L.P.M. : The End of The Great War Part 34

"This is h.e.l.l all right," he managed to gasp.

"That is the worst you will ever get," said Edestone. "It was noise that I was after, and black powder makes it. Your experience would not have been half so bad had the guns been loaded or had I used smokeless."

The ship which had trembled from stem to stern under the tremendous concussion was floating now as quietly as a toy balloon, while the wind was rolling up and pushing before it a great cloud of smoke which obscured the sky. On all sides there was perfect stillness, broken only now and again by the last explosion of gas caught in the cylinders of the Taubes by the sudden stoppage of the engines. The airmen were volplaning to earth as fast and as silently as they could.

"Well, that ought to hold them for a while," commented Lawrence in a tone which showed that he was almost himself again.

"And make them a little bit more amenable to reason in the morning,"

added Edestone, and he laughed, for action with him always drove away the blue devils.

"With that settled, too, we will just have time before turning in, to inspect my quarters," he continued. "Tomorrow I will introduce you to 'Specs' and Captain Lee, and you can go with them at eleven o'clock on their tour of official inspection. They will show you the fire drill, the life-balloon drill, the gun drill, the kitchen, and the cows. But now I want you to see a different side of the ship. We will look at my quarters, then at my guest rooms, and finally at my royal suite or state apartments as I call them."

He then took Lawrence through room after room, which were arranged in the form of a horseshoe, starting on the port side with his breakfast room, and working around to the starboard side with its opening toward the stern of the ship.

On the port side were Edestone's apartments--living-room, library, or den, bedroom, dressing-room, bath-room, and gymnasium. On the starboard were a number of guest rooms arranged in suites of parlour, bedroom, and bath, while at the crown of the arch was a large dining-room in which fifty persons could sit down to dinner comfortably.

The centre of the horseshoe was the large room through which he had pa.s.sed, and like the general meeting room of a large country house was filled with all known kinds of games--instruments and devices to amuse that most unfortunate cla.s.s of human beings who have no resources within themselves, and must play some foolish game, or do some foolish puzzle in order to get through the life which seems to hang so heavily on their hands.

From this they pa.s.sed to a lower deck about amidships, to a room about eighty feet by one hundred and twenty feet, which extended the full width of the ship and up three decks. At one end of this large and handsome room was a raised platform arranged like the Speaker's desk in the House of Representatives at Washington with the desks at lower levels for stenographers, clerks, and attendants, while around the room in concentric circles were large comfortable seats and desks, also like a Senate Chamber, only more luxurious in appointments, as though it were to receive a more distinguished body of men than the Senate of the United States, if that were possible.

"This," said Edestone, "is where I intend to hold my Peace Conference, and when you see the names of the distinguished men who are to sit here, and the apartments that I have arranged for them and their suites, you will perhaps be glad to take your old position of room clerk."

Then after showing his companion through these magnificent "royal suites," as he called them, all furnished and equipped in the most sumptuous fashion, he suggested that they had better turn in.

"We will hope and pray for the best in the morning," he said, as he bade Lawrence good-night.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV

THE ULTIMATUM

The sun was streaming through the windows when Lawrence awoke the next morning. The valet had come in shortly before to throw back the curtains with a slam, and by moving about the room, slapping up shades and dropping boots, make the usual noises of a well-trained valet at that time of the morning.

"Mr. Edestone is already up, sir," he said when he saw that he had succeeded in waking Lawrence, "and is having his breakfast in his own apartments. Will you have yours here or will you go to the breakfast room?"

"Breakfast room," elected Lawrence sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Eight o'clock, sir. What will you have for breakfast, sir?"

"Anything and eggs," said Lawrence, and was about to turn over and go to sleep again when he realized where he was, and leaping out of bed to the window in one bound stepped out into the _loggia_.

The Little Peace Maker had dropped down and was now only about a thousand feet up; and when he looked down from his balcony, he could see that she had changed her position so as to float exactly over the Palace. It almost seemed to him as if he could step off and onto the roof of this great pile of masonry. The airship, too, must have just moved into this position, as was shown by the excited way in which the little people below him were running away in every direction.

He had his bath, and hurriedly dressing went into the breakfast room, where he found Edestone, who had finished his breakfast and was waiting for him, while reading from a lot of slips of paper which he was turning over in his hand. The master of the ship was dressed all in white and looked refreshed after a good night's rest.

"Good-morning, Lawrence," he greeted him. "Did you sleep well?"

"Like a top."

"And how is your hand?"

"I had almost forgotten it, only I did get the dressings wet while taking my bath, but that will give me an excuse for pa.s.sing the time of day with the doctors. How is your head?"

"Oh, that does not amount to anything," said Edestone. "It will be well in a week. Have you seen the morning papers?" With a smile he handed him a sheet on which was printed all the news of the day which the wireless man had picked up during the night.

"The United States has not been heard from," he commented as he glanced it over. "I wonder what the Southern Baptist Union School Children will think of me now? You know the Secretary of State thought I was a Baptist. And as for him, why he will leave the State Department and stay away until it gets too hot in Florida, or the lecturing season is all over, while the President will write a most scholarly note to all of the Powers telling them how much he loves them, and what a glorious thing it is to be an American. He will then give an unqualified invitation to all of the dark-skinned downtrodden criminals of Europe to come over and be sprinkled with the holy water of citizenship, after they have made their mark to their naturalization papers which have been read to them by their interpreter.

"London reports that the news from Germany has filled the entire country with new confidence," he went on, "and that the Londoners have given themselves over to the most un-English and thoroughly Latin demonstrations by parading the streets and singing songs and indulging in another Mafeking. I see, too, that Lord Rockstone is reported to have said that he thought now the war would not last as long as he had expected. The King has called a special meeting of the Cabinet for today at 4 o'clock.

"Reports come from Rome that Italy will enter the war immediately, and the papers point out the fact that now since her friend America has joined the Allies it is high time that Italy should take her position.

"Petrograd reports that they have lost 100,000 men but have captured 250,000 Austrians.

"Constantinople," he went on reading, "declares that the Dardanelles are impregnable and that the city is perfectly quiet, but the Sultan and half of his harem have moved to his summer residence."

He laid down the printed sheet. "I have had no communication yet from down there," he said as he pointed down in the direction of the Palace.

"My international law department is drawing up a proclamation which I will send as soon as it is finished. It will be along the lines that I spoke of to you last night, but framed in more diplomatic language. These are the latest bulletins I was just reading over when you came in."

Then while Lawrence sat eating his breakfast, Edestone continued to read now and then bits of the different press notices.

"Listen to this," he said with a laugh. "'The twenty Taubes sent up to make a night attack on the American airship inflicted great injury. After using up all their ammunition and bombs they were forced to retire before the large guns of the enemy. They all reached the ground in safety. The tremendous explosion that was heard in the city is thought to have been caused by the exploding of one of the large magazines.'"

"What's that from?" Lawrence glanced up from his "anything and eggs."

"_Die Fliegende Blatter?_"

But Edestone did not smile, he was glancing at another of the slips.

"Ah," he said in a sad voice, "I seem to have killed about one thousand people last night."

"Still," argued Lawrence, "that was not as large a percentage of the German Empire as they killed of your little kingdom."

"No," granted Edestone; "and as long as they insist upon treating me as an outlaw I will be one so far as they are concerned. I will now go and see if my ultimatum is prepared. I am undecided as to whether I will send it by wireless or by a messenger."

Lawrence finished his breakfast and while he sat in the _loggia_ smoking his cigar and looking down over the city, he decided to ask permission to carry the message to the Emperor himself. The idea delighted him, and he pictured exactly how he would walk and speak his lines like the prince in the story book. He only regretted that he was not to be dressed up in spangles, like the heralds of old, and have the triumphal march from _Ada_ played by trumpeters from the Metropolitan Opera House who would precede him in their brand-new Cammeyer sandals and badly fitting tights but he decided that if said trumpeters were obliged to read sheet music he would not allow them to wear gla.s.ses. He was just making up his mind what he would say to the Emperor when Wilhelm fell on his knees and begged him to intercede for him, as Edestone came in, and blasted all these glowing dreams with a word.

"Well, it is done," he said, "and I have given them until one o'clock to answer."

Lawrence was then formally introduced to "Specs" under his t.i.tle of Admiral Page, to Captain Lee, and the officers, and he spent one of the most delightful days of his life, so much interested in what he saw that he entirely forgot that he was a pirate, waiting to destroy a peaceable city if it did not do his bidding.

Edestone had settled himself down for a quiet day of waiting, and Lawrence amused himself by inspecting every part of the ship and talking with all on board from the oil men to the Admiral.

"Admiral Page," he inquired, "where do you keep the Deionizer?"

At which "Specs" peeped at him with a suspicious glance through his thick gla.s.ses. "Has Mr. Edestone spoken to you of that?" he asked.