In the midst of his explanations, he saw that Dick was accompanying the
party, and told him, rather abruptly, that his services were not
required. In no amiable mood, therefore, the second officer went to the
upper deck, where the skipper was growling his views to Tagg about the
mysterious incident of the telegram. It was a moment of tension, and
something might have been said that would tend to place Royson and the
captain at arm's length if the _Aphrodite_ had not taken it into her
head to emulate Miss Fenshawe's action by coming to Dick's assistance.
The little vessel remembered that which Stump paid small heed to, and
asserted herself.

Notwithstanding her half-deck saloon, with the tiny chart-house perched
thereon, and the narrow bridge that gave her a steamer-like aspect, she
was rigged as a topsail schooner, her sharp lines and consequent extra
length affording full play to her fore-and-aft sails. Her first owner
had designed her with set purpose. It was his hobby to remain in out-
of-the-way parts of the world for years at a time, visiting savage
lands where coal was not procurable, and he trusted more to sails than
to engine-power. But Stump, and his chief officer, and nearly every
sailor on board, being accustomed to steam, despised windjammers, and
pinned their faith to the engines.

With a favorable wind such as was blowing at the moment, or to steady
the yacht in a cross sea, the captain would have set a foresail and
jib. To help the propeller was good seamanship, but to bank the engine-
room fires and depend wholly on sails was the last thing he would think
of. Hence, the _Aphrodite_ straightway taught him a sharp lesson. While
Stump was ruminating on the exact, form of some scathing remark for
Royson's benefit, a sudden stoppage of the screw, and an ominously easy