A LYING KING MAKES A NATION OF LIARS
It seemed for a time as if Edestone had completely lost control of
himself. Lawrence, “Specs,” and Captain Lee, who had all known him for
years, stood back staring at him in blank amazement. He was perfectly
livid. Out of his face had gone every semblance of the man that they had
known, loved, honoured, and respected for his kind, big, and forgiving
nature, willing to stand an insult rather than use his great power where
a smaller character would have demanded the last ounce of flesh. In its
place was an expression of rage which would have been frightful to see
on the face of a weaker man, but on his, with all the power and
determination of his strong character behind it, it was appalling. It
made them feel that they were held helpless by a powerful demon who
would destroy and kill any who might stand in his way. Pushing everyone
aside in a manner that was entirely foreign to him, he sprang to the
wheel and taking it rang for full speed ahead. He swung the ship around
so quickly that she banked and turned over at an angle of thirty
degrees.
She was then at an altitude of from 7000 to 8000 feet and he put her
head down as if he intended to drive her steel-pointed bow into the very
heart of the city of Berlin. But when he had gotten her at about 400
feet he straightened her out and sent her at 150 knots. Without taking
his eyes off his goal, which seemed to be the Palace of the Kaiser, he
said in a cold and emotionless voice: “See what damage has been done and
report to me quickly, and as there is a God in Heaven if a single one of
my men has been killed I will hang the Kaiser after I have destroyed his
city!”
While the different officers were busily telephoning to every part of
the ship carrying out this order, Lawrence stood paralysed waiting for
the answers. He sincerely hoped that none of the men had been killed,
but as one officer after another reported all well in his department,
and as the number of departments yet to be heard from grew less and
less, he could not control a distinct feeling of disappointment, for he
had silently said “Amen!” to Edestone’s last sentiment. When all had
been heard from, and it was found that none had been killed, and that
the injuries to the ship were, so slight that they could be repaired
within a week, Edestone said to the officer of the deck:
“Take the wheel. When you are over the city and have made the Palace,
circle it at eight knots. I wish them all to see me. After you have
rounded the Palace, run at full speed for Kiel.”
And without a word to Lawrence he turned and left the bridge. On his
face was a look that showed that the demon within him was under perfect
control, but he had no desire to hide the fact that it was still with
him. Lawrence would no more have thought of following him than he would
have thought of following a wounded Manchurian tiger into its cave.
“I would have hated to hear that any one of our fine fellows had been
killed,” he said with a nervous laugh, “but my, what a swell little
afternoon hanging that would have been! Nathan Hale with the original
cast wouldn’t have had a speculator in front of his doors. His front-row
seats would be selling at box-office prices, while we would have sold
out the house at ten thousand times the cost of the production before
the first-nighters had even seen a press notice. There would not have
been a piece of paper in the house except the Press and the Princes. By
the sacred substance of John D. Rockefeller’s hair-tonic, I hate to
think of the money we would have made with the movies! The Crown Prince
giving the Papa Wilhelm kiss, while the trap man plays on the melodeon
‘It’s the Wrong Way to Tickle Mary,’ and the Ghost of the Hohenzollern,
who ate up her two babies when she found they disturbed her gentleman
friend, hovering over the scene like Schumann-Heink in the
_Rheingold_,--I would not release that reel for less than a billion
dollars down!
“But why talk about pleasant things when we have such serious matters on
our hands.”
“Mr. Edestone looked as if he meant serious business all right,” said
one of the officers. “Listen! I hear the wireless sending a message
now.”
Lawrence listened, and repeated as he heard: “The Little Peace Maker is
now running for Kiel, where she will arrive at 8:30. At 8:45 I will
begin to drop tons of lyddite and dynamite on the decks of all German
ships of war, and in order that there may be no unnecessary loss of life
I give this notice.”
