"Father," said Dean suddenly, "I want to give you warning right now.
If it ever comes that Canada is in need of men, I am not going to hold
back. I could not do it and stay in the country. I am an American,
heart, body and soul, but I would count myself meaner than a polecat if
I declined to line up with that bunch of Canadians."

"Think well, my boy," said his father. "Think well. I have only one son,
but I will never stand between you and your duty or your honour. Now we
go to lunch. Where shall we go?"

"With me, at the University Club, all of you," said Raeder.

"No, with me," said Mr. Wakeham. "I will put up the fatted calf, for
this my son is home again. Eh, my boy?"

During the lunch hour try as they would they could not get away from the
war. Dean was so completely obsessed with the subject that he could not
divert his mind to anything else for any length of time.

"I cannot help it," he said at length. "All my switches run the same
way."

They had almost finished when Professor Schaefer came into the dining
hall, spied them and hastened over to them.

"Here's this German beast," said Dean.

"Steady, Dean. We do business with him," said his father.

"All right, Father," replied the boy.

The Professor drew in a chair and sat down. He only wanted a light lunch
and if they would allow him he would break in just where they were. He
was full of excitement over the German successes on sea and on land.

"On land?" said Raeder. "Well, I should not radiate too freely about
their land successes. What about the Marne?"

"The Marne!" said Schaefer in hot contempt. "The
Marne--strategy--strategy, my dear sir. But wait. Wait a few days. If
we could only get that boasted British navy to venture out from their
holes, then the war would be over. Mark what happens in the Pacific.
Scientific gunnery, three salvos, two hundred minutes from the first
gun. It is all over. Two British ships sunk to the bottom. That is the
German way. They would force war upon Germany. Now they have it. In
spite of all the Kaiser's peace efforts, they drove Germany into the
war."

"The Kaiser!" exclaimed Larry, unable any longer to contain his fury.
"The Kaiser's peace efforts! The only efforts that the Kaiser has made
for the last few years are efforts to bully Europe into submission
to his will. The great peace-maker of Europe of this and of the last
century was not the Kaiser, but King Edward VII. All the world knows
that."

"Ki