the divine descendants of william the great give a benefit for the canine gardens and pay tribute to the piggeries

~1~

the strike that i had feared would be the beginning of a bloody revolution had ended with an actor shouting into a horn and the shadow of an emperor waving his arms. but meanwhile capt. grauble, on whom i staked my hopes of escape from berlin, had departed to the arctic and would not return for many months. that he would return i firmly believed; statistically the chances were in his favour as this was his fourth trip, and hope was backing the favourable odds of the law of chance.

so i set myself to prepare for that event. my faith was strong that grauble could be won over to the cause of saving the germans by betraying germany. i did not even consider searching for another man, for grauble was that one rare man in thousands who is rebellious and fearless by nature, a type of which the world makes heroes when their cause wins and traitors when it fails--a type that germany had all but eliminated from the breed of men.

but, if i were to escape to the outer world through grauble's connivance, there was still the problem of getting permission to board the submarine, ostensibly to go to the arctic mines. even in my exalted position as head of the protium works i could not learn where the submarine docks or the passage to them was located. but i did learn enough to know that the way was impenetrable without authoritative permission, and that thoughts of escape as a stowaway were not worth considering. i also learned that admiral von kufner had sole authority to grant permission to make the arctic trip.

the admiral had promptly turned down my first proposal to go to the arctic ore fields, and had by his pompous manner rebuffed the attempts i made to cultivate his friendship through official interviews. i therefore decided to call on marguerite and the countess luise to see what chance there was to get a closer approach to the man through social avenues. the countess was very obliging in the matter, but she warned me with lifted finger that the admiral was a gay bachelor and a worshipper of feminine charms, and that i might rue the day i suggested his being invited into the admiring circle that revolved about marguerite. but i laughingly disclaimed any fears on that score and von kufner was bidden to the next ball given by the countess.

marguerite was particularly gracious to the admiral and speedily led him into the inner circle that gathered informally in the salon of the countess luise. i made it a point to absent myself on some of these occasions, for i did not want the admiral to guess the purpose that lay behind this ensnaring of him into our group.

and yet i saw much of marguerite, for i spent most of my leisure in the society of the royal level, where thought, if shallow, was comparatively free. i took particular pleasure in watching the growth of marguerite's mind, as the purely intellectual conceptions she had acquired from dr. zimmern and his collection of books adjusted itself to the absurd realities of the celestial society of the descendants of william the great.

it may be that charity is instinctive in the heart of a good woman, or perhaps it was because she had read the christian bible; but whatever the origin of the impulse, marguerite was charitably inclined and wished to make personal sacrifice for the benefit of other beings less well situated than herself. while she was still a resident of the free level she had talked to me of this feeling and of her desire to help others. but the giving of money or valuables by one woman to another was strictly forbidden, and marguerite had not at the time possessed more than she needed for her own subsistence. but now that she was relatively well off, this charitable feeling struggled to find expression. hence when she had learned of the royal charity society she had straightway begged the countess to present her name for membership, without stopping to examine into the detail of the society's activities.

the society was at that time preparing to hold a bazaar and sent out calls for contributions of cast off clothing and ornaments. marguerite as yet possessed no clothes or jewelry of royal quality except the minimum which the demands of her position made necessary; and so she timidly asked the countess if her clothing which she had worn on the free level would suffice as gifts of charity. the countess had assured her that it would do nicely as the destination of all the clothing contributed was for the women of the free level. thinking that an opportunity had at last arisen for her to express her compassion for the ill-favoured girls of her own former level, marguerite hastened to bundle up such presentable gowns as she had and sent them to the bazaar by her maid.

later she had attended the meeting of the society when the net results of the collections were announced. to her dismay she found that the clothing contributed had been sold for the best price it would bring to the women of the free level and that the purpose of the sacrifices, of that which was useless to the possessors but valuable to others, was the defraying of the expense of extending the romping grounds for the dogs of the charitably maintained canine garden.

marguerite was vigorously debating the philosophy of charity with the young count rudolph that evening when i called. she was maintaining that human beings and not animals should be the recipients of charity and the young count was expounding to her the doctrine of the evil effects of charity upon the recipient.

"moreover," explained count rudolph, "there are no humans in berlin that need charity, since every class of our efficiently organized state receives exactly what it should receive and hence is in need of nothing. charity is permissible only when poverty exists."

"but there is poverty on the free level," maintained marguerite; "many of the ill-favoured girls suffer from hunger and want better clothes than they can buy."

