“If it cannot be helped,” he said quietly, “we are ready to engage the United States also.”
“But surely,” cried Frank, “you do not believe you can whip the whole world.”
“Perhaps not,” was the reply, “but neither do we believe the whole world can whip us.”
Frank threw up his hands with a gesture of dismay.
“You Germans are about the limit,” he said. “It seems to me that you already have bitten off a bigger portion than you can chew, and here you are trying to bring the rest of the civilized world against you.”
“We might just as well be whipped by the whole world as a portion of it,” said the prisoner.
“And that is my idea of what the Kaiser himself believes,” said Jack, who up to this time had taken no part in the conversation. “My opinion is that the German emperor, realizing already that he is fighting a losing fight, is seeking to embroil the whole world.”
“But we are not fighting a losing fight,” protested the prisoner.
This time it was Lord Hastings who shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s a matter of sentiment, of course,” he said. “But we didn’t call you here to argue with you. What other events of importance are taking place?”