The Men Who Wrought Part 17

On the way back to the saloon a further truth began to dawn upon Ruxton. Nor did he lose a moment in challenging his host when they reached the luxurious apartment.

"You have brought those cylinders away. May I ask why?" he enquired.

The Prince had seated himself, and was in the act of lighting a cigar.

He desisted, and held his case out towards his guest. Ruxton helped himself and waited.

The other stared thoughtfully at the cigar which remained poised in his lean fingers. Then he raised his brilliant eyes, and the Englishman realized that the moment of lightness, of almost schoolboyish delight at the sense of danger had entirely pa.s.sed. The eyes shone pa.s.sionately, and reminded him sharply of the expressive eyes of the woman who had appealed for humanity with him on the brink of the Yorks.h.i.+re cliffs.

"Why? Because I have convinced you of my submersible. Because for that reason I have determined to deprive the German Government of the use of my U-rays for an indefinite period. Perhaps forever. Listen, there is only one man knows that I have an installation of that light on my s.h.i.+p besides ourselves, and that man is--Ludovic. I have installed it with my own hands. The installation on the submersible dreadnought which you saw was the first effort in that direction, and the Government believe it to be purely experimental. Well, the experiment has--failed. That is all." He shrugged.

"But you will be forced to try again."

"And it will fail--again. Ach, so! I would rather uns.h.i.+p my plant, and fling my models to the bottom of the sea, where they may help to light up the world of crabs, than that my Government should acquire one single added threat against humanity."

The next few moments were silently occupied in lighting their cigars.

Ruxton had no words with which to answer him. He was thinking deeply, comparing this man's att.i.tude towards the country which claimed him with his own feelings for his island home. He wondered what his att.i.tude would have been had their positions been reversed; if he, as an Englishman, had been such a power, through his discoveries, for aiding his country. To his shame he was forced to the conclusion that this white-haired Pole was a greater man than he could ever hope to be.

The difference between them lay in the difference between a perfervid patriotism, and the Prince's overwhelming love of humanity inspired by the abyss of horror into which a blind devotion to his country had flung him. This man had pa.s.sed the great dividing line where the uplifted spirit renounces the claims of earthly pa.s.sion in favor of the call of the voice of the soul. The cause of humanity now dominated every other emotion. Somehow his own fervor of patriotism suffered severely by the comparison, and so he found himself with no words in which to answer.

The old man rose from his chair and pa.s.sed into his private stateroom.

A few moments later he returned with two rolls of papers, neatly secured by tapes and seals.

He had closed the door. He was about to cross over to his guest. But in a moment he was held rigid where he stood. A dull boom roared out somewhere overhead and vibrated down the entire length of the vessel.

His eyes were wide and attentive. But there was no fear in them. Ruxton started up from the lounge on which he had been sitting. A thrilling excitement shone in his eyes.

"Is it a--mine?" he cried sharply.

The Prince shook his head.

"There would be nothing of us left at this moment," he said. "Wait! You can feel the steady throb of the engines. No, it was a gun. It was a bursting sh.e.l.l from one of the silent guns. They can see our periscope, and are firing across us--to heave to. Hark! There goes another."

Again came a terrific detonation. But the vessel ploughed on.

"Presently they will fire to hit our periscope and make us rise to the surface. Von Salzinger has gone further than I had dared to hope."

"Hope?"

"He will pay for this with his position."

"But if they hit our periscope?"

The Prince shrugged.

"It will make no difference. We shall not rise till it suits us. We have the light. Already we must be nearly through the mine-field. Once we are through the mines Ludovic could make the journey seawards blindfold."

The Prince crossed over to his chair, and laid the sealed rolls on the table beside him. He did not speak. He was obviously listening.

Presently another sharp explosion sounded overhead, and his eyes lit.

"Ah, I thought Von Salzinger would not resist it. You see, he is a Prussian." He smiled, but his eyes had lost their humor. "That was shrapnel," he went on. "Its bursting is unmistakable. But he will not hit the periscope."

Again silence fell between them, and both smoked on with every sense alert. There was another explosion overhead. Then another and another.

Still the vibrations of the engines continued. The two waited some time for the next explosion, but it was delayed. At last the Prince rose from his seat and pa.s.sed out of the room. He was away for some moments.

During his absence Ruxton never stirred a muscle. His cigar had gone out. He was still listening acutely.

Finally the Prince returned, and Ruxton's eyes put their question plainly.

"We have completely pa.s.sed the mine-field. We are also completely submerged," said the Prince. "We need no longer concern ourselves with Von Salzinger."

