Читать книгу The Seed of Empire - Fred M. White - Страница 7

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With the morrow and the morning's papers the full meaning of that vile treachery was apparent to the most credulous Englishman who had ever been fooled by the shallow pretence of German friendship. Certain German writers had been preaching the doctrine of German world supremacy for years, but the Kaiser had always posed as the apostle of peace. Every child knew now what the whole thing meant. The Kaiser's pose was assumed in order to dull fools and visionaries into a false sense of security. And he had done his work well!

At the same time, it was beyond question that the participation of England in the strife had come as a rude shock to the conspirators in Potsdam. To a certain extent they had been visionary, too, dreamers too prone to believe what their spies had told them: England would never come in; she would never abandon her slothful attitude; even if she did, her pampered, over-civilised population would never permit her to strike a blow; and, again, if she did there would be civil war in Ireland, India would rise like one man, and South Africa would pass away from beneath the flag.

But all these hopes were destined to be dashed to the ground. England had no army, it is true, except what Germany contemptuously regarded as a handful of paid mercenaries which would never be augmented by a real fighting force.

But England knew different. It was easy for Germany, with her population in the grip of the military party, to drag her children into the firing line whether they liked it or not, and oblige them to make a virtue of necessity. But Germany knew little of the real sporting spirit that brought recruits by the hundred thousand even before they had been called. At that moment business was forgotten; nobody heeded the Stock Exchange and the City, for there were more vital interests at stake than mere money. The streets looked different, there was a different spirit in the air, and with it all a quiet assurance that everything would be well when the time came. The very newspapers were transformed. No longer was any heed taken of the trivialities of life. For the Germans were over the Belgian frontier, and already the mighty fighting machine had encountered its first check.

Every line of this was eagerly absorbed by Kemp and Bentley as they sat waiting for Ginger Smith and his friends.

"It was happy chance that brought us together last night," Bentley said. "I don't know what I should have done if I had not met you. Fancy jogging along to the office this morning by the tube, and sitting at a desk all day adding up columns of figures! The mere thought of it makes me shudder. I should have had to go, and I should have been miserable. And now everything is different."

"What are you going to do about it?" Kemp asked.

"Oh, I'm not going back if that's what you mean. I'll ring up my old patriot on the telephone presently and tell him he can look out for another prisoner. I hope within an hour or two to be wearing the uniform of the Musketeers."

Anything Kemp would have said in reply was cut short by the intrusion of the hall porter. He seemed to be struggling between annoyance and amusement.

"Beg your pardon, sir," he said. "But that there Ginger Smith's jest turned up with about a hundred wot 'e calls recruits. 'E says as you've arsked them all ter breakfast. I should jest 'ave sent them off, only down in the 'all a lot o' waiters from Harrod's is turned up an' a van full of provisions. Of course, sir, you know your own business best, an' if so be as Ginger's tellin' the truth, why, then, sir, I suppose I'd better tell that lot as they can come upstairs. If not, it seems ter me I'd better send for the police."

"Oh, that's all right," Kemp agreed.

"Might 'ave come off a racecourse. Class o' stuff wot you see 'anging around the National Sporting Club when there's a big fight on. If I was you, sir, I'd put all them nick-nacks away."

"I'm ashamed of you," Kemp said solemnly. "Do you know you're libelling sons of the Empire? Do you know that all social distinctions have been swept away, and that to-day we are all brothers? My good man, those chaps are recruits. You won't know them in a fortnight. Show 'em up. And tell those people from Harrod's to get the breakfast ready in the dining-room as soon as possible. By Jove, this is something like life, isn't it? And only last week I couldn't make up my mind which was the least boring way of spending August."

They came shuffling noisily up the stairs, a ragged, unwashed and dilapidated crowd, following more or less shyly on Ginger's heels. It was quite evident that some of them at least regarded the whole thing as a hoax on Ginger's part. But Ginger led the way with a cheery grin on his pleasant face, his natural audacity not in the least abashed by his surroundings. His greasy cap was cocked over his left eye, and with his right eye he winked familiarly at his host.

"'Ere yer are, sir," he said. "Abaht seventy of us altogether. An' a nice job I 'ad ter get 'em 'ere. It's lucky for me as they all 'ad a good dye yesterday, an' so they was travellin' dahn ter Richmond by the nine-five instead o' walkin' as usual. So I cops the 'ole lot. Now, chaps, was Ginger a liar or did 'e tell yer the truth?"

"Beg pardon, sir," an agonised voice in the background addressed Kemp. "I don't know if yer knows Ginger as well as we do, but 'e says as 'ow 'e know'd a cove, wot's yerself, sir, as 'ud given us all a invitation ter breakfast. We was goin' caddyin', but seein' as 'ow we ain't wanted any more—well, it's like this, sir. Someone's got ter put them bloomin' German swine in their right plice, and there ain't one of us wot isn't ready ter do 'is little bit. 'An if you'll be good enough ter give us a bit o' bread and cheese—"

"My good chaps, you shall have the best breakfast that money can buy. And I shall be proud to march with you afterwards down to the headquarters of the Musketeers. Now make yourselves at home. There isn't over much room, but we'll manage somehow. You'll finds some cigarettes on the table yonder, and you can smoke till the food is ready."

"This is very refreshing, William," a languid drawl came from the back of the crowd. "Who says that the spirit of romance is dead? Show me the man who dares to say that England is a decadent nation. But yesterday, William, I should have said that our esteemed host was a pampered son of luxury, a sort of human lily who toils not, neither does he spin."

"What have you got up in the corner there, Ginger?" Kemp laughed. "Who's the aristocrat in the flannel shirt? And the gentleman named William in the blue serge?"

"I don't know, sir," Ginger said, "Two toffs, I think. They comes up to me at the station an' arsks wot's goin' on. Then the cove in the flannel suit, 'e says 'e was out o' work along with the war, an' 'e up an' says 'e was comin' along. An' the other bloke 'e says ditto. 'Ope you don't mind, sir."

"Oh, Lord, no," Kemp exclaimed. "The more the merrier. I think I must have a few words with William."

"Quite right, old chap," the man called William drawled as he screwed a glass into his left eye. "Bit of a liberty, of course, but I didn't think you would mind under the circumstances. Fact is, me and my friend are stockbrokers, at least we were yesterday. To-day we are unemployed. We'd like to join those musketeers of yours, and if a couple of pretty useful motor cars are any assistance to you, well, they're yours. Funny sight, this, isn't it? But it's one to be proud of all the same."