Travel-worn and weary, the five men walked up the aisle to the space at the front. “Gentlemen, are you ready to report?” said the presiding officer.
“We are,” said the head of the delegation. “The Emperor of Germany refused absolutely to see us, pleading an indisposition. We were unable to obtain any satisfaction.”
The grave assembly rose like the sea. Shouts, cries, requests for recognition, came in one clamorous volume, and the president sounded his gavel fiercely. The excitable Latins were shouting recriminations. It looked as if the seething mass would break up in utter disorder, and the great conference would end without result. Far off by the door, I could see a marshal forcing his way through the crowded aisles, imploring, struggling, fighting. He reached the rostrum, mounted it, and spoke in the president’s ear. With a tremendous effort, he shouted, “Silence for important news.” Little by little, the crowd stilled. In a resonant voice came the words, “An envoy from the Emperor of Germany desires to address the conference in person.”
A hush came over the assembly, a hush so sudden, so profound, that I could hear the scratching of the fountain pen with which the secretary before the president wrote the words. The aisles cleared, and the ordered assembly sat silently in their seats. The great door opened and, preceded by a corps of marshals, the envoy from the great Hohenzollern entered. The stiff, unbending figure, the haughty head, the piercing eyes and high, upturned moustache of the field marshal envoy showed his imitation of his master, the war lord. Proudly, as on parade, he paced to the space where the president, who had descended to the floor to greet him, stood. He bowed coldly and turned.
“My master has sent me here,” he said abruptly, “to address your conference. These are his words, ‘I have believed that war, that armies made for the best good of my state; I believe it still. I do not believe in peace. But I cannot expose my navy to destruction, my sailors and my soldiers to death. I therefore agree to peace. My armies shall disband, my fortifications be torn down, my battleships sunk or turned to peaceful ends. My Reichstag will have confirmed my words ere now.’”
As one man, the assembly arose and cheered. Never, in his own city or from his own troops, came heartier greetings than that which rung out for the last ruler to take up the cause of peace. The field marshal stood there, while the tumult raged, his hands resting on the hilt of his sword, erect as ever, impassive as ever. As the cheering ended, he bowed to the assembly. Turning, he bowed to the president, and then, with martial step, he slowly withdrew. The delegates from Germany arrived the next day with power to disarm, and the business of signing the agreements and plans of disarmament went on so rapidly that the conference was able to adjourn in but a few days’ time.
The day the conference closed, I rushed back from the telegraph office the moment I had sent off the last word of my final despatch. I found Tom and Dorothy in the laboratory. “There, thank goodness,” I cried exultantly, “that’s over. Now I can go back to the hunt for ‘the man’ with an easy conscience. What do you think that next move ought to be?”
“Hold on, till we finish this,” said Tom. “We’ll talk things over as soon as I get this screw set.”
I watched him idly as he worked. “What is he trying to do now?” I asked Dorothy.