“Yes; I did not think of that, Matteo.  You see we are already getting a stock of tools.  Another thing is, with the point of the irons we have got off, we can wrench the wood out as fast as we saw it, and the saws will not work so stiffly as they did before.  But we must not do that till the morning, for any sound like the breaking of wood might be heard by the watch, when everything is quiet.”

Although all worked their best, they made but slight progress in the dark, and each worker was forced to take frequent rests, for the fatigue of working with their arms above their heads was excessive.  As soon, however, as the light began to steal down, and the movement above head told them that the crew were at work washing the decks, the points of the irons were used to wrench away the wood between the saw cuts; and the work then proceeded briskly, as they relieved each other every few minutes.

At last, to their intense satisfaction, three more irons were got out.

“If anyone had told me,” one of the party said, “that a man’s arms could hurt as much as mine do, from working a few hours, I should have disbelieved him.”

There was a chorus of assent, for none were accustomed to hard manual labour, and the pain in their arms was excessive.

“Let us have half an hour’s rest, Francis, before you issue your next orders.  I shall want that, at least, before I feel that I have any power in my arms at all.”

“We will have an hour’s rest, Matteo, if you like.  Before that time they will be sending us down our food, and after we have breakfasted we can set to work again.”

“Breakfast!” one of the young men groaned.  “I cannot call that black bread and water breakfast.  When I think of the breakfasts I have eaten, when I think of the dishes I have refused to eat, because they were not cooked to perfection, I groan over my folly in those days, and my enormous stupidity in ever volunteering to come to sea.”

“I should recommend you all,” Francis said, “to spend the next hour in rubbing and squeezing the muscles of your neighbours’ arms and shoulders.  It is the best way for taking out stiffness, and Giuseppi used to give me relief that way, when I was stiff with fencing.”

The idea was adopted; and while the rest were at work in the manner he suggested, Francis, taking one of the irons, went to the bulkhead.  One by one he tried the planks, from the floor boards to the beams above.

“Well, captain, what is your report?” Matteo asked as he joined the rest.

“My report is a most favourable one,” Francis said.  “By great good luck, the planks are nailed from the other side against the beams both above and below.”

“What difference does that make, Francisco?”

“All the difference in the world.  Had they been nailed on this side, there would have been nothing for it but to carry out our original plan—­that is, to make holes through the planks with these irons, large enough for the saws to go through, and then to saw the wood out from hole to hole.  As it is, I believe that with five minutes’ work we could wrench a plank away.  We have only to push the points of the irons up, between the beams and the planks, and use them as levers.  The nails will be strong, indeed, if those irons, with two of us at each, would not wrench them out.”