CHAPTER VI: A CONFERENCE BELOW-STAIRS



When, with a resounding slam, the door to the upper deck of the
House-boat was shut in the faces of queens Elizabeth and Cleopatra by
the unmannerly Kidd, these ladies turned and gazed at those who
thronged the stairs behind them in blank amazement, and the heart of
Xanthippe, had one chosen to gaze through that diaphanous person's
ribs, could have been seen to beat angrily.

Queen Elizabeth was so excited at this wholly novel attitude towards
her regal self that, having turned, she sat down plump upon the floor
in the most unroyal fashion.

"Well!" she ejaculated. "If this does not surpass everything! The
idea of it! Oh for one hour of my olden power, one hour of the axe,
one hour of the block!"

"Get up," retorted Cleopatra, "and let us all return to the billiard-
room and discuss this matter calmly. It is quite evident that
something has happened of which we wotted little when we came aboard
this craft."

"That is a good idea," said Calpurnia, retreating below. "I can see
through the window that we are in motion. The vessel has left her
moorings, and is making considerable headway down the stream, and the
distinctly masculine voices we have heard are indications to my mind
that the ship is manned, and that this is the result of design rather