It was very short, and Margaret quickly withdrew her hand and looked away.  The Duke was the first to speak.

“I do not think it is anything very serious,” said he.  “If you will all sit still, I will go and see what is the matter.”  He rose and left the saloon.

“I don’t fancy there is any cause for anxiety,” said Barker.  “There has probably been some slight accident to the machinery, and we shall be off again in an hour.  I think we ought to compliment the ladies on the courage they have shown; it is perfectly wonderful.”  And Mr. Barker smiled gently round the table.  Lady Victoria was palpably scared and Miss Skeat was silent.  As for Margaret, she was confused and troubled.  The accident of her seizing Claudius’s hand, as she had done, was a thousand times more serious than any accident to the ship.  The Doctor could not help stealing a glance at her, but he chimed in with Barker in praising the coolness of all three ladies.  Presently the Duke came back.  He had been forward by a passage that led between decks to the engine-room, where he had met the captain.  The party felt reassured as the ruddy face of their host appeared in the doorway.

“There is nothing to fear,” he said cheerfully.  “But it is a horrid nuisance, all the same.”

“Tell us all about it,” said Lady Victoria.

“Well—­we have lost our means of locomotion.  We have carried away our propeller.”

“What are you going to do about it?” asked Barker.

“Do?  There is nothing to be done.  We must sail for it.  I am dreadfully sorry.”

“It is not your fault,” said Claudius.

“Well, I suppose not.  It happens even to big steamers.”

“And shall we sail all the way to New York?” asked his sister, who was completely reassured.  “I think it will be lovely.”  Miss Skeat also thought sailing much more poetic than steaming.

“I think we must hold a council of war,” said the master.  “Let us put it to the vote.  Shall we make for Bermuda, which is actually nearer, but which is four or five days’ from New York, or shall we go straight and take our chance of a fair wind?”

“If you are equally willing to do both, why not let the ladies decide?” suggested Barker.

“Oh no,” broke in the Countess, “it will be much more amusing to vote.  We will write on slips of paper and put them in a bag.”

“As there are five of you I will not vote,” said the Duke, “for we might be three on a side, you know.”

So they voted, and there were three votes for New York and two for Bermuda.

“New York has it,” said the Duke, who counted, “and I am glad, on the whole, for it is Sturleson’s advice.”  Barker had voted for New York, and he wondered who the two could have been who wanted to go to Bermuda.  Probably Miss Skeat and Lady Victoria.  Had the Countess suspected that those two would choose the longer journey and out-vote her, if the decision were left to the ladies?