om which she was unable to
extricate herself.

Officer Binns was ordered to throw off all possible ballast.

One by one the tanks were emptied. The air pumps were working valiantly
but at each discharge of water ballast the officers of the stranded
vessel waited in vain for the welcome "lift" that would tell them
the ship was floating free again. The last ballast tank had now been
emptied and the depth dial still showed eighty-four feet.

"Looks as though we were stuck, all right," was McClure's solitary
comment as he gazed again at the depth dial.

The engines now were shut down, the air pumps had ceased working.
There was not a sound throughout the submersible, except the low
drone of the electric fans that swept the air along the passageways.
Every man waited in stoical silence a further word from his chief.

"Jonah had nothing on us," cried Bill Witt grinning, as the group
of boys retreated down the passageway leading forward from the conning
tower into the main torpedo compartment. Lieutenant McClure and
his officers were conferring together over the _Dewey's_ dilemma.

"This ship is no fish," ventured Ted timidly, his mind engrossed in
the new danger that threatened.

"Well, it's a whale of a submarine, isn't it?" continued Bill in a
brave effort to be funny.

Ted agreed, but was in no humor for joking, and hurried amidships to
join Jack, who had remained within call of his commander.

For some moments the boys discussed the predicament of the _Dewey_,
the unfortunate circumstances that had led her aground, and the
possibilities of being floated again. Jack confided to his chum the
fact that he had overheard Lieutenant McClure say the _Dewey_ probably
had ventured too close in shore and had run afoul of a sand bar.

"What's the next move?" queried Ted.

"You've got me, chum; I don't know what they will try next," answered
Jack, feeling a bit glum despite his natural cheerfulness.

Lieutenant McClure and his officers---Cleary, Binns, and Blaine---were
now making an inspection of the _Dewey_ fore and aft. As they returned
amidships the boys overheard snatches of the conversation.

"Propeller blades free, aren't they?" McClure was asking.

"Working free and easy or else the shafts wouldn't turn," Blaine
was saying.

From what the boys could gather from the conversation it was the
belief of the ship's officers that the _Dewey_ was grounded on a
heavy sand bar. She had sloughed down deep in the