“If he can communicate with us by wireless, why can he not send a message in the same way to all countries?”
I passed on the suggestion, and slowly this answer came back.
“I will send this message to the ruler of every country. I send it to you first, for you have saved me from causing death unnecessarily. ‘The man who has stopped all war now declares unto you that since peace has come, since every nation is now disarming, he will cease his labors. The ships of the nations may now sail the seas without harm from him. The sailors shall be safe from his hand. This will he do, if peace be sure and disarmament be complete. But, on the day that any nation violates its solemn oath and arms its citizens, on that day will he rise, and no ship, be it battleship or peaceful merchantman, bearing that country’s flag, shall be safe from destruction.’”
The sounder ceased its clamor. Tom spoke in a low voice, as if he feared to be overheard.
“How can we tell he is the man and not some one else, who is simply playing with us? We can’t afford to take risks. Ask him, Jim, how we can know that he is really the man who has stopped all war.”
I turned to my key and sent off the question. Back came the answer.
“By the first letter which I erased and which was found, you shall know me.”
“That settles it in my mind,” I said. “That’s known to not more than a dozen people, and none of them would be sending this.”
Tom, meanwhile, had stepped into the next room, and was talking quietly to his assistant. He spoke to me. “Keep him going a minute, Jim. I want to get a message from him.”
“Is there anything more you wish to know?” I asked the man by wireless.