conversation with the driver of the omnibus. Stump nodded to a man on
the quay. The forward mooring rope was cleared, and fell into the water
with a loud splash. Two sailors ran the gangway on board. An electric
bell jarred in the engine-room, and the screw revolved, while the
rattle of the steering chains showed that the helm was put hard a-port.
When the _Aphrodite_ moved slowly astern, her bow swung towards the
mouth of the dock. The indicator rang again, twice, and the yacht,
after a pause, began to forge ahead. Another splash, and the second
hawser was cast loose. The mole, the neighboring ships, the landward
quays and the warehouses thereon, seemed to diminish in size without
any perceptible cause, and, in a space of time that might have been
measured by seconds rather than minutes, the _Aphrodite_ was throbbing
southward.

Mrs. Haxton, whose eagerness to inspect her stateroom had gone, was
hailed pleasantly by Irene.

"Now, because I asked you to wait, you shall have first choice," she
said, "Lead on, Mr. Royson. Let us see our dens."

But Baron von Kerber came running along the deck, all smiles and
welcoming words, and it was evident that some reason other than
physical unfitness had kept him out of sight until the yacht's voyage
was actually commenced. Dick heard him explaining coolly that he had
met with a slight accident on arriving at Marseilles overnight. Some
difficulty in dressing, he said, combined with the phenomenal
punctuality of the _train de luxe_, accounted for his tardy appearance,
but the ladies would find that the steward had everything in readiness,
and Mr. Fenshawe was too experienced a _voyageur_ not to make himself
at home instantly. Rattling on thus agreeably, he led the way aft.