CHAPTER IVUNFOLDING THE PLAN
Silence from all three succeeded for a few moments the Professor’s startled exclamation. Then the High President spoke.
“Now,” he said, turning to Mortimer, “now that I have removed the source of your reproach, I trust you will give weight and credence to my words.”
“General,” answered Mortimer, “your great military record, and your eminence as one of the financial powers of the land, are known to me as they are to the rest of the world. Your words must, therefore, have due weight with me, but I must admit, speaking frankly, not credence. Were almost any other to speak so, I should regard him as either a loose-brained visionary, or else one seeking to deceive. With you, I realize that neither is the case, but I cannot help considering that you are seriously mistaken.”
“It is precisely to show you I am right that I am here,” replied the High President.
“I’m much flattered,” said Mortimer, “although I fail to see why you should be at any pains on that point.”
“Never mind that for the moment,” answered the High President. “You will learn the reason before our interview closes.”
Mortimer bowed.
“I will begin by explaining to you,” said the High President, “that this movement had its origin many years ago—in fact, it began almost immediatelyafter the Monarchy was first inaugurated. It began not with a united, organized body as we are to-day, but in a number of scattered, disunited elements possessed of widely divergent aims and objects. There were those who were opposed to the monarchical institution and who desired the return of the former Republic; there were others—and these were by far the larger and more important body—who were profoundly dissatisfied with the existing economic conditions and who eagerly, if vaguely, aspired to a change of some kind. There was but one common chord uniting these various elements; all were dissatisfied and all were more or less revolutionary. For a period I studied the problem of how to fuse these various scattered elements and the problem seemed so difficult that I was for a time in despair. It was just at that period that by a strange turn of Fate—or by the interposition of Divine Providence, as some may piously believe—that I found myself in a position of commanding financial power. From that day on the road grew easier for me. From that day on, I vowed to dedicate my life to raising my countrymen to a higher plane of liberty and happiness than the world had yet known. Washington had led them to freedom from the bondage of political tyranny; I would seek to free them from the far more bitter tyranny of economic bondage. To that cause, I have through the years devoted my fortune, my energies and my work. To that cause I am prepared, if need be, to lay down my life.”
“A noble ideal, indeed!” exclaimed the Professor enthusiastically. “I admire and respect you for it.”
“I appreciate the spirit which has animated you, General,” said Mortimer, “although I dissent from some of the methods you may have adopted in its execution.”
“My first care,” said the High President, disregarding the interruption, “was to look about me for some means of unifying the various scattered elements of political and economic discontent. This I soon perceived could not be quickly done. It was a question of time, and above all, of education. By education, I mean teaching the individual members of the different elements precisely what were the causes of their unhappiness and discontent, wherein the true remedies lay and just what were the conditions they must seek to attain. To this end I carefully trained a corps of instructors, men and women. These people preached no sedition; they advocated no revolutionary movement. They simply taught a new form of interesting political economy, showing people why they suffered and where lay the remedy. I had not so much interest or concern for the great mass of those forming the existing army of discontent. They were mostly too set in their own old ideas and aims, although even among these were found some good material. My chief attention was given to the rising generation. Youth is easily taught and the impressions of youth are usually vivid and lasting. It was to the youth of the land we turned and the results exceeded the highest expectations. Before long there were great bodies of men throughout the country—men eager and bold with the intensity of youth—who were filled not with the vague, shadowy ideas of the political partisan, but with a clear knowledge of economics. And it was to the women of the country—to the mothers, the wives and the sisters—that we owed this most largely—a plan which I once had the pleasure of suggesting to you as applicable to your day, Professor Dean.”
“Ah, yes,” exclaimed the Professor, “but littledid I think you had actually put it into practical execution.”
