"Sucked," said he. By this he meant that the Monumental crew had succeeded
in emptying their water box in spite of the Eureka's best efforts.

"Get off your nozzle quick!" urged Keith.

Munro, without stopping to ask why, bent his great strength to the task;
and it was a task, for in his hose the pressure of the water was
tremendous. It spurted back all over him, and at the last the nozzle was
fairly blown away from him.

"Now couple my hose to yours quick, quick, before my hose fills!" cried
Keith.

"They won't go--" Munro began to object.

"Yes, they will, mine's a special thread," urged Keith, who had remembered
Bert Taylor's reversed nozzle.

All three bent their energies to catching the threads. It was a fearful
job, for the strength of the water had first to be overcome. Keith was
terribly excited. Time was precious, for not only might the roof give way
beneath them, but at any moment the water might come again in Keith's hose.
Then it would be physically impossible to make the coupling. All three men
concentrated their efforts on it, their feet gripping the irregularities of
the roof or slipping on the shingles. Frank Munro bent his enormous back to
the task, the veins standing out in his temples, his face turning purple
with the effort. Keith helped him as well as he was able. Talbot Ward,
coolly, deliberately, delicately, as though he had all the time in the
world, manipulated the coupling, feeling gingerly for the thread. The water