miral
Nev-r-sai-di with his eighty ships. And the struggle was short.

_Khan-li._
Verily, I can believe it! With three ships to one I would give the
Europeans about half a day--a summer afternoon like this--to send
the greedy ones to the bottom.

_Nofuhl._
Thy guess is good, O Prince, as to the hours of fighting. It lasted
just one summer afternoon. But the Mehrikans it was who sent their
enemies to the bottom. And the sea beneath our feet is strewn with
iron hulks.

_Khan-li._
Bismillah! If that be a true tale--and I doubt it not--these
greedy ones were not so contemptible, at least when there was profit
in it.

_Lev-el-Hedyd._
At what period did this occur?

_Nofuhl._
Early in the twentieth century. I cannot recall the date, but it was
never forgotten by the Mehrikans. Surely a just pride, for on that day
they accomplished wonders. The Admiral Nev-r-sai-di on his ship the
_Ztazenztrypes_ was at one time surrounded by a dozen German men-of-war.
And lo! he demolished all! And of Frank and Russyan vessels he
put an end to as many more; also sundry Talyans and British.

_Lev-el-Hedyd._
Bismillah! But that was good! What, O Nofuhl, is the Persian of that
name _Ztazenztrypes_?

_Nofuhl._
None can tell with certainty. To the Mehrikans it signified victory,
or something similar.

Other miracles were achieved by the Mehrikans that day. _Nofli-zon-mee_,
a little craft with a pointed prow, jammed holes in nearly a score of
monster ships, and the waters closed over them. There figured also a
long and narrow boat of Mehrikan devising, the _Yankyd-Oodl_. This
astonishing machine sailed to and fro among the foreign ships
upsetting all traditions. Much glory befell her commander, the Captain
Hoorai-boiz.

_Grip-til-lah._
And how many ships did the Mehrikans lose?

_Nofuhl._
Reports are contradictory. According to one of their own writers of
the period they suffered no loss whatever in vessels. Yet at the same
time he asserts, "We gave them Haleklumbya," which must be the name of
a ship.

_Khan-li._
A gallant fight! But can you explain how such an inferior people
could become heroic of a sudden?

_Nofuhl._
According to 'Ardfax, an early British historian, they were addicted
to surprising feats upon the water. And this statement is borne out by
a Spanish admiral, Offulbad-shoota, who maintains that the Mehrikans,
being a godless people, were aided by the devil.

_2d July_

We are on the river tha