I. DANGER! {1}
BEING THE LOG OF CAPTAIN JOHN SIRIUS
It is an amazing thing that the English, who have the reputation of being
a practical nation, never saw the danger to which they were exposed. For
many years they had been spending nearly a hundred millions a year upon
their army and their fleet. Squadrons of Dreadnoughts costing two
millions each had been launched. They had spent enormous sums upon
cruisers, and both their torpedo and their submarine squadrons were
exceptionally strong. They were also by no means weak in their aerial
power, especially in the matter of seaplanes. Besides all this, their
army was very efficient, in spite of its limited numbers, and it was the
most expensive in Europe. Yet when the day of trial came, all this
imposing force was of no use whatever, and might as well have not
existed. Their ruin could not have been more complete or more rapid if
they had not possessed an ironclad or a regiment. And all this was
accomplished by me, Captain John Sirius, belonging to the navy of one of
the smallest Powers in Europe, and having under my command a flotilla of
eight vessels, the collective cost of which was eighteen hundred thousand
pounds. No one has a better right to tell the story than I.
I will not trouble you about the dispute concerning the Colonial
frontier, embittered, as it was, by the subsequent death of the two
missionaries. A naval officer has nothing to do with politics. I only
came upon the scene after the ultimatum had been actually received.
Admiral Horli had been summoned to the Presence, and he asked that I
should be allowed to accompany him, because he happened to know that I
had some clear ideas as to the weak points of England, and also some
schemes as to how to take advantage of them. There were only four of us
present at this meeting--the King, the Foreign Secretary, Admiral Horli,
and myself. The time allowed by the ultimatum expired in forty-eight
hours.
