n dry land until I saw which side up the Sari would float.

I could see by the expression of the old man's face that my words had
hurt him; but I noticed that he didn't offer to get in himself, and so
I felt less contrition than I might otherwise.

When we cut the ropes and removed the blocks that held the Sari in
place she started for the water with a lunge. Before she hit it she
was going at a reckless speed, for we had laid our tracks quite down to
the water, greased them, and at intervals placed rollers all ready to
receive the ship as she moved forward with stately dignity. But there
was no dignity in the Sari.

When she touched the surface of the river she must have been going
twenty or thirty miles an hour. Her momentum carried her well out into
the stream, until she came to a sudden halt at the end of the long line
which we had had the foresight to attach to her bow and fasten to a
large tree upon the bank.

The moment her progress was checked she promptly capsized. Perry was
overwhelmed. I didn't upbraid him, nor remind him that I had "told him
so."

His grief was so genuine and so apparent that I didn't have the heart
to reproach him, even were I inclined to that particular sort of
meanness.

"Come, come, old man!" I cried. "It's not as bad as it looks. Give me
a hand with this rope, and we'll drag her up as far as we can; and then
when the tide goes out we'll try another scheme. I think we can make a
go of her yet."

Well, we managed to get her up into shallow water. When the tide
receded she lay there on her side in the mud, quite a pitiable object
for the premier battle-ship of a world--"the terror of the seas" was
the way Perry had occasionally described her.

We had to work fast; but before the tide came in again we had stripped
her of her sails and masts, righted her, and filled her about a quarter
full of rock ballast. If she didn't stick too fast in the mud I was
sure that she would float this time right side up.

I can tell you that it was with palpitating hearts that we sat upon the
river-bank and watched that tide come slowly in. The tides of
Pellucidar don't amount to much by comparison with our higher tides of
the outer world, but I knew that it ought to prove ample to float the
Sari.

Nor was I mistaken. Finally we had the satisfaction of seeing the
vessel rise out of the mud and float slowly upstream with the tide. As
the water rose we pulled her in quite close to the b