he thought that would be all , but four days later , while he lay by his lake , the strange dragon landed beside him bristling and announced in a furious rush , her words nearly tumbling over one another in the attempt to get them out , `` there , i have just worked out something quite new : the prime number coming in a particular position , for instance the tenth prime , is always very near the value of that position , multiplied by the exponent one must put on the number p to get that same value - the number p , '' she added , `` being a very curious number , which i have also discovered , and named after myself - `` `` certainly not , '' temeraire said , rousing with comfortable contempt , when he had made sense of what she was talking about .