ith your terrible weapons you were invincible. You can destroy us and
we cannot destroy you, therefore I concluded, as rear-admiral of the
fleet and successor to Admiral Jolar, who was killed in battle, that
it was throwing life away to continue the fight. I saw, furthermore,
that with you as the champion of the goddess her cause would succeed,
and I wanted to be the first to render homage to her majesty."

"You have acted well," I replied, "and to reward your action, I now,
in the name of her majesty, appoint and proclaim you rear-admiral of
the fleet of Lyone, Queen of Atvatabar."

This announcement was received with frantic cheers by the sailors of
both vessels.

Now that I was master of the sea, I intended to immediately extend my
operations to the cause of the queen on land, and assuming the dignity
of admiral, appointed Captain Wallace of the _Polar King_ also
rear-admiral of the fleet.

This announcement was received with the firing of guns and tremendous
cheers.

"Rear-Admiral Wallace, Rear-Admiral Gerolio, and myself," I said to
the sailors, "will determine the question of who will become the
remaining high naval officers, and now that the battle is over, let us
see that our wounded are properly cared for and all ships afloat put
in proper repair."

It was a glorious victory!

All this time the two cruisers who so fortunately arrived in time to
turn the tide of battle in our favor were rapidly approaching us,
firing guns in honor of our victory. I acknowledged their arrival, as
well as their valuable services, by having the royal fleet drawn up in
double file, between which lay the _Polar King_, and ordering every
vessel to give the strangers a salute of one hundred guns.

My anxiety to learn more of our allies was so great that I despatched
two of my most active wing-jackets to the strange vessels to procure
accurate information concerning them and their object in visiting the
interior world. The wayleals returned with the information that the
vessels were the United States ship of discovery _Mercury_, commanded
by Captain Adams, and the English ship of discovery _Aurora Borealis_,
commanded by Sir John Forbes. Both were fitted out by their respective
governments to explore the interior world consequent on the report of
Boatswain Dunbar and Seaman Henderson, the only survivors of the
twelve men who left the _Polar King_ when in the Polar Gulf. The
respective commanders, officers and men of the incomi