whole of the space
included between two liens, one from Hamburg to Athens, the other from
Finland to the Black Sea, was painted a deep scarlet, with here and
there portions of it in slightly lighter colouring. Seaman laid his palm
upon the map.

"There lies our future Empire," he said solemnly and impressively.

"Explain it to me," Dominey begged.

"Broadly speaking, everything between those two lines belongs to the new
German Empire. Poland, Courland, Lithuania, and the Ukraine will possess
a certain degree of autonomous government, which will practically amount
to nothing. Asia is there at our feet. No longer will Great Britain
control the supplies of the world. Raw materials of every description
will be ours. Leather, tallow, wheat, oil, fats, timber--they are all
there for us to draw upon. And for wealth--India and China! What more
could you have, my friend?"

"You take my breath away. But what about Austria?"

Seaman's grin was almost sardonic.

"Austria," he said, "must already feel her doom creeping upon her. There
is no room in middle Europe for two empires, and the House of Hapsburg
must fall before the House of Hohenzollern. Austria, body and soul, must
become part of the German Empire. Then further down, mark you. Roumania
must become a vassal state or be conquered. Bulgaria is already ours.
Turkey, with Constantinople, is pledged. Greece will either join us
or be wiped out. Servia will be blotted from the map; probably also
Montenegro. These countries which are painted in fainter red, like
Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece, become vassal states, to be absorbed one by
one as opportunity presents itself."

Dominey's finger strayed northward.

"Belgium," he observed, "has disappeared."

"Belgium we shall occupy and enslave," Seaman replied. "Our line of
advance into France lies that way, and we need her ports to dominate the
Thames. Holland and the Scandinavian countries, as you observe are
left in the lighter shade of red. If an opportunity occurs, Holland and
Denmark may be incited to take the field against us. If they do so,
it means absorption. If they remain, as they probably will, scared
neutrals, they will none the less be our vassal states when the last gun
has been fired."

"And Norway and Sweden?"

Seaman looked down at the map and smiled.

"Look at them," he said. "They lie at our mercy. Norway has her western
seaboard, and there might always be the question of British aid so far
as she is