Monroe!"--so it runs. Then its tone changes insensibly. From a few words
dropped I realise with a start where these pleasantly chatting men had
probably been only two or three days before, where they would probably be
again on the morrow. Some one opens a map, and I listen to talk which, in
spite of its official reticence, throws many a light on the vast range of
England's naval power, and the number of her ships. "Will _they_ come out?
When will they come out?" The question runs round the group. Some one
tells a story of a German naval prisoner taken not long ago in the North
Sea, and of his remark to his captors: "Yes, we're beaten--we know
that--but we'll make it _hell_ for you before we give in!"

For that final clash--that Armageddon that all think must come, our
sailors wait, not despising their enemy, knowing very well that they--the
Fleet--are the pivot of the situation, that without the British Navy, not
all the valour of the Allies in France or Russia could win the war, and
that with it, Germany's hope of victory is vain. While the Navy lives,
England lives, and Germany's vision of a world governed by the ruthless
will of the scientific soldier is doomed.

Meanwhile, what has Germany been doing in her shipyards all this time? No
one knows, but my hosts are well aware that we shall know some day.

As to England--here is Mr. Balfour moving the Naval Estimates in the House
of Commons--the "token votes" which tell nothing that should not be told.
But since the war began, says the First Lord, we have added "one million"
to the tonnage of the Navy, and we have _doubled its personnel_. We are
adding more every day; for the Admiralty are always "wanting more." We are
quite conscious of our defects--in the Air Service first and foremost. But
they will be supplied. There is a mighty movement afoot in the workshops
of England--an effort which, when all drawbacks are allowed for, has