There was a pause, during which Socrates laughed quietly to himself, while Abeuchapeta and the one-sided Morgan wept silently.

“That, gentlemen of the Associated Shades, is all I know of the whereabouts of the House-boat,” continued Captain Kidd.  “I have no doubt that the ladies practised a deception, to our discomfiture, and I must say that I think it was exceedingly clever—­granting that it was desirable to be rid of us, which I don’t, for we meant well by them, and they would have enjoyed themselves.”

“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.