“Well, I had,” answered the High President dryly. “While this work of education was going on I was doing everything in my power to render the general conditions hard as possible for the masses. It was a curious dual rôle I filled. With my entire being pledged to their ultimate upraising and welfare, I was temporarily inflicting upon them terrible hardship and suffering. By many I was regarded as a monster in human form; even the Court and the Chancellerie protested against what seemed to be my insatiable exactions—protested not because of the widespread misery and suffering inflicted, but because of the dangerous spirit of public discontent engendered. Ah, little they suspected that it was precisely this dangerous spirit of discontent which I sought to foster and to feed, for it is through the suffering and the misery of the people that the spirit is awakened which leads to great changes. In the light of this explanation, Professor, you will now understand the true meaning of the proposed corner in coal which so aroused your horror and indignation.”
“Ah, I see it all now!” exclaimed the Professor.
“Thank heaven, there will now be no necessity for that measure and the awful misery and suffering it would have entailed,” continued the High President. “But I will pass from that painful subject. In addition to the education of the people and to tuning the public spirit to the proper pitch of discontent and revolt by purposely imposed hardship and misery, I was busy with one other important subject. Governments and existing conditions may eventually be overthrown by education and the sentiment of the masses, but they cannot be thus directly overthrown. Governments and existing conditions are backed, supportedand held in power by force, which is really the first and last word in the affairs of this world. Education as to cause, effect and remedy and the fostering of the necessary sentiment and spirit among the masses were well enough by way of general introductory processes, but if the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a new order of things was to be looked for, some means must be found of successfully overcoming the resistance of the armed forces of the King and of the Government. Do you follow me?”
“Very clearly,” replied Dean, while Mortimer nodded a silent assent.
“As a soldier trained by practical experience in the art of war,” continued the High President, “I realized how utterly futile it must be to attempt to arm, drill and organize a sufficient force of men to hope to successfully cope in open warfare with the trained soldiers of the King. To achieve successfully any such result, I must discover a new means of warfare which would give my attacking force some immeasurable advantage over our opponents. Not an easy problem to work out, eh, Captain Mortimer?”
“Decidedly not,” replied Mortimer with evident interest.
“As you are perhaps aware,” resumed the High President, “among the different great business interests to which I came into possession were several which involved various manufacturing processes. Among the many employes in my shops was a wild, apparently half-crazy sort of fellow who was, however, exceedingly clever as an inventor and who had already devised several really very ingenious and meritorious inventions. The man’s first name was Nicholas; we will suppress for the present his last name. He was American born, but originally ofPolish origin and his forefathers had all, I understand, been inventors. This erratic fellow came to me one day. He had come across some old-time pamphlets or treatises in the library upon the subject of aërial navigation. There was one treatise by a certain Professor Dean which seemed to attract his interest strongly. He was full of the project and wanted to pursue an extended line of investigation of aërial navigation. I confess I listened with scant interest. The field seemed to me an unprofitable one commercially, for I could not see what practical benefit from a transportation standpoint would be gained by aërial navigation. It was doubtless for this very reason, I argued to myself, that the subject had thus far not been more fully taken up and advanced. Nicholas, however, was evidently not easily to be discouraged and I regarded his enthusiasm as a species of misfortune. Here was one of my valuable men off on a tangent and the result could only be that I would be a loser of his best efforts. However, I did not abruptly refuse Nicholas, but out of consideration for his feelings promised to give the matter some further thought.”
“Ah,” exclaimed the Professor, “how history repeats itself! It was always my experience whenever I approached men of position and power on that very subject to meet with discouragement and doubt.”
“Listen to the sequel,” said the High President. “That night I walked in my grounds. It was a rarely beautiful night, with a high, clear sky and a bright, full moon. My mind was occupied with its still unsolved problem. I looked up to the heavens above me, as if to seek there inspiration and light. Suddenly the thought flashed into my mind: What if an attack could be delivered from the skies above—from the very heavens themselves! Such an attacking force would be absolutely safe from attackitself, while by dropping high explosives upon any enemy below it could inflict untold devastation. Then Nicholas came into my mind.”
“But such form of attack is expressly forbidden by the rules of international warfare!” exclaimed Mortimer.
“I am aware of that,” answered the High President, “but the rules of international warfare do not apply to revolutions by a people against their government.”
“I suppose not,” admitted Mortimer grudgingly.
