"Our agents have been doing good work," he said. "Helped by your all-knowing father, they have given away information upon which the British Admiralty will act. The information, I need hardly tell you, is false and misleading. But what would you? War is war, and to deceive and mislead your enemy is one of the essentials of successful strategy. Is it not true? Well, then, we have to-day issued a secret report that a squadron of our battleships has crept out, and is now cruising off the coast of Norway. The Norwegian people have helped us by declaring that already they have heard the thunder of our naval guns at sea. An hour ago, we received word that the British Fleet has gone off in force towards Norway."
"Yes," Max nodded. "It has gone out on what we call a wild-goose chase, you mean? But in what way shall we benefit?"
Admiral von Hilliger puffed more vigorously than ever at his cigar.
"Is it not obvious to you, my dear?" he questioned. "By alluring them out of their harbours, we make our path clear. We take our great ships across to England and do our worst. It is all arranged. We start to-day—this evening. To-morrow morning, while their gunboats are vainly searching for a phantom fleet in Norwegian waters, our invincible battleships will be engaged in firing their shells into the fortified seaports of Newcastle and Hull."
Max Hilliger allowed himself to smile.
"It is a mere detail that neither Hull nor Newcastle happens to be a fortified town," he ventured. "But there will be no military advantage in such a bombardment. The sinking of one battle cruiser would be to us worth the destruction of half a dozen towns. What good did we do by smashing a few windows in Haddisport? We gained nothing to balance the waste of ammunition and the loss of one of our own ships that ran up against one of our own floating mines! Believe me, my uncle, the English people are not easily frightened. It will take more than an hour's bombardment of their seaside villas to put them in a state of panic."
"In that case," returned the admiral, "we shall take yet stronger measures to convince them of our frightfulness. This time, we shall take with us our most powerful battleships. We shall show them that it is we and not they who hold command of the seas."
He flung his unfinished cigar into the stove and drew his nephew to the window.
"Look once out there," he said, pointing across the sea to where the Kaiser's fleet could be dimly seen on the far horizon. "If the contemptible English could but open their eyes upon those ships, do you suppose that they would any longer dare to boast of their own paltry navy? Ach, my dear Max, wait! To-morrow you shall see!"
CHAPTER XXX.