“What’s that?” queried Mrs. Noah. “We never had an experience like that on the Ark.”
Portia explained the science of the anchor.
“What nonsense!” ejaculated Mrs. Noah. “How can we get away from it?”
“We’ve got to pull it up,” said Portia. “Order all hands on deck and have it pulled up.”
“It can’t be done, and, if it could, I wouldn’t have it!” said Mrs. Noah, indignantly. “The idea! Lifting heavy pieces of iron, my dear Portia, is not a woman’s work. Send for Delilah, and let her cut the rope with her scissors.”
“It would take her a week to cut a hawser like that,” said Elizabeth, who had been investigating. “It would be more to the purpose, I think, to chop it in two with an axe.”
“Very well,” replied Mrs. Noah, satisfied. “I don’t care how it is done as long as it is done quickly. It would never do for us to be recaptured now.”
The suggestion of Elizabeth was carried out, and the queen herself cut the hawser with six well-directed strokes of the axe.
“You are an expert with it, aren’t you?” smiled Cleopatra.
“I am, indeed,” replied Elizabeth, grimly. “I had it suspended over my head for so long a time before I got to the throne that I couldn’t help familiarizing myself with some of its possibilities.”