“Some gold. Mostly diamonds and furs.”
“Sound business for Germany,” said Christy. “How do you get on with the Bolshies?”
The young skipper shrugged his shoulders.
“The officials keep civil tongues. They’d better. The stevedores are poor lousy bastards. Can hardly lift a cable without breaking theirselves. Half-fed, and no guts. Start work at eleven, and take two hours to get the cranes working. Well-meaning enough. Some of ’em speak a bit of English. There’s one that was Professor of Biology, or some such thing, before the war. I gave him a slab of cheese, and he wept tears and kissed my hand. I’ve no use for this Bolshevism. It don’t seem to do a country any good, though there’s some that think so in Newcastle.”
He wished them good health, and waved his hand to them from the top of the gangway as they went back through the snow.
“Major,” said Christy, using the old title as though they were still in Flanders’ fields, “those railway-engines from Hamburg give me furiously to think. Here’s the key to Russia’s way of escape. Perhaps Germany’s also, if France puts the screw on too hard. What about the Treaty of Versailles—German indemnities—a French invasion of the Ruhr—if Germany allies herself with Russia? Russia and Germany contra mundum! A formidable combination, by the Lord!”
“Don’t you jump a bit too far ahead?” asked Bertram. “Four railway engines in a Tyneside tug don’t seem to justify a prophecy of world war.”
“Remember Owen,” said Christy calmly. “Reconstructed a Megatherium out of one tooth. These four railway engines, with seven hundred and ninety-six to follow—and those ploughs lying in the snow—mean that Germany is getting her foot into Russia, doing business, preparing to do more. For Russia’s sake I’m mighty glad, but it mustn’t be left to Germany alone. If that happens, there’s going to be Hell to pay.”
Bertram was silent on the way back. Christy had the gift of seeing far ahead, and his prophecies were rare, and never rash. The individual did not interest him very much. He thought more of the actions and reactions of peoples, of mass movements, economic laws, world balances, the ebb and flow of trade, the undertow of passions, and political chances.
That night they went to the Marinsky Theatre, and lost their way in the snow. With his few phrases of Russian, Christy asked the way of a young lad in the uniform of a Red soldier, and was answered in very good English.