Free The Watch Below by James White

how fast they were sinking or how many hours had passed

or if there was any hope for them at all.

But finally all possible preparations had been made and precautions taken.

The cutting torch and tanks and tapered wooden plugs were in place,

also the clamps and tongs and strips of thin lead sheeting needed in

case the hole was too big and the faucet inlet pipe had to be packed

out to size. There was the short length of steel pipe which, when

held in position by the tongs, would focus the flame so that it would

go through more quickly as well as hold it to the required diameter,

and there were the padded hammers and the gauntlets and the face masks

which were necessary because when water meets fire there is inevitably

a lot of steam. All at once there was nothing left to do but begin.

The hole itself went through very quickly. There was a sudden explosion

of steam and spray, then a solid jet of water struck the cutting torch,

knocking it away and bursting against Wallis's chest like a high-pressure

hose. He staggered back, blinded, and remembered to switch off the torch

before he burned a hole in the doctor.

Wallis blinked the water out of his eyes. The doctor was trying to get

the pointed end of the plug into the hole and each time he tried the jet

knocked it away again. On about the sixth attempt he managed to hold

it steady enough so that he could throw all his weight into pushing

it into position. Wallis added his weight to that of the doctor's and

the jet became a trickle and soon died away altogether. To make sure,

Wallis knocked it in tight with the hammer, then sawed off the surplus

wood so that the plug was flush with the metal wall.

Checking the diameter of the plug against that of the faucet pipe they

found that they had had beginner's luck, because the tapering pipe would

fit the hole snugly without being packed. Carefully, they tapped the

plug farther into the hole until it was almost through, then placed the

faucet in position. With the doctor holding it steady Wallis gave it a

good solid smack with the padded hammer. The plug went through to the

other side and the faucet inlet pipe took its place, and it happened so

neatly that they didn't even get wet.

A few minutes later acetylene gas was forcing its way through the faucet

and bubbling furiously up the inside of the coffer dam, while Radford

and Wallis had already begun to repeat the process on the wall of the

ballast tank adjoining Seven. With each new installation they became

more expert and took much less water aboard, but they did not feel more

confident. Finally, when acetylene gas was bubbling into supposedly

airtight compartments at five different points throughoUt the ship,

Wallis called a halt.

Their efforts were having no effect.

When the doctor, Dickson, and himself were together in Seven again,

Wallis said, "The aft coffer dam has had the contents of four acetylene

tanks pumped into it and is now taking number five. The ballast tanks on

each side of Seven here have had three each, and the storage spaces beside

Four have had one each. Some of these compartments already contained air,

and we ascertained, as accurately as possible, the water level in these

spaces, by tapping and listening for the hollow sounds which should

indicate air rather than water being on the other side of the bulkhead.

"The water level in each case was marked with chalk," Wallis went on,

"but the water has not gone down to anything like the expected level,

despite the volume of gas which we have been pushing into these spaces.

I don't understand it."

He looked hopefully at Dickson.

Defensively, the mate said, "Even if the gas escaped from the compartments

I picked for you it would still be trapped in the storage space above them

-- most of it, anyway. I picked them with that in mind. Are you sure

your method of finding the water level is accurate enough?"

Wallis did not reply. At that moment he didn't feel sure of