"that may be," said the count, "but to permit them gifts of charity would be destructive of their pride; moreover, there are few women on the royal level who would give for such a purpose."

"but surely," said marguerite, "there must be somewhere in the city, other women or children or even men to whom the proceeds of these gifts would mean more than it does to dogs."

"if any group needed anything the state would provide it," repeated the count.

"then why," protested marguerite, "cannot the state provide also for the dogs, or if food and space be lacking why are these dogs allowed to breed and multiply?"

"because it would be cruel to suppress their instincts."

marguerite was puzzled by this answer, but with my more rational mind i saw a flaw in the logic of this statement. "but that is absurd," i said, "for if their number were not checked in some fashion, in a few decades the dogs would overswarm the city."

it was now the count's turn to look puzzled. "you have inferred an embarrassing question," he stated, "one, in fact, that ought not to be answered in the presence of a lady, but since the princess marguerite does not seem to be a lover of dogs, i will risk the explanation. the medical level requires dogs for purposes of scientific research. since the women are rarely good mathematicians, it is easily possible in this manner to keep down the population of the canine garden."

"but the dogs required for research," i suggested, "could easily be bred in kennels maintained for that purpose."

"so they could," said the count, "but the present plan serves a double purpose. it provides the doctors with scalpel practise and it also amuses the women of the royal house who are very much in need of amusement since we men are all so dull."

"woman's love," continued rudolph, waxing eloquent, "should have full freedom for unfoldment. if it be forcibly confined to her husband and children it might burst its bounds and express too great an interest in other humans. the dogs act as a sort of safety valve for this instinct of charity."

the facetious young count saw from marguerite's horror-stricken face that he was making a marked impression and he recklessly continued: "the keepers at the canine gardens understand this perfectly. when funds begin to run low they put the dogs in the outside pens on short rations, and the brutes do their own begging; then we have another bazaar and everybody is happy. it is a good system and i would advise you not to criticize it since the institution is classic. other schemes have been tried; at one time women were permitted to knit socks for soldiers--we always put that in historical pictures--but the socks had to be melted up again as felted fibre is much more durable; and then, after the women were forbidden to see the soldiers, they lost interest. but the dog charity is a proven institution and we should never try to change anything that women do not want changed since they are the conservative bulwark of society and our best protection against the danger of the untried."

~2~

blocked in her effort to relieve human poverty by the discovery that its existence was not recognized, marguerite's next adventure in doing good in the world was to take up the battle against ignorance by contributing to the school for the education of servants.

the servant problem in berlin, and particularly on the royal level, had been solved so far as male servants were concerned, for these were a well recognized strain eugenically bred as a division of the intellectual caste. i had once taken dr. zimmern to task on this classification of the servant as an intellectual.

"the servant is not intellectual creatively," the eugenist replied, "yet it would never do to class him as labour since he produces nothing. moreover, the servant's mind reveals the most specialized development of the most highly prized of all german intellectual characteristics--obedience.

"it might interest you to know," continued zimmern, "that we use this servant strain in outcrossing with other strains when they show a tendency to decline in the virtue of obedience. if i had not chosen to exempt you from paternity when your rebellious instincts were reported to me, and the matter had been turned over to our remating board they might have reassigned you to mothers of the servant class. this practice of out-crossing, though rare, is occasionally essential in all scientific breeding."

"then do you mean," i asked in amazement, "that the highest intellectual strains have servant blood in them?"

"certainly. and why not, since obedience is the crowning glory of the german mind? even royal blood has a dash of the servant strain."

"you mean, i suppose, from illegitimate children?"

"not at all; that sort of illegitimacy is not recognized. i mean from the admission of servants into royal society, just as you have been admitted."

"impossible!"

"and why impossible, since obedience is our supreme racial virtue? go consult your social register. the present emperor, i believe, has admitted none, but his father admitted several and gave them princely incomes. they married well and their children are respected, though i understand they are not very much invited out for the reason that they are poor conversationalists. they only speak when spoken to and then answer, 'ja, mein herr.' i hear they are very miserable; since no one commands them they must be very bored with life, as they are unable to think of anything to do to amuse themselves. in time the trait will be modified, of course, since the royal blood will soon predominate, and the strongest inherent trait of royalty is to seek amusement."

