come
within a rod of Perry and his invention.

Finally, I suggested that we experiment with it and see what it would
do, so Perry built a fire, after placing the powder at a safe distance,
and then touched a glow-ing ember to a minute particle of the deadly
explosive. It extinguished the ember.

Repeated experiments with it determined me that in searching for a high
explosive, Perry had stumbled upon a fire-extinguisher that would have
made his fortune for him back in our own world.

So now he set himself to work to build a scientific canoe. I had
suggested that we construct a dugout, but Perry convinced me that we
must build something more in keeping with our positions of supermen in
this world of the Stone Age.

"We must impress these natives with our superiority," he explained.
"You must not forget, David, that you are emperor of Pellucidar. As
such you may not with dignity approach the shores of a foreign power in
so crude a vessel as a dugout."

I pointed out to Perry that it wasn't much more incongruous for the
emperor to cruise in a canoe, than it was for the prime minister to
attempt to build one with his own hands.

He had to smile at that; but in extenuation of his act he assured me
that it was quite customary for prime ministers to give their personal
attention to the building of imperial navies; "and this," he said, "is
the imperial navy of his Serene Highness, David I, Emperor of the
Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar."

I grinned; but Perry was quite serious about it. It had always seemed
rather more or less of a joke to me that I should be addressed as
majesty and all the rest of it. Yet my imperial power and dignity 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 nations. Their chiefs we had made kings; their tribal
lands kingdoms.

We had armed them with bows and arrows and swords, in addition to their
own more primitive weapons. I had trained them in military discipline
and in so much of the art of war as I had gleaned from extensive
reading of the campaigns of Napoleon, Von Moltke, Grant, and the
ancients.

We had marked out as best we could natural boundaries dividing the
various kingdoms. We had warned tribes beyond these boundaries that
they must not trespass, and we had marched against and severely
punished those who had.