Saying this, Bart leaped up to the deck, and sprang to the pump, followed by all the others. Only two of them could work at a time. Bart and Phil worked away first, till they were exhausted. Then Arthur and Pat took hold, and were relieved by Bruce and Tom. They worked vigorously, and with a will, in all the freshness, too, of their first efforts. Every one of them had a confident expectation that this labor would be successful, and that a half an hour, at the farthest, would be enough to pump the schooner dry. But a half hour passed, and yet that result was not accomplished. There was a difference certainly, but not anything like what they had wished. Judging from the amount of labor that they had put forth in this half hour, and the slight result, they were filled with dismay at the prospect before them. “Well,” said Tom, “it ain’t what we expected; but I dare say we expected too much. Perhaps we ought to be satisfied if we find that we can keep the water under.” “But can we do it?” said Bruce. “Of course we can. Haven’t we been doing it?” “We have--certainly. But how long can we keep at this sort of work? Why, the pump’ll have to be kept going day and night.” Wade and Solomon now went to work; but their efforts made no very perceptible diminution in the water in addition to what had already taken place. “I’m afraid,” said Bruce, “that the leak gets steadily worse.” “Why so?” “Well, because Solomon and Wade don’t do more than any two of us.” “O, they don’t work with such a will.” “Perhaps not. But in pumping, I dare say steady efforts like theirs amount to as much at least as our quick way of working; and besides, they’re stronger, and ought to do more. I think the leak is worse.” “O, I don’t believe it.” “Well, it took about two hours for the water to come in that’s in her now. If it had been coming in so slowly as that, we would have pumped her dry by this time. But the fact is, the more we pump, the faster the water comes in. I think it is working its way through new seams and crevices.”