, to Southampton
and Portsmouth, returning by Chichester, Horsham and Tunbridge Wells.

It was only a tour of observation for the purpose of discovering the
main military dispositions of the defenders--who were now concentrating
as rapidly as possible upon Folkestone and Dover--but he found time to
stop and drop a torpedo or two into each town or fort that he passed
over--just leaving cards, as he said to M'Carthy--as a promise of
favours to come.

He also wrecked half a dozen long trains, apparently carrying troops,
and incidentally caused a very considerable loss of good lives and much
confusion, to say nothing of the moral effect which this new and
terrible form of attack produced upon the nerves of Mr Thomas Atkins.

When he got back to Dover he found a letter waiting for him from the
General informing him that the transports would sail at once, and that
his requests would be complied with.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE OTHER CAMPAIGN BEGINS

It was on the day following the destruction of Dover that the news of
the actual landing of the French and German forces had really taken
place at the points selected by Castellan reached Whernside. The little
house party were at lunch, and the latest papers had just come over from
Settle. Naturally what they contained formed the sole topic of
conversation.

"Really, Arnold, I think even you must confess that things are a great
deal more serious than anyone could have imagined a few days ago. The
very idea--an invasion accomplished in forty-eight hours--Portsmouth,
Dover, Sheerness and Tilbury destroyed, and French and German and
Russian soldiers actually in arms on English soil. The thing would be
preposterous if it were not true!

"And what are we to do now, I should like to know? The Fleet doesn't
exist--we have no army in the Continental sense of the word, which of
course is the real military sense, thanks to a lot of politicians
calling themselves statesmen who have been squabbling about what an army
ought to be for the last ten years.

"You will be able to put a million trained and half-trained--mostly
half-trained--men into the field, to face millions of highly-trained
French, German, Russian and Austrian troops, led by officers who have
taken their profession seriously, and not by gentlemen who have gone
into the army because it was a nice sort of playground, where you could
have lots of fun, and a little amateur fighting now and then. I wonder
what they will