CHAPTER XXII
AT GATUN LOCKS
"Steady there now, men! Pass forward those lashings! Careful! Look out, or you'll be caught by it when she rolls! Another turn around the bitts!"
It was the officer of the deck giving orders to a number of marines and sailors as Tom hastily clad, leaped on deck, followed by his chum. The warship was pitching and tossing worse than ever in the heaving billows, and the men were engaged in making fast the giant cannon, which, as Tom had surmised, had torn loose from the steel cables holding it down on deck.
"Come on, Ned!" cried Tom. "We've got to help here!"
"That's right. Look at her swing, would you? If she hits anything it's a goner!"
The breech of the gun appeared to be the end that had come loose, while the muzzle still held fast. And this immense mass of steel was swing-
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