this specialized class of men servants needed little education, for, as i took more interest in observing after this talk with zimmern, they were the most perfectly fitted to their function of any class in berlin. but there was also a much more numerous class of women servants on the royal level. these, as a matter of economy, were not specially bred to the office, but were selected from the mothers who had been rejected for further maternity after the birth of one or two children. be it said to the credit of the germans that no women who had once borne a child was ever permitted to take up the profession of delilah--a statement which unfortunately cannot be made of the rest of the world. these mothers together with those who had passed the child bearing age more than supplied the need for nurses on the maternity levels and teachers in girls' schools.

as a result they swarmed the royal level in all capacities of service for which women are fitted. originally educated for maternity they had to be re-educated for service. not satisfied with the official education provided by the masculine-ordered state, the women of the royal level maintained a continuation school in the fine art of obedience and the kindred virtues of the perfect servant.

so again it was that marguerite became involved in a movement that in no wise expressed the needs of her spirit, and from which she speedily withdrew.

the next time she came to me for advice. "i want to do something," she cried. "i want to be of some use in the world. you saved me from that awful life--for you know what it would have been for me if dr. zimmern had died or his disloyalty had been discovered--and you have brought me here where i have riches and position but am useless. i tried to be charitable, to relieve poverty, but they say there is no poverty to be relieved. i tried to relieve ignorance, but they will not allow that either. what else is there that needs to be relieved? is there no good i can do?"

"your problem is not a new one," i replied, thinking of the world-old experience of the good women yoked to idleness by wealth and position. "you have tried to relieve poverty and ignorance and find your efforts futile. there is one thing more i believe that is considered a classic remedy for your trouble. you can devote yourself to the elimination of ugliness, to the increase of beauty. is there no organization devoted to that work?"

"there is," returned marguerite, "and i was about to join it, but i thought this time i had better ask advice. there is the league to beautify berlin."

"then by all means join," i advised. "it is the safest of all such efforts, for though poverty may not exist and ignorance may not be relieved, yet surely berlin can be more beautiful. but of course your efforts must be confined to the royal level as you do not see the rest of the city."

so marguerite joined the league to beautify berlin and i became an auxiliary member much appreciated because of my liberal contributions. it proved an excellent source of amusement. the league met weekly and discussed the impersonal aspects of the beauty of the level in open meetings, while a secret complaint box was maintained into which all were invited to deposit criticisms of more personal matters. it was forbidden even in this manner to criticize irremedial ugliness such as the matter of one's personal form or features, but dress and manners came within the permitted range and the complaints were regularly mailed to the offenders. this surprised me a little as i would have thought that such a practice would have made the league unpopular, but on the contrary, it was considered the mainstay of the organization, for the recipient of the complaint, if a non-member, very often joined the league immediately, hoping thereby to gain sweet revenge.

but aside from this safety valve for the desire to make personal criticism, the league was a very creditable institution and it was there that we met the great critics to whose untiring efforts the rare development of german art was due.

cut off from the opportunity to appropriate by purchase or capture the works of other peoples, german art had suffered a severe decline in the first few generations of the isolation, but in time they had developed an art of their own. a great abundance of cast statues of white crystal adorned the plazas and gardens and, being unexposed to dust or rain, they preserved their pristine freshness so that it appeared they had all been made the day before. mural paintings also flourished abundantly and in some sections the endless facade of the apartments was a continuous pageant.

but it was in landscape gardening that german art had made its most wonderful advancement. having small opportunity for true architecture because of the narrow engineering limitations of the city's construction, talent for architecture had been turned to landscape gardening. i use the term advisedly for the very absence of natural landscape within a roofed-in city had resulted in greater development of the artificial product.

the earlier efforts, few of which remained unaltered, were more inclined toward imitation of nature as it exists in the world of sun and rocks and rain. but, as the original models were forgotten and new generations of gardeners arose, new sorts of nature were created. artificial rocks, artificial soil, artificially bred and cultured plants, were combined in new designs, unrealistic it is true, but still a very wonderful development of what might be called synthetic or romantic nature. the water alone was real and even in some cases that was altered as in the beautifully dyed rivulets and in the truly remarkable "fountain of blood," dedicated to one of the sons of william the great--i have forgotten his name--in honour of his attack upon verdun in the first world war.

in these wondrous gardens, with the princess marguerite strolling by my side, i spent the happiest hours of my sojourn in berlin. but my joy was tangled with a thread of sadness for the more i gazed upon this synthetic nature of german creation the more i hungered to tell her of, and to take her to see, the real nature of the outside world--upon which, in my opinion, with all due respect to their achievements, the germans had not been able to improve.

