"Then there is the possibility, nay, probability, of a rupture with the United States?"
"True, sire; but give us four clear days and Great Britain will be humiliated; her navy will be almost utterly destroyed. Our destroyer flotillas could then lie in wait for the American fleet, and it will be a case of Tsuhsima over again."
"You are sanguine, Von Rhule."
"Assuredly, sire. Everything is in our favour. Take the English fleet at the present time. Nine battleships and battle-cruisers are under repair in the various dockyards, eleven battleships and their attached craft are now in the Mediterranean, eight days' steaming from the Straits of Dover. Thus we have a predominance in battleships in the North Sea, to say nothing of the surprise attack our destroyers and submarines are able to deliver. Our aerial fleet also——"
"One Zeppelin of which is at present in the hands of the English."
"True, sire, but an aerial fleet will be able to inflict enormous damage to the docks of the east coast of England; perhaps even London may be reduced to a heap of ruins."
"Your words smack too much of the word 'perhaps', Von Rhule."
"My perhaps, sire, means a certainty," said the Chancellor grimly.
"You are omitting the element of chance."
"There is no need to make allowances for chance, sire. Our preparations are made so as to be independent of that."