The San Francisco call., 1907-02-10

entered the university. KNOW tOOSc
who have been your friends, your
Don't be- foolish, young sir" he added
sharply. as he saw the color rise in
my cheeks; you will have q trust re-
posed in you such as few men have
ever borne before. This prying into
your life is from no motive OF private
curiosity. Wait until you hear the
importance of the things which I am
going to say to YOU"
I was impressed into silence
The Duke continued
You have heard. my young friend"
he said "of the committee of national
defense?"
Il have read OF it, I answered.
Good This committee has been
formed and sanctioned by the War
once in consequences of the shocking
revelations OF ineff1ciency which came
TO light during the recent war. IL
occurred to the Prime Minister. as
dare say 1t did to most OF the think
ing men in the country, that il our
unreadiness to take the offensive was
so obvious, 1t was possible that our
defensive precautions had also been
neglected. A board was therefore
formed to act Independently OF all ex-
listing institutions, and composed
chiefly OF military ard naval men. The
commander in chief, Lord Chelsford,
Colonel Ray and myself are among
the members. Our mandate Is to keep
our attention solely nxed upon the de-
fenses OF the country, to elaborate Diff
methods OF attack, and, in short, to
make ourselves responsible to the
country for the safety of the empire.
Every harbor on the south and east
coast is supposed to be known to Us,
every yard OF railway feeding the sea-
ports OF London, all the secret forth
fications and places south or London
capable OF being held by inferior
forces. The mobilization OF troops to
any one point has been gone thorough
~ into, and every possible movement
and combination of the fleet. These are
only a few OF the things which have
become our care, but they are suffcient
for the purpose OF illustrations. The
Importance or this board must be ap-
parent to YOU; also the Importance Of
and movements
] was fascinated by the greatness OF
the subject. However. I answered him
as quickly as possible, and emphati-
cally.
The board the Duke continued
has been meeting In London. FOR the
last few months we have had business
of the utmost Importance on hand. But
ago. we came to fun stop. The CON-
mander m chief had no alternative bu,
temporarily to dissolve the assem- bly,
We found ourselves in a terrible and
disastrous position. Lord Ronald
Mathsson had been acting as secre-
tary for US We met always with
locked doors, and the names OF twefvs
members OF the board are the mos
honored In England. Yet twenty foul
hours after our meetings. verbatim
report of thems with full particulars OF
all cur schemes. was in the hands oI
the French Secret Service"
Good God,' I exclaimed. startled for
the moment out or my respectful
silence.
The Duke himself seemed sfrected
by the revelation which he had made.
cred broxs and bent mead. His voice.
which had been growing lower and
lower. had sunk almost to a whisper.
1t seemed to me that he made sign
to Lord Chelsford to continue. Almost
for the first time the man who had
done little since his entrance save
watch me. spoke.
caine," he said has been q long one.
but I have never before found myself
confronted with such q situation. Even
you can doubtless realize its effect.
The whole good OF our work IL undone
il we cannot recommence, and with
different results. am afraid, a. an
Englishman, to say what may happen.
war between England and France to-
day would be like a great game OF
chess between two monsters OF equal
strength--one having a@secret know
ledge OF his opponents each ensuing
move. You can guess what the end OF
that would be. Our only hope b as
once to reconstruct. our plans. We are
hard at it now by day and by night,
but the time has arrived when we can
go no further without a meeting, and
the actual committsl to paper and dia-
gram of our new schemes. We have
discussed the whole matter most care
fully, and we have come to the follow
ing decision. We have reduced the
number Of the board by half those who
have resigned. with certain exceptions
having done so by ballot. We have
decided that instead or holding ou1
meetings at the War once they shall
take place down here at the Dukes
house, and so far as possible secretly
Then, as regards the secretaryship. Nc
shadow rests upon Lord Ronald any
more than upon his predecessors. but
as you may have read in the newspa.
pers. he has temporarily lost his rea-
son owing to the shock. md has beer
VOAl6C0 " 81 " q VLlFd-~ uollS. W.
have decided TO engage some one abso
lutely without political connections. an,
whose detachment from political lIf,
must be complete. You have had
warm advocate in Colonel Mostyn Ray
and. subject to some stringent and alb
solute conditions, I may say that W,
have decided to offer you the post"
l looked from one to the other.
have no doubt that I looked as bewil
dered as felt.
Il am a complete stranger to all o
you," I murmured. u am not deserv
ing in any way OF such position"
Lord Chelsford smiled.
You underrate yourself. young man,
he said dryly. ''or your college profes
sors have wandered from the truth
Still. your surprise is natural, admit
/ will explain q little further Ou
choice IL more limited than you Nigh
think. At least fifty names were pro
posed, all of'them Of young men or tn,
highest character. Each one. however
had some possibly doubtful relative o.
association or custom in life. 1t is evi
dent that there is treachery somewherl
in the very highest quarters. Thes'
young men were sure to be brought Int,
contact with it. Now it was Rays ides
RI sack for eorna rna yvhotlv ont aida fr.