Trustee From the Toolroom

Trustee From the Toolroom Read Free Page B

Book: Trustee From the Toolroom Read Free
Author: Nevil Shute
Tags: General Fiction
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starboard, a galley and pantry to port. Aft again came the saloon with the settees on each side and a table in the middle; a small chart table was arranged against the forward bulkhead. Aft again there were two quarter berths, the companion ladder leading up on deck, and a small petrol motor underneath this ladder, rather inaccessible. Shearwater was such a yacht as is to be found by the hundred cruising the south coast of England, though rather better equipped than most.
    John Dermott led Keith, down, below. The linoleum on the deck of the galley and the washroom had been taken up, and the floorboards lifted. What was exposed to view was a smooth level floor of concrete into which the frames disappeared and in which the mast was stepped. About two feet behind the mast step was a fairly deep, rectangular recess in the concrete, large enough to hold the copper box that Dermott carried, and about two inches deeper.
    'That's the place,' he said. 'That's where I want to put it.'
    Keith wrinkled his brows. ' What's all this concrete doing here?'
    'Internal ballast,' said the naval officer. 'They often do it like this. Pour it in when she's building, and bury pig iron or any old scrap iron in it. She'd be too lively with all the ballast on the keel. She's got about three tons of lead outside, as well.'
    'I never knew that,' said the mechanic. 'What's this hole been left here for, then ?'
    ' I don't really know. She's got another like it at the stern, but that's used for a sump; the bilge pump suction goes down into it. Perhaps .they thought she'd want another sump up here. I don't know. She never makes any water, anyway.'
    Keith knelt down and fingered the concrete hole. ' It's a bit oily,' he remarked. ' I think I'll chip it a bit first - clean it up and make a sort of rebate, so it'll hold.' He fetched his toolbag, and set to work with hammer and cold chisel.
    Half an hour later he was mixing a little concrete of cement, fine stones and sand. He made a bed of it at the bottom of the hole, greased the copper box, and set it carefully in the middle. Then he filled in the spaces round it with the wet mixture, working it carefully into the corners and the newly cut recesses. 'Look your last on it,' he said, and covered it over with a smooth layer of the mix, patting it, working it with a little builder's trowel, taking up the surplus, till it was smooth and level with the original concrete floor, only the darker wetness of the new material showing the difference. He gathered his tools and the remainder of the mix in newspaper, cleaned up the mess, and got up from his knees a little stiffly. 'I'd leave the floorboards up for a day or so, till it's set hard,' he said. 'It'll take a week to harden properly, but you can put the boards back.'
    His sister asked, 'What do we do when we want to get it out, Keith?'
    'Just cut around the edge with a cold chisel and a hammer, like this,' he said. ' You'll probably be able to see where the concrete's a bit different, but even if you can't, it'll sound hollow when you tap it with a hammer. The top layer of concrete'll come off easy enough, because it's only an inch or so thick. Then when you can see the box you'll have to cut around with the chisel till you can get it out. You won't have any trouble.'
    He stayed for a cold lunch with them on board, and while the meal was in preparation he examined the ship, a short, white-faced, plump little man completely out of his element. He knew nothing of yachts and the sea. She seemed to him to be cosy enough downstairs, though a bit cramped; upstairs he was confused by the complexity of her and by the unfamiliar materials, the sisal, nylon, flax, cotton, hemp, and teak. He was unfamiliar with the sea v and did not like it much; it was a place that made you cold and wet and sick. His brother-in-law was a sensible man in most ways though not in matters technical, and he liked the sea, so there must be something in it for some people, though not for him. They

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