"Worked it out," said Bert, after a pause. "Jest ground away at
it."

"Our people are frightfully keen on you. They thought the
British had got you. Weren't the British keen?"

"In a way," said Bert. "Still--it's a long story."

"I think it's an immense thing--to invent. I couldn't invent a
thing to save my life."

They both fell silent, watching the darkened world and following
their thoughts until a bugle summoned them to a belated dinner.
Bert was suddenly alarmed. "Don't you 'ave to dress and things?"
he said. "I've always been too hard at Science and things to go
into Society and all that."

"No fear," said Kurt. "Nobody's got more than the clothes they
wear. We're travelling light. You might perhaps take your
overcoat off. They've an electric radiator each end of the
room."

And so presently Bert found himself sitting to eat in the
presence of the "German Alexander"--that great and puissant
Prince, Prince Karl Albert, the War Lord, the hero of two
hemispheres. He was a handsome, blond man, with deep-set eyes, a
snub nose, upturned moustache, and long white hands, a
strange-looking man. He sat higher than the others, under a
black eagle with widespread wings and the German Imperial flags;