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Page 42
"But," cried Hamlet, "may they not now be in peril? They cannot navigate
that ship."
"They got her out of the harbor all right," said Kidd. "And I judged from
the figure at the helm that Mrs. Noah had taken charge. What kind of a
seaman she is I don't know."
"Almighty bad," ejaculated Shem, turning pale. "It was she who ran us
ashore on Ararat."
"Well, wasn't that what you wanted?" queried Munchausen.
"What we wanted!" cried Shem. "Well, I guess not. You don't want your
yacht stranded on a mountain-top, do you? She was a dead loss there,
whereas if mother hadn't been in such a hurry to get ashore, we could have
waited a month and landed on the seaboard."
"You might have turned her into a summer hotel," suggested Munchausen.
"Well, we must up anchor and away," said Holmes. "Our pursuit has merely
begun, apparently. We must overtake this vessel, and the question to be
answered is--where?"
"That's easy," said Artemus Ward. "From what Shem says, I think we'd
better look for her in the Himalayas."
"And, meanwhile, what shall be done with Kidd?" asked Holmes.
"He ought to be expelled from the club," said Johnson.
"We can't expel him, because he's not a member," replied Raleigh.
"Then elect him," suggested Ward.
"What on earth for?" growled Johnson.
"So that we can expel him," said Ward.
And while Boswell's hero was trying to get the value of this notion
through his head, the others repaired to the deck, and the _Gehenna_ was
soon under way once more. Meanwhile Captain Kidd and his fellows were put
in irons and stowed away in the forecastle, alongside of the water-cask in
which Shylock lay in hiding.
XII
THE ESCAPE AND THE END
If there was anxiety on board of the _Gehenna_ as to the condition and
whereabouts of the House-boat, there was by no means less uneasiness upon
that vessel itself. Cleopatra's scheme for ridding herself and her
abducted sisters of the pirates had worked to a charm, but, having worked
thus, a new and hitherto undreamed-of problem, full of perplexities
bearing upon their immediate safety, now confronted them. The sole
representative of a sea-faring family on board was Mrs. Noah, and it did
not require much time to see that her knowledge as to navigation was of an
extremely primitive order, limited indeed to the science of floating.
When the last pirate had disappeared behind the rocks of Holmes Island,
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."
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