ming chains,
detected the very yielding which he had prophesied. He heard the
creaking of the chains, the faint gasping, as it may be called, of the
rope, and the soft grinding of the fine wire beneath.

All this showed what an enormous strain was brought upon them, and
almost any other person detecting the rasping of the ragged edges of
iron against each other would have started back appalled, believing
that everything was about to fly apart. But it was precisely what the
mate expected, and what was inevitable under the circumstances. Then,
at his request, the engineer was ordered to put on a full head of
steam, and the _Polynesia_ plowed forward, cleaving the water before
her.

Abe Storms knelt down and bent almost lovingly over the round mass
revolving on its axis. Then he beckoned to the engineer to approach
and do the same. He obeyed, as did several others, and placing their
ears close, they listened intently to the revolution of the shaft.

Not even the faintest noise could be detected to show that there was
anything but a normal movement of the shaft. Every one saw, too, that
the revolutions were not only going on regularly, but would continue
so for an indefinite time. The shaft was practically whole again, with
the exception that a reverse movement would be likely to undo
everything, and by scraping the corrugated surfaces of the fractures,
render it impossible to do anything of the kind again.

Captain Strathmore and his officers stood for a full hour more
steadily watching the revolving shaft, and at the end of that time
they were satisfied. Then the new acquaintances saluted and bade each
other good-by, the officers of the _Coral_ passing over the rail, and
were rowed back to their own vessel, which had followed in the wake of
the steamer, as may be said.

By this time it was midnight, and the captain returned to his
station on the bridge, reflecting to himself that some of the most
insurmountable difficulties, apparently, are overcome by the simplest
means, and that there are some persons in the world who really
seem capable of inventing anything.

The hour was so late that all the passengers had retired, and little
Inez, as a matter of course, had become invisible long before. She had
declared several times that she was going to sit up with the captain,
and she tried it, but, like most children under such circumstances,
she dropped off into slumber by the time it was fairly dark, and was
carried be