“But will Great Britain and all the other nations jump in?” demanded George.
“Not jump in, but find themselves dragged in, in spite of their horror of war. This thing has been hanging fire a long while, but every little while there would be signs of what lay under the surface. Lots of people predicted it was bound to come sooner or later, and that the destinies of every world power would have to be settled once and for all by the sword.”
“Then all other wars will be baby play beside this one,” Josh declared, “with the wonderful modern arms they’ve got. Millions of men must be killed before the end comes, and old Europe will never know herself, such great changes in border lines are bound to take place.”
“But what of us?” asked George.
“That’s what we’ve got to decide right away,” Jack announced. “We live thousands of miles away from the scene of hostilities, and our neutral country may not be pulled into the whirlpool; but here we are in Austria-Hungary that is now in a state of war with Serbia, Montenegro, Russia and France, with other countries to hear from. What ought we do about it?”
“Let’s tell the Kaiser we won’t stand for any of this funny business,” Buster went on to say, pretending to look very important, though there was a quizzical gleam in his eyes at the same time; “let him know he’s got to sheathe that sword of his in double-quick time, or America will get mad.”
“Much the Kaiser would care for a dozen Americas,” jeered George. “Germany armed can defy the whole world, and as for our great big country, we’re only a second China, don’t you know—plenty of people, much talk, but able to do next door to nothing.”
“I say it would be a beastly shame if we had to quit now before hardly getting started,” asserted Josh, indignantly.
“Go on, the rest of you, for I want to hear everybody’s opinion,” urged Jack.
“But if the whole of Austria is on a war footing, what chance would we have to continue our lovely voyage?” George wanted to know. “As like as not we’d be arrested, because they’d call us spies trying to find a way to invade the country through the back door.”