~3~

while the women of the royal house were not permitted of their own volition to stray from the royal level, excursions were occasionally arranged, with proper permits and guards. these were social events of consequence and the invitations were highly prized. noteworthy among them was an excursion to the highest levels of the city and to the roof itself.

the affair was planned by admiral von kufner in marguerite's honour; for, having spent her childhood elsewhere, she had never experienced the wonder of this roof excursion so highly prized by royalty, and for ever forbidden to all other women and to all but a few men of the teeming millions who swarmed like larvae in this vast concrete cheese.

the formal invitations set no hour for the excursion as it was understood that the exact time depended upon weather conditions of which we would later be notified. when this notice came the hour set was in the conventional evening of the royal level, but corresponding to about three a.m. by solar time. the party gathered at the suite of the countess luise and numbered some forty people, for whom a half dozen guides were provided in the form of officers of the roof guard. the journey to our romantic destination took us up some hundred metres in an elevator, a trip which required but two minutes, but would lead to a world as different as mount olympus from erebus.

but we did not go directly to the roof, for the hour preferred for that visit had not yet arrived and our first stop was at the swine levels, which had so aroused my curiosity and strained belief when i had first discovered their existence from the chart of my atlas.

as the door of the elevator shaft slid open, a vast squealing and grunting assaulted our ears. the hours of the swine, like those of their masters, were not reckoned by either solar or sidereal time, but had been altered, as experiment had demonstrated, to a more efficient cycle. the time of our trip was chosen so that we might have this earthly music of the feeding time as a fitting prelude to the visioning of the silent heavens.

on the visitors' gangway we walked just above the reach of the jostling bristly backs, and our own heads all but grazed the low ceiling of the level. to economize power the lights were dim. despite the masterful achievement of german cleanliness and sanitation there was a permeating odour, a mingling of natural and synthetic smells, which added to the gloom of semi-darkness and the pandemonium of swinish sound produced a totality of infernal effect that thwarts description.

but relief was on the way for the automatic feed conveyors were rapidly moving across our section. first we heard a diminution of sound from one direction, then a hasty scuffling and a happy grunting beneath us and, as the conveyors moved swiftly on, the squealing receded into the distance like the dying roar of a retreating storm.

the chief swineherd, immaculately dressed and wearing his full quota of decorations and medals, honoured us with his personal presence. with the excusable pride that every worthy man takes in his work, he expounded the scientific achievements and economic efficiency of the swinish world over which he reigned. the men of the party listened with respect to his explanations of the accomplishments of sanitation and of the economy of the cycle of chemical transformation by which these swine were maintained without decreasing the capacity of the city for human support. lastly the swineherd spoke of the protection that the swine levels provided against the effects of an occasional penetrating bomb that chanced to fall in the crater of its predecessor before the damage could be repaired.

pursuant to this fact the uppermost swine level housed those unfortunate animals that were nearest the sausage stage. on the next lower level, to which we now descended by a spiral stair through a ventilating opening, were brutes of less advanced ages. on the lowest of the three levels where special lights were available for our benefit even the women ceased to shudder and gave expression to ecstatic cries of rapture, as all the world has ever done when seeing baby beasts pawing contentedly at maternal founts.

"is it not all wonderful?" effused admiral von kufner, with a sweeping gesture; "so efficient, so sanitary, so automatic, such a fine example of obedience to system and order. this is what i call real science and beauty; one might almost say germanic beauty."

"but i do not like it," replied marguerite with her usual candour. "i wish they would abolish these horrid levels."

"but surely," said the countess, "you would not wish to condemn us to a diet of total mineralism?"

"but the herr chemist here could surely invent for us a synthetic sausage," remarked count rudolph. "i have eaten vegetarian kraut made of real cabbage from the botanical garden, but it was inferior to the synthetic article."

"do not make light, young people," spoke up the most venerable member of our party, the eminent herr dr. von brausmorganwetter, the historian laureate of the house of hohenzollern. "it is not as a producer of sausages alone that we germans are indebted to this worthy animal. i am now engaged in writing a book upon the influence of the swine upon german kultur. in the first part i shall treat of the semitic question. the jews were very troublesome among us in the days before the isolation. they were a conceited race. as capitalists, they amassed fortunes; as socialists they stirred up rebellion; they objected to war; they would never have submitted to eugenics; they even insisted that we germans had stolen their god!