“The next morning I sent for Nicholas,” said the High President. “He found a much changed man. It will be needless for me to recount to you the ten thousand and one details in connection with the perfecting of our plans; our secret work of invention, our secret processes of manufacture, our secret places of trial and concealment of finished machines. Take, for instance, where we now are. We have here quite an extensive strip of territory, in a wild, little frequented region. It is held as private property. In the heart of this territory is this valley shut in on all sides by mountain heights—and it affords us ample opportunity of carrying on such work as may be necessary, quite safe from observation. On every side our men are out in the guise of keepers, carefully guarding every avenue of approach against possible chance of intrusion. Similar strips of territory and similar retreats we hold in various other parts of the country, for our plans are far too carefully laid for us to trust all our eggs to one basket. Let it be enough for me to say that everything has thus far progressed most satisfactorily and that we have to-day concealed in various places, all finished and ready for use, a sufficient number of air-ships, large and small, to carry out our plans. All this has been done withsuch well-managed quietude and secrecy that not the slightest inkling has the government of the true state of affairs. You will now understand, Professor Dean, what I meant the day I remarked to you that your investigations in the line of aërial navigation were more important to the world than you dreamed of. You will also understand why it was that I was so desirous of inducing you to leave the Court and come to me to pursue your further work in that direction. It was not that I really needed you to develop air-ships, for that had already been accomplished; but I feared you might produce them for the benefit of the government. Such possible production was to us the most serious menace to our course, as you will doubtless realize.”
“Yes; now that I understand all the circumstances,” answered the Professor, “I see that very clearly.”
“As it was,” said the High President, “you certainly sprang your air-ship upon us with remarkable rapidity. I congratulate you upon your work and ourselves upon the fact that we have succeeded in capturing you and your ship before you had gone further. You can imagine the surprise to our fellows when they hailed and discovered that they were being pursued by a Royal air-ship. They are indeed to be commended for the discretion and skill with which they acted.”
“In what respect?” asked the Professor.
“They had a machine on board,” answered the High President, “which would have blown you to atoms, had they so desired, or they could have clapped on speed and have escaped you. Had they been fools, they would have done one or the other. Being sensible men, they did neither. They simply regulated their speed so as to lure you on and thus leadto your capture. You see, it was desirable to ascertain as much about you as possible and learn how grave a peril to us your presence signified.”
“That accounts for the peculiar movements I noticed during our pursuit,” remarked the Professor.
“Doubtless,” replied the High President. “Well, I am truly thankful they kept their wits and acted as they did. I am glad they did not allow you to escape and I am even more glad they did not resort to the other course. I abhor any unnecessary shedding of blood and I am grateful to Providence that our operations that night cost, at most, only one life. I may say to you that the life of the King has been repeatedly in our hands during our various visitations, but not one hair of his head has been injured.”
“What was the object of these visitations?” asked the Professor curiously.
“To satisfy fully the scruples of some of the more conscientious among the leaders,” answered the High President. “The present King had shown himself to be a more just and mild-mannered ruler than his predecessor and they thought he should be accorded the saving chances of reform and abdication. I was opposed to the plan as affording little prospect of practical results, but yielded so as to satisfy the consciences of these men—so that when the time came to strike they could feel that we had done so only after no other course was left.”
“I see—I understand,” said the Professor thoughtfully.
“And now,” said the High President, “all is prepared. The air-ships are ready and their crews drilled to their work. We have in addition a sufficiently large number of men trained to act as anauxiliary land force to follow up at the right moment the devastating work of the air-ships. The officers pin a gold star, the men a white star—the Star of Hope—to their left shoulders and in an instant you have a force sufficiently recognizable for our purposes. Should any body of men be compelled to retreat, they scatter, off with the star from the shoulder, and in an instant are re-converted into ordinary citizens. Conceive a body of men in a number of mobiles, so built as to be protected from ordinary rifle fire, and, hovering in the distance, awaiting the moment, a scattered mass of men on foot. These latter carry only concealed arms, and are apparently noncombatants. Imagine the men in the mobiles opening an attack upon a royal regiment, or other hostile body. The royal troops advance to the attack and the men in the mobiles begin to retreat. Then, from the heavens above, the air-ships, themselves unassailable, open their attack and hurl down high explosives upon the advancing troops. What becomes of the regiment? In a few moments it is decimated—annihilated! All that remains is for the men in the motors and the scattered footmen in the distance to sweep down upon the scene and take charge of the dead, the dying and the prisoners. The same way in attacking a fort, or royal palace. Our air-ships would hover high above and, themselves beyond the reach of rifles, or of cannon, pursue their attack until the work of demolition was complete. As a military man, Captain Mortimer, I ask you how can such an attack be successfully resisted?”
