propulsion.
Her sides were far too high to permit the use of sweeps, and when Perry
suggested that we pole her, I remonstrated on the grounds that it would
be a most undignified and awkward manner of sweeping down upon the foe,
even if we could find or wield poles that would reach to the bottom of
the ocean.

Finally I suggested that we convert her into a sailing vessel. When
once the idea took hold Perry was most enthusiastic about it, and
nothing would do but a four-masted, full-rigged ship.

Again I tried to dissuade him, but he was simply crazy over the
psychological effect which the appearance of this strange and mighty
craft would have upon the natives of Pellucidar. So we rigged her with
thin hides for sails and dried gut for rope.

Neither of us knew much about sailing a full-rigged ship; but that
didn't worry me a great deal, for I was confident that we should never
be called upon to do so, and as the day of launching approached I was
positive of it.

We had built her upon a 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 saplings. Her stern was toward
the water.

A few hours before we were ready to launch her she made quite an
imposing picture, for Perry had insisted upon setting every shred of
"canvas." I told him that I didn't know much about it, but I was sure
that at launching the hull only should have been completed, every-thing
else being completed after she had floated safely.

At the last minute there was some delay while we sought a name for her.
I wanted her christened the Perry in honor both of her designer and
that other great naval genius of another world, Captain Oliver Hazard
Perry, of the United States Navy. But Perry was too modest; he
wouldn't hear of it.

We finally decided to establish a system in the naming of the fleet.
Battle-ships of the first-class should bear the names of kingdoms of
the federation; armored cruisers the names of kings; cruisers the names
of cities, and so on down the line. Therefore, we decided to name the
first battle-ship Sari, after the first of the federated kingdoms.

The launching of the Sari proved easier than I contemplated. Perry
wanted me to get in and break some-thing over the bow as she floated
out upon the bosom of the river, but I told him that I should feel
safer o