Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-06
THE VANISHING FLEETS

Contradiction page 10

change of communication will be suspended, |
deem it wise to suggest that His Majesty hold
himself in readiness to make overpowerIng
naval demonstration in these Canadian
waters, if need should arise. | am sending
this by my secretary. who can answer any
questions of a more pertinent nature as well
as | could"
The letter, written in the grabbed hand of the
Ambassador, was slowly read aloud those
present straining their hearing that word
might be lost and at its conclusion they sat
dumbfounded.
You were there believe" said the Prime
Minister, slowly swinging back and forth in
his swivel chair. and addressing the secretary,
when the news of the surrender of the Philip
pines was received?'
Yes, Your Lordship
What excuse had the Government to make
for such unwarranted action?"
" None whatever.
Do you to say that they suffered
without protest defense the surrender of
fortification which cost millions of pounds,
was adequately equipped. and able to repel
successfully the attack OF such fleet as Japan
sent against it
Yes, they even accepted it compacently."
From round the room came murmurs of
amazement, while the rustic of newspapers
showed the anxiety of those present to CLEAN
what information they could by perusal.
Losing their phlegmatic air of self possession
and casting official dignity to the winds, they
bombarded Hitler with questions, which in
the man he was unable TO answer. ne voice
of the stately Lord of the Admiralty rose above
the others in a sudden, insistent petulant
question.
Do you know anything else worth while?
he asked.
NO" answered Hitler. 81 have no knowl-
edge other than that which | have given to
you, and which in itself was gathered else
where than from an absolutely silent and
Secretive Government
The Prime Minister as if recognizing their
said, Mr. Hitler, | presume you are tired
after your journey and would like to rest
before any further discussion of this subject.
would suggest that you go to your chambers
and return here tomorrow.
What sense is there in his returning?
came the angry question of the Lord of the
Admiralty, as the secretary bowed himself
out of the room. He doesn't even know, |
presume, that Japan is already sending every
available ship she has against the western
coast of America as fast steam will carry it.
Sending an invading fleet against an ap
parently passive country in some part of which
was the woman he loved! This thought re-
iterated itself through Guy mind as he passed
down the corridor and out into the din and
movement of the street. Where could she be
now, he wondered, and what of her father?
Insane, perhaps, and incapable of offering her
protection of which she would stand so sadly
In need In case of japanese success The words
of a letter which he carried in his pocket, and
dispatches he had delivered, constantly re-
CURED to him:
1t is always within the realms of possibility
when war is on a land, that friends may never
meet again. If such should be Our case, |
pray that you will remember this, even up to
the last loved you"
In the dusk of early evening an army of
countless men and women hurrying to the
trans, the tubes, and the buses, swept past
him ignorant of his misery What was war to
a thousands q
a sea and in which perhaps there was none
bound to them by ties of affection? The
United States might isolate itself by and
intrench itself behind cordons of soldiers but
he would go back! Yes he would find way
to pass all their barriers and gain the side of
the woman who merited his protection through
her avowed love, and in this, her hour of need
seemed crying out to him across the utter
most spaces of the world, beseeching him to
return,-only to return
To be continued next Sunday
rs Droood.a1 Hh,~%o~e