Though they knew not the moment when a sickening crash would herald the
final dissolution of the ship, they proceeded with their work
methodically. In half an hour they had reached the end. All the injured
men--seven nondescript sailors and firemen--were carried to the saloon
and placed under Christobal's care. Walker dived below to the
engine-room, where he had already disconnected the rods broken or bent by
the fracture of a guard ring, which, in its turn, was injured by the
blowing out of a junk-ring, a stout ring of forged steel secured to one
of the pistons. He could do nothing more on deck. Whether he was
destined to live fifty seconds or as many years he was ill content to
hear his beloved engines knocking themselves to pieces with each roll of
the ship.
Tollemache, who undertook the firing of the donkey-boiler, which was
situated on the main deck aft of the saloon--for the _Kansas_ was built
chiefly to accommodate cargo--during his wanderings round the world had
picked up sufficient knowledge of steam-power to shovel fuel into the
furnace and regulate the water-level by the feed valve and pump.
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