aimed--

"Beneath us, the bottom of the sea is covered with iron ships--the
wrecks of stupendous navies--the mightiest of all human history!"

At once we all became interested.

"What navies?" I inquired. "And what compassed their destruction?
Was it a battle?"

_Nofuhl._
A battle of whose magnitude no Persian has conception; a conflict in
which the sea was tossed and the heavens rent by thunderings of iron
monsters. Any one of them would have blown to atoms a fleet of
_Zlotuhbs_.

_Ad-el-pate._
Verily! A tale easier told than believed. But I would readily
venture my head in the _Zlotuhb_ against any of these nursery-tale
wonders.

_Nofuhl._
And with wisdom. For the loss of thy brain, Ad-el-pate, could not
affect the nature of thy speech.

Whereupon there was laughter, and Ad-el-pate held his peace.

_Khan-li._
But tell us of this battle, O Nofuhl. I remember now to have read
about it at college. These details of ancient history I am prone to
forget. How came it about?

_Nofuhl._
I have spoken of the Mehrikans being a greedy race. And their greed,
at last, resulted in this war. By means of one-sided laws of their
own making they secured for themselves a lion's share of all profits
from the world's commerce. This checked the prosperity of other
nations, until at last the leading powers of Europe combined in
self-defence against this all-absorbing greed. They collected an
armada the like of which was never imagined, neither before nor since.
Then, across the ocean, came the iron host. And here, upon this very
spot where we are floating, they met the Mehrikan ships.

_Khan-li._
How many ships in all?

_Nofuhl._
The Mehrikans had eighty heavy ships of iron, with a number of smaller
craft. The allies had two hundred and forty heavy battleships, all of
iron. They also had smaller craft for divers purposes.

_Khan-li._
Allah! A bad prospect for our greedy friends! And being a nation of
traders they had no liking, probably, for the perils of war.

_Nofuhl._
As to that historians differ. According to the Mehrikans themselves
they were mighty warriors. But certain writers of that period give a
different impression. Noz-yt-ahl is sure they were cowards, weak in
body as in spirit, but often favored by fortune. In my opinion, this
battle throws considerable light upon that matter.

A day like this, it was, also in June, as the Europeans, coming
northward along the coast to seize Nhu-Yok, met the Mehrikan Ad