"The Red Sea is sometimes a very stormy place," said the commander. "I have feared more than anything else when you have been sailing in the Maud that she might get separated from the ship in a fog, or in some other manner, and that the little steamer might come to grief, however well she might be handled; for she certainly is not large enough for an independent voyage.
"In the very last paper I received from New York, I read of a new steam-yacht to be built by a millionaire for the voyage around the world which has lately become the fad of millionaires. One item struck my attention; that she was to be armed with four cannon whose calibre was not given, as well as with a supply of small arms. The wealthy voyager was afraid of pirates, or some other freebooters on the Malabar and Malay coasts, as well as among the islands of the Indian Ocean and those of the Pacific.
"As you are aware, I took the same precautions myself; and I only regret now that I did not take on board more guns and small arms. We have had occasion to use our twelve-pounders on one occasion, and perhaps, if the ship had reached the coast of Cyprus at the time I expected, I might have found them useful. I do not anticipate any trouble from native pirates wherever we may go; but I think the Maud is a temptation to Arabs and other natives.
"In 1882 Edward Henry Palmer, an Englishman, while on a peaceful mission with two officers of the British service, was murdered by the natives, with his two companions, near Suez, but on the other side of the gulf. If I were sure that the ship could always be near enough to defend the little steamer if attacked, I should feel different about it. Then we are liable to encounter fearful storms, cyclones, in the Indian Ocean, and I think it is more prudent to have the little craft on our deck, rather than in the water."
Neither Captain Scott nor Felix was disposed to argue the question, and they said nothing. Early in the morning the work of preparation began with the removal of everything heavy from the Maud that was not a fixture. She was a large steam-launch to be hoisted on the deck of a steamer no larger than the Guardian-Mother; but the task was satisfactorily accomplished by lunch-time. The afternoon was used in bracing the craft in her position, and putting everything around her in ship-shape condition.