The engineer's
equally emphatic reply told him that there was a breakdown, cause not
stated. Now, the outer roadstead of Marseilles harbor is one of the
most awkward places in the Mediterranean for a disabled vessel. Though
the Gulf of Lions is almost tideless, it has strong and treacherous
currents. The configuration of the rocky coast, guarded as it is by
small islands and sunken reefs, does not allow much seaway until a
lighthouse, some miles distant from the mainland, is passed. Stump, of
course, would have made use of the ship's sails before she drifted into
peril. But he was purple with wrath, and the necessary commands were
not familiar to his tongue.
Therefore, he hesitated, though he was far from remaining silent, and
Royson, never at a loss when rapidity of thought and action was
demanded, took the lead. He woke up the crew with a string of orders,
rushed from foremast to mainmast and back to the bows again to see that
the men hauled the right ropes and set the sails in the right way, and,
had the _Aphrodite_ bowling along under canvas in less than two minutes
after the stopping of the screw.
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