"Washington _was_ your capital," broke in General von Kluck, with a laugh.

"I can a.s.sure your Excellency," said General Wood, keeping his composure with an effort, "that the American people will never consent to such a sacrifice of territory. You may drive us back to the deserts of Arizona, you may drive us back to the Rocky Mountains, but we will fight on."

Von Hindenburg's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Ah, so!" he smiled grimly.

"Do you know what will happen if you refuse our terms? In the next few months we shall land expeditions from Germany with a million more soldiers. That will give us a million and a half men on American soil. We shall then invade the Mississippi Valley from New Orleans, and our next offer of terms will be made to you from St. Louis or Chicago, _and it will be a very different offer_."

"If your Excellency will allow me," said Elihu Root in a conciliatory tone, "may I ask if the Imperial German Government does not recognise that there will be great difficulties in the way of permanently holding a strip of land along our Atlantic seaboard?"

"What difficulties? England holds Canada, doesn't she? Spain held Mexico, did she not?"

"But the Mexicans were willing to be held. Your Excellency must realise that in New England, in New York, in New Jersey, you would be dealing with irreconcilable hatred."

"Nothing is irreconcilable. Look at Belgium. They hated us in 1915, did they not? But sixty-five percent of them accepted German citizenship when we offered it to them after the peace in 1919, and they have been a well-behaved German province ever since."

"You mean to say that New England would ever become a German province?"

protested William H. Taft. "Do you think that New York and Virginia will ever take the oath of allegiance to the German Emperor?"

"Of course they will, just as most of the Spaniards you conquered in the Philippine Islands took the oath of allegiance to America. They swore they would not but they did. Men follow the laws of necessity. Half of your population are of foreign descent. Millions of them are of German descent. These people crowded over here from Europe because they were starving and you have kept them starving. They will come to us because we treat them better; we give them higher wages, cleaner homes, more happiness. They _have_ come to us already; the figures prove it. Not ten percent of the people of New York and New England have moved away since the German occupation, although they were free to go. Why is that?

Because they like our form of government, they see that it insures to them and their children the benefits of a higher civilisation."

My informant a.s.sured me that at this point ex-President Taft, in spite of his even temper, almost exploded with indignation, while General Wood rose abruptly from his seat.

For a time it looked as if this first Peace Conference session would break up in a storm of angry recrimination; but Elihu Root, by tactful appeals, finally smoothed things over and an adjournment was taken for forty-eight hours, during which it was agreed that both sides, by telegraph and cable, should lay the situation before their respective governments in Chicago and Berlin.

I remained at Mount Vernon for two weeks while the truce lasted. Every day the peace commissioners met for hours of argument and pleading, but the deadlock of conflicting purposes was not broken. Both sides kept in touch with their governments and both made concessions. America raised her indemnity offer to five billion dollars, to six billion dollars, to seven billion dollars, but declared she would never surrender one foot of the Atlantic seaboard. Germany lessened her demands for territory, but refused to withdraw from New York, New England and Philadelphia.

For some days this deadlock continued, then America began to weaken. She felt herself overpowered. The consequences of continuing the war were too frightful to contemplate and, on September 8, I cabled my paper that the United States would probably cede to Germany within twenty-four hours the whole of New England and a part of New York State, including New York City and Long Island. This was the general opinion when, suddenly, out of a clear sky came a dramatic happening destined to change the course of events and draw me personally into a whirlpool of exciting adventures.

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon of September 9, a blazing hot day, and I was seated on the lawn under one of the fine magnolia-trees presented years before by Prince Henry of Prussia, wondering how much longer I must swelter here before getting off my despatch to the _Times_, when I heard the panting of a swiftly approaching automobile which presently drew up outside the grounds. A moment later a coloured chauffeur approached and asked if I was Mr. James Langston. I told him I was, and he said a lady in the car wanted to speak to me.

"A lady?" I asked in surprise. "Did she give her name?"

The chauffeur broke into a beaming smile. "She didn't give no name, boss, but she sure is a ve'hy handsome lady, an' she's powh'ful anxious to see you."

I lost no time in answering this mysterious summons, and a little later found myself in the presence of a young woman whom I recognised, when she drew aside her veil, as Miss Mary Ryerson, sister of Lieutenant Randolph Ryerson. With her in the car were her brother and a tall, gaunt man with deep-set eyes. They were all travel-stained, and the car showed the battering of Virginia mountain roads.

