“Armoured airships?” Mr. Mervin Brown repeated.

“Airships from which one fights on land as well as in the air,” Prince Shan explained.  “On land they become moving fortresses.  No shell has ever been made which can destroy them.  I should be revealing no secret to you, because I believe I am right in saying, sir, that a model of these amazing engines of destruction was first submitted to your Government.”

“I remember something of the sort,” the Prime Minister assented.  “The inventor himself was an American, I believe.”

“Precisely!  I believe he told you in plain words that whoever possessed his model might, if they chose, dominate the world.”

“But who wants to dominate the world by force?” Mr. Mervin Brown demanded passionately.  “We have passed into a new era, an era of peace and the higher fellowship.  It is waste of time, labour and money to create these horrible instruments of destruction.  The League of Nations has decreed that they shall not be built.”

“Nevertheless,” Prince Shan declared, with portentous gravity, “a thousand of these engines of destruction are now ready in a certain city of China.  Each one of the three secret cities has done its quota of work in the shape of providing parts.  China alone has put them together.  I bought the secret, and I alone possess it.  It rests with me whether the world remains at peace or moves on to war.”

“You cannot hesitate, then?” Mr. Mervin Brown exclaimed anxiously.  “You yourself are an apostle of civilisation.”

Prince Shan smiled.

“It is because we are strong,” he said, “that we love peace.  It is because you are weak that you fear war.  I am not here to teach you statesmanship.  It is not for me to point out to you the means by which you can make your country safe and keep her people free.  Call a meeting of what remains of the League of Nations and compare your strength with that of the nations who have crept outside and lie waiting.  Then take the advice of experts and set your house in order.  You sacrifice everything to-day to the god of commerce.  Take a few men like Dorminster here into your councils.  You are not a nation of fools.  Speak the truth at the next meeting of the League of Nations and see that it is properly reported.  Help yourselves, and I will help you.”

“Will you come into my Cabinet, Lord Dorminster?” the Prime Minister invited, turning to Nigel.

“If you will recreate the post of Minister for War, I will do so with pleasure,” was the prompt reply.

Prince Shan held out his hand.

“There is great responsibility upon your shoulders, Mr. Mervin Brown,” he said.  “You will never know how near you have been to disaster.  Try and wake up your nation gradually, if you can.  Call together your writers, your thinking men, your historians.  Encourage the flagging spirit of patriotism in your public schools and universities.  Is this presumption on my part that I give so much advice?  If so, forgive me.  Truth that sits in the heart will sometimes demand to be heard.”