e murder of five million men,
and the heartbreaks of mothers, wives and children. This, the greatest
tragedy the world has ever seen, will call for a fearful atonement. I
foresee, in this war, with its daily expense of three million pounds,
and the additional waste, a general bankruptcy of the world, the
downfall of classes, of wealth, the wrecking of privilege. I foresee,
when peace is declared, the fruitless return of millions of men to jobs
that have vanished, and to employers shorn of all power to employ them.
Mark me! The world to-day is on the verge of a mighty cataclysm far
greater than the present awful clash of armies. Wise are the man and
country that are preparing."

He paused awhile as if in deep thought.

"Listen, my boy, you quoted me some verse just now, let me quote you
lines from the new version of the 'Watch on the Rhine':

"Dear Fatherland, we'll soon be free,
From Prussian Kings' autocracy:
The world shall see all the battles cease,
With dawn of universal peace.
Each German worker has to pay
One-fourth of what he earns per day
To keep two million marching feet
And please a Kaiser's mad conceit.
Oh God! we're punished bitterly
For Kaiser Wilhelm's blasphemy;
Three million of our sons are slain,
Let sacrifice be not in vain!"

He rose abruptly, grasped his stick, and set off down the road.

I stood for a moment half-dazed; then I followed him.

[Illustration: "If soldiers only had their own way, this war would be
short lasting."--Chapter XIII.

(The Cartoon, "An International Conference that would bring about
Peace," by Bradley, in the "Chicago Daily News.")]

CHAPTER XIV.

The Restless Masses.

What sort of man was this? "A man of God" and yet a murderer! A man
without a spark of patriotism. A man without a country. What a curiosity
in these days, when at the first blast of war almost every man on earth
ranged himself beneath a nation's flag be it for strife or neutral!

Here was a man:--

Whose heart had ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he had turned,
From wandering on a foreign strand--

And the rhyming lines kept jogging through my brain as I trudged behind
that long straight figure in black.

A turn of the road brought a house in sight and my companion quickened
his steps. I hung back as he went up to the house. He turned, looked
around, and waved me on. I passed by and waited some distance along the
road.