Part 45 (2/2)
”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 va.s.sal 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 va.s.sal 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 va.s.sal 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 concerned. But Sweden is ours, body and soul. More than any other of these va.s.sal states, it is our master's plan to bring her into complete subjection. We need her l.u.s.ty manhood, the finest cannon food in the world, for later wars, if indeed such a thing should be. She has timber and minerals which we also need. But there--it is enough. First of all men in this country, my friend, you Von Ragastein, have gazed upon this picture of the future.”
”This is marvellously conceived,” Dominey muttered, ”but what of Russia with her millions? How is it that we propose, notwithstanding her countless millions of men, to help ourselves to her richest provinces, to drive a way through the heart of her empire?”
”This,” Seaman replied, ”is where genius steps in. Russia has been ripe for a revolution any time for the last fifteen years. We have secret agents now in every city and country place and throughout the army. We shall teach Russia how to make herself a free country.”
Dominey s.h.i.+vered a little with an almost involuntary repulsion. For the second time that almost satyr-like grin on Seaman's face revolted him.
”And what of my own work?”
Seaman helped himself to a liqueur. He was, as a rule, a moderate man, but this was the third time he had replenished his gla.s.s since his hasty meal.
”My brain is weary, friend,” he admitted, pa.s.sing his hand over his forehead. ”I have a great fatigue. The thoughts jump about. This last week has been one of fierce excitements. Everything, almost your daily life, has been planned. We shall go over it within a day or so.
Meanwhile, remember this. It is our great aim to keep England out of the war.”
”Terniloff is right, then, after all!” Dominey exclaimed.
Seaman laughed scornfully.
”If we want England out of the war,” he pointed out, ”it is not that we desire her friends.h.i.+p. It is that we may crush her the more easily when Calais, Boulogne and Havre are in our hands. That will be in three months' time. Then perhaps our att.i.tude towards England may change a little! Now I go.”
Dominey folded up the map with reluctance. His companion shook his head.
It was curious that he, too, for the first time in his life upon the same day, addressed his host differently.
”Baron Von Ragastein,” he said, ”there are six of those maps in existence. That one is for you. Lock it away and guard it as though it were your greatest treasure on earth, but when you are alone, bring it out and study it. It shall be your inspiration, it shall lighten your moments of depression, give you courage when you are in danger; it shall fill your mind with pride and wonder. It is yours.”
Dominey folded it carefully up, crossed the room, unlocked a little safe and deposited it therein.
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