Ruxton drew a deep breath. He relit his cigar, while the other seemed to dismiss the subject from his mind entirely. The excitement of the escape had pa.s.sed, and with the pa.s.sing of it, it had robbed him of all lightness. His large eyes darkened, and a frowning of his bushy brows gave him an appearance of depression.

Ruxton, watching him, wondered what next was to be the display of this extraordinary creature. Nor had he long to wait.

"You have seen at--Borga?" he demanded.

"More--than I was prepared for, in spite of all you and the Princess had told me."

"Yes. Tell me. Tell me about it."

Ruxton drew his feet up on the lounge. His dark eyes were on the white-whiskered face of his host, but they had become deeply introspective.

"I wonder how many years we have before it--comes."

"Perhaps--ten."

"Ten? Yes, I suppose so." The Englishman's eyes were full of a deep pondering. "And then war. War upon Britain alone. The rest of the world cajoled into quiescence through self-interest, and the memory of the horrors of the late war. Yes, a sudden and swift descent upon our overseas commerce. The wholesale wrecking, and terrorizing by slaughter. Every s.h.i.+p bound for our sh.o.r.es must be captured or sunk.

This must occur simultaneously in all parts of the world. Then the complete ringing round of these islands, and a naval warfare against us with this new type of battle-s.h.i.+p, the submersible dreadnought. From a naval point of view, with our own submarine vessels, doubtless it is calculated that we might hold our own. But meanwhile our islands would be starved, and our country brought to its knees. All our defences against submarine attack in the past would be rendered useless by the U-rays light. It is certainly a picture to intimidate the stoutest heart. And then? What lies behind this? I can see it in your eyes that--there is more behind it all."

The Prince leant forward with that swiftness of action which indicates a tumultuous stream of thought surging to find expression.

"Ach, that is so. That is all so. But you are right. There is more--much more," he cried, his lean hands tenaciously grasping the polished arms of his chair. "You have all talked world domination. You have all vaguely known that that was Germany's object in the last war, and in which she failed. No one knows better than Germany why she failed. It does not need the Englishman to remind her. Since then she has changed her whole plans, and now they are more far-reaching than ever. She has abandoned Napoleonic for the ancient Roman methods.

Germany, once she has wrested sea power from Britain, will live in a state of war with the whole world. The procedure will be an attack upon, and annexation of, every small state in turn. And each small state so acquired will pay its own bill. She will consolidate each territory as she possesses it, and so long as her war methods continue they will be bled white. So she will build up in every corner of the earth, and in the process she will prosper exceedingly, as did the great Roman Empire. And throughout this reign of terror, while the outward seeming of civilization will increase a hundredfold, all spiritual life, and the culture of the human soul, will go back some two thousand years. We are this moment at the world's greatest crisis.

One slip, one wrong move, and the great structure of the human soul will fall with a crash to the bowels of an abyss two thousand years deep. For the moment every seeing eye looks to Britain. For the moment, at this terrible crisis, Britain alone stands a bulwark that can save the human race from its tragedy. Salvation lies in the supremacy of the seas, which, thank G.o.d, is still in the keeping of your country.

Britain must keep it. She must hold to it with all the bulldog tenacity for which she is famous. She must keep that mastery, not alone for her own security, but for the security of the whole human race!"

The man ran his lean fingers through his shock of white hair. And the action was an expression of relief from tension. A great light was s.h.i.+ning in his eyes, a light which told Ruxton Farlow of the hot soul burning within. He knew, had known before, the truth of all this man had just stated, and the corroboration of his own knowledge, through the lips of another, fell with added weight.

He s.h.i.+fted his position. The urgency of all that had been said, all he had witnessed, now, as such things always did, drove him to considerations which bore actively upon the situation.

"Yes," he said, without emotion, "you have drawn a true picture. A picture which we, who care, have held in our imagination ever since the signing of that disastrous peace. Now I have witnessed for myself all that Germany is preparing." He paused, in deep thought, and the other waited anxiously.

"Let us consider now the risks and dangers of the moment," Ruxton went on again presently. He glanced up at the ceiling. The artificial lights were still s.h.i.+ning. "We are still submerged. Therefore we are not yet in the open sea. A very real threat still hangs over us--over you. It will still hang over you when I am safely landed on my Yorks.h.i.+re coast."

The s.h.i.+ning light of the Prince's eyes was pa.s.sing. His interest was not in his own safety. He shrugged.

"There is no danger for me. With Van Salzinger it is different."

"But you have broken the most vital of Borga's regulations. _Can_ the German naval authorities overlook that? Will there be no question? Will you not be forced to produce your nephew to be confronted by--Von Salzinger?"