"we tried many schemes to be rid of these troublesome people, and all failed. therefore i say that germany owes a great debt to the noble animal who rid us of the disturbing presence of the jews, for when pork was made compulsory in the diet they fled the country of their own accord.

"in the second part of my book i shall tell the story of the founding of the new berlin, for our noble city was modelled on the fortified piggeries of the private estates of william iii. in those days of the open war the enemy bombed the stock farms. synthetic foods were as yet imperfectly developed. protein was at a premium; the emperor did not like fish, so he built a vast concrete structure with a roof heavily armoured with sand that he might preserve his swine from the murderous attacks of the enemy planes.

"it was during the retreat from peking. the german armies were being crowded back on every side. the ray had been invented, but william the iii knew that it could not be used to protect so vast a domain and that germany would be penned into narrow borders and be in danger of extermination by a?rial bombardment. in those days he went for rest and consolation to his estates, for he took great pleasure in his thoroughbred swine. some traitorous spy reported his move to the enemy and a bombing squadron attacked the estates. the emperor took refuge in his fortified piggery. and so the great vision came to him.

"i have read the exact words of this thoughts as recorded in his diary which is preserved in the archives of the royal palace: 'as are these happy brutes, so shall my people be. in safety from the terrors of the sky--protected from the vicissitudes of nature and the enmity of men, so shall i preserve them.'

"that was the conception of the armoured city of berlin. but that was not all. for the bombardment kept up for days and the emperor could not escape. on the fourth day came the second idea--two new ideas in less than a week! william iii was a great thinker.

"thus he recorded the second inspiration: 'and even as i have bred these swine, some for bacon and some for lard, so shall the german blond brutes be bred the super-men, some specialized for labour and some for brains.'

"these two ideas are the foundation of the kultur of our imperial socialism, the one idea to preserve us and the other to re-create us as the super-race. and both of these ideas we owe to this noble animal. the swine should be emblazoned with the eagle upon our flag."

as the historian finished his eulogy, i glanced surreptitiously at the faces of his listeners, and caught a twinkle in marguerite's eyes; but the faces of the others were as serious as graven images.

finally the countess spoke: "do i understand, then, that you consider the swine the model of the german race?"

"only of the lower classes," said the aged historian, "but not the house of hohenzollern. we are exalted above the necessities of breeding, for we are divine."

eyes were now turned upon me, for i was the only one of the company not of hohenzollern blood. unrelieved by laughter the situation was painful.

"but," said count rudolph, coming to my rescue, "we also seek safety in the fortified piggeries."

"exactly," said the historian; "so did our noble ancestor."

~4~

from the piggeries, we went to the green level where, growing beneath eye-paining lights, was a matted mass of solid vegetation from which came those rare sprigs of green which garnished our synthetic dishes. but this was too monotonous to be interesting and we soon went above to the defence level where were housed vast military and rebuilding mechanisms and stores. after our guides had shown us briefly about among these paraphernalia, we were conducted to one of the sloping ramps which led through a heavily arched tunnel to the roof above.

marguerite clung close to my arm, quivering with expectancy and excitement, as we climbed up the sloping passage-way and felt on our faces the breath of the crisp air of the may night.

the sky came into vision with startling suddenness as we walked out upon the soft sand blanket of the roof. the night was absolutely clear and my first impression was that every star of the heavens had miraculously waxed in brilliancy. the moon, in the last quarter, hung midway between the zenith and the western horizon. the milky way seemed a floating band of whitish flame. about us, in the form of a wide crescent, for we were near the eastern edge of the city, swung the encircling band of searchlights, but the air was so clear that this stockade of artificial light beams was too pale to dim the points of light in the blue-black vault.

in anticipating this visit to the roof i had supposed it would seem commonplace to me, and had discussed it very little with marguerite, lest i might reveal an undue lack of wonder. but now as i thrilled once more beneath their holy light, the miracle of unnumbered far-flung flaming suns stifled again the vanity of human conceit and i stood with soul unbared and worshipful beneath the vista of incommensurate space wherein the birth and death of worlds marks the unending roll of time. and at my side a silent gazing woman stood, contrite and humble and the thrill and quiver of her body filled me with a joy of wordless delight.

a blundering guide began lecturing on astronomy and pointing out with pompous gestures the constellations and planets. but marguerite led me beyond the sound of his voice. "it is not the time for listening to talk," she said. "i only want to see."

