take first spell with me?"

Every man silently held out his hand for the other file, and Jim
selected a fellow of herculean proportions to take first turn with him.
In a few seconds the low rasping sound of the rapidly moving files broke
the stillness of the night, and seemed preternaturally loud by
comparison with that stillness. The remaining members of the crew
concentrated all their powers in the act of listening, so that they
might give instant warning to the workers, should the noise appear to
attract any attention from the shore.

Jim and his fellow-labourer were soon bathed in sweat, while Douglas's
hands, unaccustomed to such toil, grew red and raw and blistered under
the friction; for the files, as is quite usual in engineering
departments, were unprovided with wooden handles over the rat-tail
shank. Moreover, the task threatened to be long and difficult, in
consequence of the awkwardness of the conditions. Jim's spell of work
came to an end after a quarter of an hour, however, and another couple
of men took their places at the chain. But they had not been working
more than five minutes when there was a heavy splash, followed by a cry
of disappointment from both men.

It appeared that, while working, the two files had suddenly met in the
middle of a stroke, with the result that one of them had been knocked
out of its user's hand and had gone overboard. This was a serious loss,
indeed, and one that might cost the whole of them their lives; but, as
Jim said, it was no use crying over spilt milk, the file was gone, and
there was an end of it. The other man must work doubly hard, that was
all. Meanwhile, he went down into the engine-room and prowled round to
see whether, by some lucky chance, there might not be another file lying
about. He was successful in finding a small one, but it was very much
worn, and not likely to be of much use; nevertheless, in the hands of a
strong man it might still be made to cut a little. He immediately took
it up on deck and gave it to one of the crew. To his great relief, he
found that one part of the chain was nearly severed. By the time that
it was entirely cut through, the lower part of the link was half-
severed; and then it was but a short job to completely cut it with the
large file.

At length it was done. There was a final rasp of the file, a little
snapping noise, a sudden splash as the chain fell into two halves and
disappeared below the surface, and the