hat we shall make no use, save only for
fireworks. Having learned their mystery I deposited a certain portion of
this fire-dust in hollow tubes which I had constructed of iron and brass,
and upon it I further laid leaden balls of a size corresponding to the
hollow of the tubes. I then found that by applying a light to the fire-dust
at one end of the tube I could send the ball out at the other with such
force that it penetrated the cuirasses of three warriors at once. I filled
a barrel with the dust, and concealing it and the tubes under carpets which
I laid upon the backs of oxen, I set out to the city of Constantinople. I
will not at present relate my adventures on the journey. Suffice it that I
arrived at last half dead from fatigue and hardship, and destitute of
everything except my merchandise. By bribing an officer with my carpets I
was admitted to have speech with the Emperor. I found him busily studying a
problem in chess.

"I told him that I had discovered a secret which would make him the master
of the world, and in particular would help him to drive away the Saracens,
who threatened his empire with destruction.

"'Thou must perceive,' he said, 'that I cannot possibly attend to thee
until I have solved this problem. Yet, lest any should say that the
Emperor neglects his duties, absorbed in idle amusement, I will refer thy
invention to the chief armourers of my capital. And he gave me a letter to
the armourers, and returned to his problem. And as I quitted the palace
bearing the missive, I came upon a great procession. Horsemen and running
footmen, musicians, heralds, and banner-bearers surrounded a Chinaman who
sat in the attitude of Fo under a golden umbrella upon a richly caparisoned
elephant, his pigtail plaited with yellow roses. And the musicians blew and
clashed, and the standard-bearers waved their ensigns, and the heralds
proclaimed, 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the Emperor delights to
honour.' And unless I was very greatly mistaken, the face of the Chinaman
was the face of our brother Wang-li.

"At another time I would have striven to find what this might mean, but my
impatience was great, as also my need and hunger. I sought the chief
armourers, and with great trouble brought them all together to give me
audience, I produced my tube and fire-dust, and sent my balls with ease
through the best armour they could set before me.

"' Who will want breast-plates now?' cried the chief breast-plate