Efforts at sleep were futile for the most part, although dauntless
spirits like Bill Witt and Mike Mowrey turned in as usual and dozed
away as peacefully as though no danger existed. Midnight and high
tide kindled fresh hopes as "Little Mack" steeled himself for a last
try with the _Dewey's_ hardworked engines. Jack and Ted had spent
the long evening in the wireless room with Sammy Smith, hearing not
so much as a trace of a passing vessel. Eagerly they awaited the
last herculean effort for freedom. At ten minutes to one the engines
were set in motion again and the signal given to back away as before.
Lieutenant McClure had resorted to the expedient of shifting
everything movable within the _Dewey_ to the bow bulkhead in the
hope that the submarine might be tilted forward at the supreme
moment. Now he ordered every man aboard ship, except the engineering
force necessary to operate the engines, into the torpedo chamber
forward.
"Whirr-r-r!" the roar of machinery reverberated throughout the hold.
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