They got their first pawl easily enough, then another, and another, by which time the hawser was once more as taut as a bar.  But, as I lightly rested my foot upon it, to test its tautness, I felt it very gradually slackening, which meant one of two things, either that the kedge was coming home--which I thought improbable--or that the ship was very slowly sliding off the bank.  So I cried to the men, who had desisted from their efforts for fear of parting the hawser: