"We've ate with em; we've lived with em; we've talked with em; and we can speak for em. I tell you there can't be war and there won't be war with such a people. It'd be the crime of Cain. Brothers we are; and brothers we remain. And not all the politicians and profiteers and soldiers can make us other."
The Colonel and Mrs. Lewknor got down and joined the crowd. As they did so the engineer, who had finished his harangue, was moving a resolution: That this meeting believes in the Brotherhood of Man and wishes well to Germany.
"I second that," said the Colonel from the rear of the crowd.
Just then Alf, who had left his car and followed the Colonel, put a question.
"Did not Lord Roberts say in 1912 at Manchester that Germany would strike when her hour struck?"
The man on the platform was so furious that he did not even rise from his chair to reply.
"Yes he did!" he shouted. "And he'd no business to! Direct provocation it was."
"Will not Germany's hour have struck when the Kiel Canal is open to Dreadnoughts?" continued the inquisitor smoothly. "And is it not the fact that the Canal is to be opened for this purpose in the next few days?"
These questions were greeted with booings mingled with cheers.
Mr. Geddes was rising to reply when Joe Burt leapt to his feet, roused and roaring.