“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.”
“That’s unfortunate,” said Mrs. Noah, “because I don’t know anything about these new fangled notions. If there’s any one here who knows anything about naphtha engines, I wish they’d speak.”
“I’m of the opinion,” said Portia, “that I can study out the theory of it in a short while.”
“Very well, then,” said Mrs. Noah, “you can do it. I’ll appoint you engineer, and give you all your orders now, right away, in advance. Set her going and keep her going, and don’t stop without a written order signed by me. We might as well be very careful, and have everything done properly, and it might happen that in the excitement of our trip you would misunderstand my spoken orders and make a fatal error. Therefore, pay no attention to unwritten orders. That will do for you for the present. Xanthippe, you may take Ophelia and Madame Récamier, and ten other ladies, and, every morning before breakfast, swab the larboard deck. Cassandra, Tuesdays you will devote to polishing the brasses in the dining-room, and the balance of your time I wish you to expend in dusting the bric-a-brac. Dido, you always were strong at building fires. I’ll make you chief stoker. You will also assist Lucretia Borgia in the kitchen. Inasmuch as the latter’s maid has neglected to supply her with the usual line of poisons, I think we can safely entrust to Lucretia’s hands the responsibilities of the culinary department.”
“I’m perfectly willing to do anything I can,” said Lucretia, “but I must confess that I don’t approve of your methods of commanding a ship. A ship’s captain isn’t a domestic martinet, as you are setting out to be. We didn’t appoint you housekeeper.”
“Now, my child,” said Mrs. Noah, firmly, “I do not wish any words. If I hear any more impudence from you, I’ll put you ashore without a reference; and the rest of you I would warn in all kindness that I will not tolerate insubordination. You may, all of you, have one night of the week and alternate Sundays off, but your work must be 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.”
“‘NOW, MY CHILD,’ SAID MRS. NOAH, FIRMLY, ‘I DO NOT WISH ANY WORDS’”
The boat gave a slight tremor.
“Hurrah,” cried Elizabeth, clapping her hands with glee, “we are off!”