“Are your air-ships rifle proof?” asked Mortimer.
“Perfectly so from all sides,” answered the HighPresident; “but even if they were not, it would be an easy matter for them to keep beyond range.”
“Quite so; and they could, of course, still be able to direct the explosives hurled with sufficient accuracy?”
“Absolutely,” replied the High President. “I ask you again how can such a form of attack be resisted?”
Mortimer hesitated a moment before replying.
“It is obvious,” he said at length, “that if one thousand riflemen are attacked in the manner you describe by one hundred of an enemy whom they cannot by any possibility reach or inflict any punishment whatsoever upon, the one thousand men must necessarily succumb to the one hundred. In the case of artillery, the artillerymen would be no better off, for if their enemy were lodged directly above, heavy guns could not be raised to a sufficient pitch to bring the enemy within range. These propositions are so simple that, I take it, there is no disputing them.”
“And as to a fort?” asked the High President.
“Substantially the same principles must apply,” answered Mortimer.
“The government’s warships,” continued the High President, “are scattered over the various seas. But let us assume that a number of them were concentrated in Atlantic waters. Could a ship of the sea do successful battle with a ship of the air, hovering directly above her and raining death and destruction down upon her decks? I ask you, what chance would a ship of the sea have?”
“A warship,” answered Mortimer with impatience, “could, of course, not elevate her guns so as to bring within range anything immediately above her.”
“Then,” exclaimed the High President triumphantly,“I am pleased to find that our minds are in accord on at least some important points and we can now, perhaps, come to an understanding.”
“I don’t fully catch your meaning,” said Mortimer.
“You don’t suppose,” answered the High President, “that I have held this interview with you and disclosed our position so thoroughly simply for the purpose of discussing political economy, or questions of military tactics?”
“Perhaps not,” said Mortimer. “I await the explanation of your purpose.”
“It is this,” replied the High President. “I sought first to show you the merit and justice of our cause, and next, our certitude of success. You, Captain Mortimer, with your military experience, and you, Professor Dean, with your scientific attainments, would be valuable additions to our ranks—not so much for the first attack, for all the details of that first attack are already mapped out and settled; but for the subsequent work of organization and handling great masses of men which must necessarily follow our preliminary successes. We shall first attack the palace and almost simultaneously the city of New York. We shall seize upon the persons of the King and the officers of the Government. This preliminary success and demonstration of our power will be accompanied by uprisings all over the East, followed a little later by similar movements in the West and the South. How could you lend your aid to a nobler work than the uplifting of your countrymen in particular and of mankind in general—how engage in a more truly patriotic task! I invite you—I beg you—to aid in this cause—to join our ranks.”
The High President paused, with eager eyes turnedupon his auditors. For some moments they sat in silence.
“I await your answer,” said the High President, turning his gaze directly upon Mortimer.
For yet a moment Mortimer sat speechless. At last he spoke.
“General Mainwarren,” he said, “I don’t doubt the high impulses and sentiments which direct your action, otherwise your words would convey to me the grossest insult. Understanding these impulses and sentiments as I do, I can accept your words in the spirit in which they are intended. But, sir, remember that I wear the uniform of an American army officer. That uniform, so far as is known, has never covered but one traitor and the world-wide obloquy and contempt which in his own period and through succeeding generations has followed the name of Benedict Arnold, should be a sufficient example and lesson for prospective traitors in all generations to come. The function of an army officer is not to delve in social economics, or meddle with political questions. He must leave these matters to others. His duty is to uphold the government of the country and to forever stand ready to defend and die for, if needs be, the interests and the honor of his country and his flag. Such are the views I hold, General Mainwarren, and—you have my answer.”
