"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 miry sea bottom
with her keel amidships firmly imbedded and her bow and stern floating
free. The suction of the mud prevented her from rising.
In the wireless room Jack, Ted, Sammy Smith and Bill Witt finally came
together and began speculating on the critical predicament of their
ship.
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