Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-27

an axiom which carries the thought KERNEL
that what man has done man can do. and II
doesn't cut any figure with Perry whether
fellow knows how TO do II or not
He set out to make gunpowder once.
shortly after our escape from Phutra and
at the beginning of the confederation of the
wild tribes of Pellucidar. He said that
some one, without any knowledge Of the
fact that such thing might be concocted,
had once stumbled upon 1t by accident, and
SO he couldn't see why a fellow who knew
all about powder except how to make II
couldn't do ag well.
He worked mighty hard mixing all sorts
OF things together. until finally he evolved
a substance that looked like powder He
had been very proud of the stuff and had
gone about the village of the Sarians ex-
hibitng II to every one who would listen
to him. and explaining what its purpose was
and what terrific havoc 1t would work, until
finally the natives became so terrified at the
stuff that they wouldn't come within rod
of Perry and his invention
Finally I suggested that we experiment
with Il and see what II would do, so Perry
built a fire. after placing the powder at
safe distance, and then touched glowing
ember to minute particle of the deadly,
explosive II extinguished the ember,
Repeated experiments with II determined
me that in searching for high explosive
Perry had stumbled upon f1re-extinguisnef
that would have made his fortune Tor him
back In our own world 80,
So now he set himself to work TO huild
, scientific canoe. / had suggested that we
oone,ruct n dugout but Perry convinced
mo that we must build something more IN
keeping with our positions OF supermcn III
this world Of the Stone Age.
I'VE must impress these natlves wltn
our superIoritv." he explained. You must
80 forget David that you are emperor of
pelIucidar As such you may not with dig
ri.v annroach the shores of foreign power
in so crude n vessel as "A nugout'
nointed out to Perry that II wasn't
much more incongruous Tor the emperor
10 cruise in n canoe than II was for the
nrime minister to attempt to build one with
his own hands.
ue had to smile at that; but In extenu-
alton of his act he assured me that 1t was
Quite customary for prime ministers to give
their personal attention to the building OF
imperisl navies "and this" he said. lis the
tmnerial navy of his Serene Highness
David [ Emperor of the Federated King
dop1s Of Pellucidar"
| grnned but Perry was quite serious
about t. 1t had always seemed rather
moro or less Of n Joke to me that | should
be addressed as majesty and all the rest
of it, Yet my imperial power and dig
nity had been a very real thing during my
brief reign.
Twenty tribes had Joined the federation,
and their chiefs had sworn eternal fealty
TO one another and to me Among them
were many powerful though savage ma
tions Their chiefs we had made kings
their tribal lands kingdoms.
We had armed them with bows and ar
rows and swords, in addition to their own
more primitive weapons. i had trained
them I'm military discipline and in so much
of the art of war as l had CLEANED IRON
extensive reading of the campaigns OF Ma
poleon, Won Moltke, Grant and the ancients
We had marked out as best we coulo
1 I,n.,I
kingdoms. We had warned tribes beyono
these boundaries that they must not tres
pass. and we had marched against ane
severely punished those who had.
We had met and defeated the Mahars
and the Sagoths. In short. we had demon
strated our rights to empire. and very
rapidly were we being recognized and hor
aided abroad when my departure for The
outer world and Hoojas treachery had Sc
| us back.
But now had returned. The work tina
| fate had undone must be done again, ant
| though l must need smile at my imperla
| honors / none the less felt the weight OF
| duty and obligation that rested upon my
shoulders.
Slowly the imperial navy progressed
| toward completion. She was wondrou
| craft but l had my doubts about her. Whei
| voiced them to Perry he reminded mi
| gently that my people for many generations
| had been mine-owners. not shipbuilders ant
| consequently l couldn't be eopected tt
know much about the matter.
| l was minded to inquire into his heredi
| tary fitness to design battleships; but in
asmuch as l already knew that his fathe
| had been a minister in a backwoods VII
| lage far from the coast | hesitated lest
| offend the dear old fellow
| He was immensely serious about hi
| work, and I must admit that In so far al
appearances went he did extremely vel
with the meager tools and assistance at hi
| command. We had only two short axe!
| and our hunting knives yet with these w
| hewed trees, split them into planks, sur
| faced and fitted them
| The navy was some forty feet II
length by ten feet beam. Her sides were
quite straight and fully ten feet high-"fol
| the purpose" explained Perry, "of adding
dignity to her appearance and rendering il
less easy for an enemy to board her"
As matter of fact | knew that he ha6
had in mind the safety of her crew under
avelin-fre-the lofty sides made an ad
miraDle shelter. Inside she reminded me
Of nothing so much floating trench
There was also some slight analogy to q
huge coffin
Her prov soped sharply backward from
the water line--qute like a line of battle.
ship Perry had designed her more for her
moral effect upon an enemy. | think than
for any real harm she might infiict and
so those parts which were to show were the
most imposing.
Neither of us knew much about sailing
a full-rigged ship; but that didn't worry
me a great deal, for l was confident that
we should never be called upon to do So
and the day of launching approached
was positive of It,
We had built her upon low bank of the
river close TO where it emptied into the sea,
and just above high tide. Her keel we had
laid upon several rollers cut from small
trees. the ends of the rollers In turn resting
upon parallel tracks of long saplngs. Her
stern was toward the water
A few hours before we were ready to
launch her she made quite an imposing pic
ture, for Perry had insisted upon setting
every shred of Canvas" ! told him that |
didn't know much about 1t, but I was sure
that AT launching the hull only should have