"They will be equal with us, even then," he boldly declared. "With submarines you cannot hope to hold command of the seas. Besides, to prey upon merchant shipping—neutral ships as well as British—is not war, it is rank piracy."
Admiral von Hilliger laughed.
"Piracy?" he repeated. "In that case, you shall yourself be one of our pirate chiefs. You shall fly the Jolly Roger. But I do not care what you call yourself so long as you make yourself a terror of the seas. It is what His Majesty the Kaiser wishes you to be. He wishes you to sink their hateful Dreadnoughts, their troopships, their fishing boats, their cargo steamers, and even their passenger liners, wherever they can be found."
Max looked up into his uncle's puffy blue eyes.
"Their passenger liners?" he repeated in amazement. "Do you say that such is the Kaiser's wish? But that would be murder!"
"Hush! my dear Max," cried the admiral. "We must not call it by so unpleasant a name as that. The whole thing is very different if we call it simply submarine warfare."
"And suppose I refuse?" demanded Max.
Again Admiral von Hilliger shrugged his shoulders.
"Then you will be arrested for mutiny," he declared coldly. "And the penalty for mutiny is death. Do you understand? The penalty is an ignominious death."
Max was silent for some moments. At last he said: