done. The regimen I am adopting is precisely that in vogue on the
Ark, only I didn't have the help I have now, and things got into very
bad shape. We were out forty days, and, while the food was poor and
the service execrable, we never lost a life."

The boat gave a slight tremor.

"Hurrah!" cried Elizabeth, clapping her hands with glee, "we are
off!"

"I will repair to the deck and get our bearings," said Mrs. Noah,
putting her shawl over her shoulders. "Meantime, Cleopatra, I
appoint you first mate. See that things are tidied up a bit here
before I return. Have the windows washed, and to-morrow I want all
the rugs and carpets taken up and shaken."

Portia meanwhile had discovered the naphtha engine, and, after
experimenting several times with the various levers and stop-cocks,
had finally managed to move one of them in such a way as to set the
engine going, and the wheel began to revolve.

"Are we going all right?" she cried, from below.

"I am afraid not," said the gallant commander. "The wheel is roiling
up the water at a great rate, but we don't seem to be going ahead
very fast--in fact, we're simply moving round and round as though we
were on a pivot."

"I'm afraid we're aground amidships," said Xanthippe, gazing over the
side of the House-boat anxiously. "She certainly acts that way--like