Working quietly and silently the New Zealanders removed a sufficient number of lumps of coal, and dropped them into the water without making a splash. In a very short time a hollow six or seven feet in length and three in breadth was excavated. The barrel staves, set slantwise between the sloping bank of coal and the after bulkhead, served as a roof, while, to camouflage their place of concealment, coal was piled on the boards until the new level was about the same as the original one.