This speech amazed every one.
“Why, Cousin Mayo! Can’t the United States whip the world?� exclaimed David.
“Aren’t most of the nations against Germany?� asked Dick.
“Oh, yes! A score of nations are united against Germany and her sister autocracies, Austria-Hungary and Turkey and Bulgaria.�
“Is Germany so much the best fighter?� David wanted to know.
“No! But she has the inside lines, and she was ready for war. For nearly forty years she was preparing for ‘the day,’ while the rest of the world was busy with works of peace.�
“Didn’t the other countries have armies and navies, too?� David persisted.
“No country ever built up such a perfect war machine as Germany,� said Mr. Osborne. “Every point was prepared. Optical and dye experts produced an inconspicuous gray-green uniform; engineers constructed the Kiel Canal and a network of railroads leading to Belgium and France; scientists captured nitrogen from the air for explosives and fertilizers, and devised Zeppelins, huge guns, submarines, and poison gas; experts made war plans; officers were drilled to carry them out with soldiers trained by years of service. And the minds of people were prepared—abroad by propaganda, and at home by patriotic-sounding talk about ‘the seas must be free’ and ‘we demand our place in the sun.’ Even Kuno——� He paused and then said to himself, “I wonder where Kuno is!�
“Kuno?� said Red Mayo, questioningly.
“Kuno Kleist, a German friend of mine with whom I tramped through Mexico. He was coming home with me, but he had news that his mother was ill, so he went back to Germany. Such a clever, merry, kind-hearted fellow he was; confident that the eternal jubilee of peace and brotherhood was at hand, ‘made in Germany,’ by his Socialist brethren.