The High President, in turn, paused before making reply.
“I, too,” he said at length, “understand and appreciate the sentiments which dictate your answer. I do not consider that these sentiments are correct from the highest and broadest standpoint of patriotism and human effort, but the answer, such as it is, I must accept, much as I regret it. And you,” headded, turning to Professor Dean; “what is your decision?”
The Professor answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“I am,” he said, “more in touch and sympathy with your project and your aims than Captain Mortimer is, or could be expected to be. Had you depicted to me those projects and described to me those aims on the day we first met, my answer might have been different from that which it now must be. As it is, I have embarked in this joint enterprise with my friend, Captain Mortimer, and I should regard myself as playing the rôle of traitor which he so severely contemns were I now to fail him. I shall stand shoulder to shoulder with Captain Mortimer in this enterprise, at least, to the very end.”
The High President rose and extended his hand.
“Re-meeting!” he exclaimed. “My mission here has failed. There is nothing more to be said.”
He moved toward the door. Dean called after him.
“One moment,” he cried; “there is a question I would ask. You spoke just now of blood having been spilled the night of the chase. What did you mean? Was there some mishap which happened to those we were pursuing? I saw no accident.”
“No,” answered the High President, pausing, “no accident occurred to any of those you were following. It was at the palace.”
“At the palace! What do you mean?”
“According to the report made me,” continued the High President, “it came about in this way. Our men in the air-ship were preparing to approach the window of the King’s chamber, but prior to doing so were scouting around the immediate neighborhood to ascertain if the coast was clear.”
“Yes, yes,” exclaimed Dean, “we noticed that!”
“Next to the King’s chamber was a room with open windows,” went on the High President, “occupied, as they knew, by an officer on guard. Either an air current must have affected the air-ship which was at the moment almost motionless, or the steersman made some slight miscalculation, for they suddenly drifted in too close to the room. Our men suddenly saw an officer in full uniform spring forward and peer out. It looked as if he had caught sight of them and was about to give an alarm. Instantly, one of our men fired. The officer was seen to stagger back and, without groan or cry, he fell!”
With a cry of rage and pain, as of some wounded animal, Mortimer clenched his hands and began pacing the floor, in deep agitation.
“But how can this be!” exclaimed Dean. “We were close at hand and we heard no sound—no shot!”
“You forget,” replied the High President indulgently, “that most of our firearms to-day are noiseless as well as smokeless.”
“My God—my God!” exclaimed Mortimer, still pacing the floor, “that officer was Ralph—my comrade and friend, Captain Swords. Tell me, did that shot kill?”
“That is not known,” replied the High President. “After the shot, our men hovered around, peering into the lighted room and prepared to flee at the slightest sign of an alarm. But no sign of such alarm appeared. The officer’s fall upon the heavy carpet appeared to have been unheard, for no one came to the room and he lay there motionless. Our men then passed on to their work at the King’s window, when you appeared a moment later upon the scene. You know the rest.”
“To think that he is lying wounded, perhaps dead, and I here—a prisoner!” muttered Mortimer fiercely.
“The fortunes of war,” replied the High President coldly. “What is one life in such a struggle? Alas! think of the many, many lives which must be sacrificed before this contest closes. As to your imprisonment, I am willing to give you the freedom of this entire valley upon your parole not to leave it, or to attempt any communication whatsoever with the outside.”
“I refuse such parole,” answered Mortimer curtly.
“And you, Professor Dean?”
“I follow Captain Mortimer’s lead absolutely.”
“Very well,” answered the High President, “prisoners you must then remain. But console yourselves with the thought that it will not be for long. Ten days from to-day the signal to attack will flash forth—in ten days from to-day the new era will have dawned and your freedom will be near at hand. Look forward to your liberation—as tens upon tens of millions are awaiting their liberation—to the birth of the New Republic!”
He sprang up the steps and called to the sentinel without. The door was hurriedly thrown open and an instant later he was gone.