and all was in readiness for action, the good old lady, who had hitherto
been as calm and unruffled as a child, began to get red in the face and to
bustle about in a manner which betrayed considerable perturbation of
spirit.

"Now, Mrs. Noah," said Cleopatra, as, peeping out from the billiard-room
window, she saw Morgan disappearing in the distance, "the coast is clear,
and I resign my position of chairman to you. We place the vessel in your
hands, and ourselves subject to your orders. You are in command. What do
you wish us to do?"

"Very well," replied Mrs. Noah, putting down her knitting and starting for
the deck. "I'm not certain, but I think the first thing to do is to get
her moving. Do you know, I've never discovered whether this boat is a
steamboat or a sailing-vessel? Does anybody know?"

"I think it has a naphtha tank and a propeller," said Elizabeth, "although
I don't know. It seems to me my brother Raleigh told me they'd had a
naphtha engine put in last winter after the freshet, when the House-boat
was carried ten miles down the river, and had to be towed back at enormous
expense. They put it in so that if she were carried away again she could
get back of her own power."

"That's unfortunate," said Mrs. Noah, "because I don't know anything about
these new fangled notions. If there's any one here who knows anything
about naphtha engines, I wish they'd speak."

"I'm of the opinion," said Portia, "that I can study out the theory of it
in a short while."