The space occupied by Conference Hall had been taken; but the captain had set the carpenter at work to extend the promenade six feet aft, and the work was completed before night. The carpet was laid, and the arm-chairs removed to the new Conference Hall. The awning overhead was to be lengthened out by the sailmakers among the crew.
Mr. Shafter had always insisted that his force was too small, and the captain admitted the truth of his position. Felipe Garcias had stood on the books of the ship as third engineer for several months; and John Donald was made fourth engineer. The chief was entirely satisfied with the appointments. Pitts returned to his place on the forecastle as a seaman. The "Big Four" had staterooms in the cabin. After all, the change was only the restoration of the old order of things before the ship arrived at Gibraltar.
At daylight the next morning the Guardian-Mother hauled out of the basin, and started on her voyage for the other extremity of the Red Sea.
The promenade did not wholly change its name after it became Conference Hall, and had been enlarged and improved. It was as popular a resort as it had ever been when the ship was under way and there was anything to be seen. The place was occupied when the ship hauled out of the basin in the early morning of January 19; for the passengers had all asked to be called at five o'clock.
It seemed a little strange to go to sea without the Maud astern, and with the principal members of her ship's company seated with the others on the promenade. The commander had engaged a pilot for the whole length of the Red Sea; for it is full of rocks and reefs, making the navigation difficult and dangerous, though it has been thoroughly surveyed, and the chart is speckled with small islands and coral reefs.
"I could give you the Arabic names of some of the surroundings as we proceed," said the captain, who had taken a position where he could observe the movements of the vessel, and it enabled him to look into the pilot-house through the after windows when he desired to do so.
"Please don't, Captain Ringgold!" exclaimed Mrs. Belgrave. "It makes my jaws ache even to hear them."
"But there are some things which have no other names, and they must sometimes be used. That buoy on the starboard has no English name; but it is of no consequence, and I will not try to speak it. On the opposite shore is the Gebel Ataka, which you have noticed before. By this time you have learned that gebel is a mountain, and _jebel_, as you will find it on your map of the Peninsula of Sinai, means the same thing. _Ras_ is a cape. Formerly I knew many more words than now; for it is very easy to forget a foreign language."