Once more we are on the sea; two days from Nhū-Yok. Our decision was a sudden one. Nōfūhl, in an evil moment, found among those accursed plates a map of the country, and thereupon was seized with an unreasoning desire to visit a town called "Washington." I wavered and at last consented, foolishly I believe, for the crew are loud for Persia. And this town is inland on a river. He says it was their finest city, the seat of Government, the capital of the country. Grip-til-lah swears he can find it if the map is truthful. Jā-khāz still eats by himself. This afternoon we reclined upon the deck, the _Zlōtuhb_ drifting gently in a southerly direction. Land could be seen on the starboard bow, a faint strip along the western horizon. It was about the middle of the afternoon, while passing the ruins of a gigantic tower--perhaps a lighthouse--that Nōfūhl, of a sudden, clambered hastily to his feet and looked about him. Then he called to Grip-til-lah, asking how many leagues we were from the harbor of Nhū-Yok. Grip-til-lah's reply I forget, but it filled the old man with a gentle excitement. I observed an unwonted sparkle in his eyes, also a quivering of the fingers as he pointed to the ocean around about, and exclaimed-- "Beneath us, the bottom of the sea is covered with iron ships--the wrecks of stupendous navies--the mightiest of all human history!" At once we all became interested. "What navies?" I inquired. "And what compassed their destruction? Was it a battle?" _Nōfūhl._ A battle of whose magnitude no Persian has conception; a conflict in which the sea was tossed and the heavens rent by thunderings of iron monsters. Any one of them would have blown to atoms a fleet of _Zlōtuhbs_. _Ad-el-pate._ Verily! A tale easier told than believed. But I would readily venture my head in the _Zlōtuhb_ against any of these nursery-tale wonders. _Nōfūhl._ And with wisdom. For the loss of thy brain, Ad-el-pate, could not affect the nature of thy speech. Whereupon there was laughter, and Ad-el-pate held his peace. _Khan-li._ But tell us of this battle, O Nōfūhl. I remember now to have read about it at college. These details of ancient history I am prone to forget. How came it about? _Nōfūhl._ I have spoken of the Mehrikans being a greedy race. And their greed, at last, resulted in this war. By means of one-sided laws of their own making they secured for themselves a lion's share of all profits from the world's commerce. This checked the prosperity of other nations, until at last the leading powers of Europe combined in self-defence against this all-absorbing greed. They collected an armada the like of which was never imagined, neither before nor since. Then, across the ocean, came the iron host. And here, upon this very spot where we are floating, they met the Mehrikan ships. _Khan-li._ How many ships in all?