h I found waiting for me at
my humble headquarters. They shall ever remain as the patents of
nobility of my family. Among others was that never-to-be-forgotten
salutation from my King. He desired me to present myself at Hauptville,
but for once I took it upon myself to disobey his commands. It took me
two days--or rather two nights, for we sank ourselves during the daylight
hours--to get all our stores on board, but my presence was needful every
minute of the time. On the third morning, at four o'clock, the _Beta_
and my own little flagship were at sea once more, bound for our original
station off the mouth of the Thames.

I had no time to read our papers whilst I was refitting, but I gathered
the news after we got under way. The British occupied all our ports, but
otherwise we had not suffered at all, since we have excellent railway
communications with Europe. Prices had altered little, and our
industries continued as before. There was talk of a British invasion,
but this I knew to be absolute nonsense, for the British must have
learned by this time that it would be sheer murder to send transports
full of soldiers to sea in the face of submarines. When they have a
tunnel they can use their fine expeditionary force upon the Continent,
but until then it might just as well not exist so far as Europe is
concerned. My own country, therefore, was in good case and had nothing
to fear. Great Britain, however, was already feeling my grip upon her
throat. As in normal times four-fifths of her food is imported, prices
were rising by leaps and bounds. The supplies in the country were
beginning to show signs of depletion, while little was coming in to
replace it. The insurances at Lloyd's had risen to a figure which made
the price of the food prohibitive to the mass of the people by the time
it had reached the market. The loaf, which, under ordinary circumstances
stood at fivepence, was already at one and twopence. Beef was three
shillings and fourpence a pound, and mutton two shillings and ninepence.
Everything else was in proportion. The Government had acted with energy
and offered a big bounty for corn to be planted at once. It could only
be reaped five months hence, however, and long before then, as the papers
pointed out, half the island would be dead from starvation. Strong
appeals had been made to the patriotism of the people, and they were
assured that the interference with trade was temporary, and that wi