length, and runs north arid south round the great bulk of
the central mountain, so that in time, when we put up a circular railway,
we can bring, at a merely nominal cost, all sorts of material up or down.
It is on this level that we have built the great factories for war
material. We are tunnelling into the mountains, where are the great
deposits of coal. We run the trucks in and out on the level, and can get
perfect ventilation with little cost or labour. Already we are mining
all the coal which we consume within our own confines, and we can, if we
wish, within a year export largely. The great slopes of these tunnels
give us the necessary aid of specific gravity, and as we carry an endless
water-supply in great tubes that way also, we can do whatever we wish by
hydraulic power. As one by one the European and Asiatic nations began to
reduce their war preparations, we took over their disbanded workmen
though our agents, so that already we have a productive staff of skilled
workmen larger than anywhere else in the world. I think myself that we
were fortunate in being able to get ahead so fast with our preparations
for war manufacture, for if some of the "Great Powers," as they call
themselves, knew the measure of our present production, they would
immediately try to take active measures against us. In such case we
should have to fight them, which would delay us. But if we can have
another year untroubled, we shall, so far as war material is concerned,
be able to defy any nation in the world. And if the time may only come
peacefully till we have our buildings and machinery complete, we can
prepare war-stores and implements for the whole Balkan nations. And
then--But that is a dream. We shall know in good time.

In the meantime all goes well. The cannon foundries are built and
active. We are already beginning to turn out finished work. Of course,
our first guns are not very large, but they are good. The big guns, and
especially siege-guns, will come later. And when the great extensions
are complete, and the boring and wire-winding machines are in working
order, we can go merrily on. I suppose that by that time the whole of
the upper plateau will be like a manufacturing town--at any rate, we have
plenty of raw material to hand. The haematite mines seem to be
inexhaustible, and as the raising of the ore is cheap and easy by means
of our extraordinary water-power, and as coal comes down to the plateau
by its