"Oh, Mr. Langston," cried the girl eagerly, "we have such wonderful news!

The conference isn't over? They haven't yielded to Germany?"

"No," said I. "Not yet."

"They mustn't yield. We have news that changes everything. Oh, it's so splendid! America is going to win."

Her lovely face was glowing with enthusiasm, but I shook my head.

"America's fleet is destroyed. Her army is beaten. How can she win?"

Miss Ryerson turned to her brother and to the other man. "Go with Mr.

Langston. Tell him everything. Explain everything. He will take you to General Wood." She fixed her radiant eyes on me. "You will help us? I can count on you? Remember, it's for America!"

"I'll do my best," I promised, yielding to the spell of her charm and spirit. "May I ask--" I glanced at the tall man who was getting out of the car.

"Ah! Now you will believe. You will see how G.o.d is guiding us. This is the father of the brave little boy in Wanamaker's store. He has seen Thomas A. Edison, and Mr. Edison says his plan to destroy the German fleet is absolutely sound. Mr. Langston, Mr. Lemuel A. Widding. Now hurry!"

CHAPTER XVII

THOMAS A. EDISON MAKES A SERIOUS MISTAKE IN ACCEPTING A DINNER INVITATION

As General Wood left the peace conference (in reply to our urgent summons) and walked slowly across the Mount Vernon lawn to join us in the summer house, he looked haggard and dejected.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Good news, General," I whispered, but he shook his head wearily.

"No, it's all over. They have worn us down. Our fleet is destroyed, our army is beaten. We are on the point of ceding New England and New York to Germany. There is nothing else to do."

"Wait! We have information that may change everything. Let me introduce Lieutenant Ryerson and Mr. Widding--General Wood." They bowed politely.

"Mr. Widding has just seen Thomas A. Edison."

That was a name to conjure with, and the General's face brightened.

"I'm listening," he said.

We settled back in our chairs and Lemuel A. Widding, with awkward movements, drew from his pockets some papers which he offered to the American commander.

"These speak for themselves, General," he began. "Here is a brief description of my invention for destroying the German fleet. Here are blueprints that make it clearer. Here is the written endors.e.m.e.nt of Thomas A. Edison."

For a long time General Wood studied these papers with close attention, then he sat silent, looking out over the broad Potomac, his n.o.ble face stern with care. I saw that his hair had whitened noticeably in the last two months.

"If this is true, it's more important than you realise. It's so important that--" He searched us with his kind but keen grey eyes.

"Thomas A. Edison says it's true," put in Widding. "That ought to be good enough evidence."

"And Lieutenant Ryerson tells me that Admiral Fletcher spoke favourably of the matter," I added.

"He did, General," declared the lieutenant. "It was on the _Pennsylvania_ a few hours before we went into battle. The admiral had been looking over Mr. Widding's specifications the night before and he said--I remember his words: 'This is a great idea. If we had it in operation now we could destroy the German fleet.'"

At this moment there came a fateful interruption in the form of an urgent call for General Wood from the conference hall and he asked us to excuse him until the next day when he would take the matter up seriously.

We returned at once to Washington and I spent that evening at the Cosmos Club listening to a lecture by my oceanographical friend, Dr. Austin H.

Clark, on deep-sea lilies that eat meat. At about nine o'clock I was called to the telephone, and presently recognised the agitated voice of Miss Ryerson, who said that an extraordinary thing had happened and begged me to come to her at once. She was stopping at the Sh.o.r.eham, just across the street, and five minutes later we were talking earnestly in the s.p.a.cious blue-and-white salon with its flowers and restful lights.

Needless to say, I preferred a talk with this beautiful girl to the most learned discussion of deep-sea lilies.

Her message was brief but important. She had just been telephoning in a drug-store on Pennsylvania Avenue when she was surprised to hear the name of Thomas A. Edison mentioned several times by a man in the next booth who was speaking in German. Miss Ryerson understood German and, listening attentively, she made out enough to be sure that an enemy's plot was on foot to lay hold of the great inventor, to abduct him forcibly, so that he could no longer help the work of American defence.