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."

"Ah!" cried Mrs. Noah, as the vessel began to move. "I begin to feel
easier. It looks now as if we were really off."

"It seems to me, though," said Cleopatra, gazing forward, "that we are
going backward."

"Oh, well, what if we are!" said Mrs. Noah. "We did that on the Ark half
the time. It doesn't make any difference which way we are going as long as
we go, does it?"

"Why, of course it does!" cried Elizabeth. "What can you be thinking of?
People who walk backward are in great danger of running into other people.
Why not the same with ships? It seems to me, it's a very dangerous piece
of business, sailing backward."

"Oh, nonsense," snapped Mrs. Noah. "You are as timid as a zebra. During
the Flood, we sailed days and days and days, going backward. It didn't
make a particle of difference how we went--it was as safe one way as
another, and we got just as far away in the end. Our main object now is to
get away from the pirates, and that's what we are doing. Don't get
emotional, Lizzie, and remember, too, that I am in charge. If I think the
boat ought to go sideways, sideways she shall go. If you don't like it, it
is still not too late to put you ashore."

The threat calmed Elizabeth somewhat, and she was satisfied, and all went
well with them, even if Portia had started the propeller revolving reverse
fashion; so that the House-boat was, as Elizabeth had said, backing her
way through the ocean.

The day passed, and by slow degrees the island and the marooned pirates
faded from view, and the night came on, and with it a dense fog.

"We're going to have a nasty night, I am afraid," said Xanthippe, looking
anxiously out of the port.

"No doubt," said Mrs. Noah, pleasantly. "I'm sorry for those who have to
be out in it."

"That's what I was thinking about," observed Xanthippe. "It's going to be
very hard on us keeping watch."

"Watch for what?" demanded Mrs. Noah, looking over the tops of her glasses
at Xanthippe.

"Why, surely you are g