Her first owner
had designed her with set purpose. It was his hobby to remain in out-
of-the-way parts of the world for years at a time, visiting savage
lands where coal was not procurable, and he trusted more to sails than
to engine-power. But Stump, and his chief officer, and nearly every
sailor on board, being accustomed to steam, despised windjammers, and
pinned their faith to the engines.
With a favorable wind such as was blowing at the moment, or to steady
the yacht in a cross sea, the captain would have set a foresail and
jib. To help the propeller was good seamanship, but to bank the engine-
room fires and depend wholly on sails was the last thing he would think
of. Hence, the _Aphrodite_ straightway taught him a sharp lesson. While
Stump was ruminating on the exact, form of some scathing remark for
Royson's benefit, a sudden stoppage of the screw, and an ominously easy
roll over the crest of the next sea, showed that the engines were idle.
Stump hurled a lurid question down the speaking-tube.
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