The aide-de-camp gulped convulsively.
Ten minutes later two penniless men groped their way, dazed, to the garden gate.
"At last," said Prince Otto brokenly, for it was he, "at last I begin to realise the horrors of an invasion—for the invaders."
And together the two men staggered on.
Chapter 3 — ENGLAND'S PERIL
When the papers arrived next morning, it was seen that the situation was even worse than had at first been suspected. Not only had the Germans effected a landing in Essex, but, in addition, no fewer than eight other hostile armies had, by some remarkable coincidence, hit on that identical moment for launching their long-prepared blow.
England was not merely beneath the heel of the invader. It was beneath the heels of nine invaders.