| fingers hopelessly into the cracks of the
| starboard supporting column. and picked
| at the ends of the ropes round the Shores
while MI ~, WARRIORS ar voice rose and fell
| down over the engine-room skylight
Next morning the work of reconstruction
| began.
1t has been explained that the foot of the
| connecting rod was forced against the foot
| of the starboard supporting column which
| II had cracked through and driven out
ward against the ships skin. To all ap-
| pearances the job was more than hopeless
| for the rod and column seemed to have
| been welded in one. But here Providence
| smiled on them for one moment to hearten
| them through the weary weeks ahead. The
| second engineer-more reckless than re-
sourceful-struck at random with a cold
chisel into the cast iron of the column and
| a greasy gray flake of metal flew from I'M
der the imprisoned foot of the connecting
rod, while the rod itself fell away slowly
| and brought up with a thunderous clang
somewhere In the dark of the crank pit.
| The guide plates above were still jammed
| fast in the guides, but the first blow had
been struck. They spent the rest of the
| day grooming the donkey engine which
| stood Immediately forward of the engine
room hatch. Its tarpauin, of course, had
been stolen, and eight warm months had
not improved the working parts. Further,
| the last dying hiccough of the Haliotis
I seemed-or it might have been the Malay
| from the boathouse-to have lifted the
| thing bodily on its bolts and set it down
| inaccurately as regarded its steam con-
nectionS.
IF we only had one cargo derrick Mr..
Wardrop sighed. I'VE can take the cylin-
der cover off by hand if we sweat, but to
| get the rod out of the piston's not possible
| unless We use steam. Well, there'll be
| steam the morn if there's nothing else.
| She'll fizLle everywhere.
| Next morning men from the shore saw
| the Haliotis through a cloud, for it was
| as though the deck smoked. Her crew
! and leaky pipes to its work in the forward
donkey engine; and where oakum failed to
Plug 4 hole, they stripped on their loin
| cloths for tapping, and swore, half boiled
and mother naked. The donkey engine
worked at price-the price of constant at
tention and furious stol>ing-worked long
| enough to allow wire rope 1t was made
UP of a funnel and I foremost stay, to be
| led into the engine room ard made fast on
| the cylinder cover of the forward engine.
| That rose easily enough, and was hauled
| through the slylight and to the deck, many
| hands assisting the doubtful steam. Then
|
| to get to the piston ard the damned piston
rod They screwed an iron screw plate on
| to the piston, doubled the wire rope, and
| set half a dozen men to smite with an eX-
temporized gathering ram at the end of the
piston rod where it peered through the pis-
ton, while the donkey engine hauled up
| ward on the piston itself. After four hours
| of this furious work, the piston rod sud
denly slipped and the piston rose with a
| jerk, knocking one or two men over into
! the engine room. But when Mr.. Wardrop