The instrument stopped, but Lawrence continued, as if still catching and
translating the message:
“And realizing the extreme supersensitiveness of the German sailors, we
are sending ahead by Parcel Post baskets for the cats and cages for the
canaries. The women and babies, being contraband, must go down with the
ships.”
They were now slowly swinging around the Palace, and as the people of
Berlin knew nothing, they took the accepted German position, which was
that Edestone was afraid of the Kaiser’s wrath, and they therefore came
flocking out into the streets to see him dip his flag to that of the
all-powerful German Empire.
Lawrence noted that the Imperial standard was no longer flying over the
Palace. “It looks,” said he, “as if we would have to put in an
under-study for the leading man.”
And then as if some sudden idea had struck him, he rushed from the
bridge, and while the Little Peace Maker was slowly passing over the
plaza in front of the Palace, the men on the bridge saw with a mingled
feeling of horror and delight a large black object, which resembled a
submarine mine, dropping from the port side of the ship, and they stood
in breathless expectation of seeing the hideous Renaissance monument,
erected by Schluter, blown to atoms. When the sinister-looking cylinder
struck the pavement it exploded, but instead of death and destruction
the flaggings were strewn with egg-shells, coffee-grounds, and garbage.
“I always did like that French chef,” said Lawrence when he returned to
the bridge, gasping for breath.
“I am sorry,” he added, “that we didn’t have our little lynching bee
this afternoon, but the sinking of a billion dollars’ worth of
battleships must be almost as much fun as hanging a ‘kink.’”
They were now going at top speed, and after waiting about for some time
and finding that Edestone did not return to the bridge, he went to his
room and dressed for dinner.
At dinner Edestone appeared, but he was very quiet.
“Lawrence,” he said, “you must forgive me, but I really am not myself. I
cannot recall at any time in my entire life when I was ever so angry as
I was this afternoon. I think they call it ‘seeing red.’”
“You were ‘seeing red’ all right,” said Lawrence, “and you certainly got
my goat.”
“If one of the men on this ship had been killed, after that pledge had
been given for their safety, I do not know what I would have done.”
“Exactly what do you propose to do?”
“I intend to wreck and destroy everything in this country that will be
of the slightest use to them for military purposes. Today it is Kiel
with its ships, shipyards, and dry-docks; tomorrow, Krupps; and so on
until they will have to stop fighting for the lack of munitions of
war. I shall endeavour as far as possible to avoid loss of life, but,”
with an ironical smile, “if these people wish to indulge in a fanatical
display of heroism and patriotism, I shall allow them the privilege of
sinking with their ships, or dying with their pet inventions.”
With everything closed down tight they were fast approaching Kiel, and
going up into the conning tower Edestone and Lawrence were able to see
the entire German fleet. His message had evidently been received, but
the commanders, instead of accepting his warning, had steam up, were
stripped for action, and with flags flying were making for the open sea.
Edestone, as quietly as if he were standing on the bridge of the
_Storm Queen_ giving instructions for the next day’s cruise, turned
to “Specs.”
“Go out and circle them,” he said, “meet the leading ship, and then with
every gun, aerial torpedo, and bomb dropper destroy them.”
The air was soon filled with the most frightful conflict that had ever
taken place in the heavens above, on the earth beneath, or in the waters
under the earth. Every ship in the fleet was, as far as possible,
training all of her guns on them, while they, moving at the rate of
thirty knots, were sailing around and around, dropping bombs on those
under them, bombarding with their great 16-inch guns the distant ships,
while the smaller guns rendered the middle distance untenable to any
ship yet built by man.
In the course of an hour not one of the German ships could be seen above
the water, and Edestone, with none of his usual kindness of heart and
sympathy for others, leaving to their fate the dead and dying that
filled the sea beneath them, gave the orders to destroy the shipyards
and dry-docks before it was too dark.
For a week this rain of destruction was continued day after day until
his prophecy had been fulfilled, and Germany, driven to her knees, was
suing for peace.