when the astronomer had finished his speech-making, our party moved slowly toward the east, where we could just discern the first faint light of the coming dawn. when we reached the parapet of the eastern edge of the city's roof, the stars had faded and pale pink streaked the eastern sky. the guides brought folding chairs from a nearby tunnel way and most of the party sat down on a hillock of sand, very much as men might seat themselves in the grandstand of a race course. but i was so interested in what the dawn would reveal beneath the changing colours of the sky, that i led marguerite to the rail of the parapet where we could look down into the yawning depths upon the surface of german soil.

my first vision over the parapet revealed but a mottled grey. but as the light brightened the grey land took form, and i discerned a few scraggly patches of green between the torn masses of distorted soil.

the stars had faded now and only the pale moon remained in the bluing sky, while below the land disclosed a sad monotony of ruin and waste, utterly devoid of any constructive work of man.

marguerite, her gaze fixed on the dawn, was beginning to complain of the light paining her eyes, when one of the guides hurried by with an open satchel swung from his shoulders. "here are your glasses," he said; "put them on at once. you must be very careful now, or you will injure your eyes."

we accepted the darkened protecting lenses, but i found i did not need mine until the sun itself had appeared above the horizon.

"did you see it so in your vision?" questioned marguerite, as the first beams glistened on the surface of the sanded roof.

"this," i replied, "is a very ordinary sunrise with a perfectly cloudless sky. some day, perhaps, when the gates of this prison of berlin are opened, we will be able to see all the sunrises of my visions, and even more wonderful ones."

"karl," she whispered, "how do you know of all these things? sometimes i believe you are something more than human, that you of a truth possess the blood of divinity which the house of hohenzollern claims."

"no," i answered; "not divinity,--just a little larger humanity, and some day very soon i am going to tell you more of the source of my visions."

she looked at me through her darkened glasses. "i only know," she said, "that you are wonderful, and very different from other men."

had we been alone on the roof of berlin, i could not have resisted the temptation to tell her then that stars and sun were familiar friends to me and that the devastated soil that stretched beneath us was but the wasted skeleton of a fairer earth i knew and loved. but we were surrounded by a host of babbling sightseers and so the moment passed and i remained to marguerite a man of mystery and a seer of visions.

the sun fully risen now, we were led to a protruding observation platform that permitted us to view the wall of the city below. it was merely one vast grey wall without interruption or opening in the monotonous surface.

amid the more troubled chaos of the ground immediately below we could see fragments of concrete blown from the parapet of the roof. the wall beneath us, we were told, was only of sufficient thickness to withstand fire of the aircraft guns. the havoc that might be wrought, should the defence mines ever be forced back and permit the walls of berlin to come within range of larger field pieces, was easily imagined. but so long as the ray defence held, the massive fort of berlin was quite impervious to attacks of the world forces of land and air and the stalemate of war might continue for other centuries.

with the coming of daylight we had heard the rumbling of trucks as the roof repairing force emerged to their task. now that our party had become tired of gazing through their goggles at the sun, our guides led us in the direction where this work was in progress. on the way we passed a single unfilled crater, a deep pit in the flinty quartz sand that spread a protecting blanket over the solid structure of the roof. these craters in the sand proved quite harmless except for the labour involved in their refilling. further on we came to another, now half-filled from a spouting pipe with ground quartz blown from some remote subterranean mine, so to keep up the wastage from wind and bombing.

again we approached the edge of the city and this time found more of interest, for here an addition to the city was under construction. it was but a single prism, not a hundred metres across, which when completed would add but another block to the city's area. already the outer pillars reached the full height and supported the temporary roof that offered at least a partial protection to the work in progress beneath. though i watched but a few minutes i was awed with the evident rapidity of the building. dimly i could see the forms below being swung into place with a clock-like regularity and from numerous spouts great streams of concrete poured like flowing lava.

it is at these building sections that the bombs were aimed and here alone that any effectual damage could be done, but the target was a small one for a plane flying above the reach of the german guns. the officer who guided our group explained this to us: these bombing raids were conducted only at times of particular cloud formations, when the veil of mist hung thick and low in an even stratum above which the air was clear. when such formation threatened, the roof of berlin was cleared and the expected bombs fell and spent their fury blowing up the sand. it had been a futile warfare, for the means of defence were equal to the means of offence.

our visit to the roof of berlin was cut short as the sun rose higher, because the women, though they had donned gloves and veils, were fearful of sunburn. so we were led back to the covered ramp into the endless night of the city.

"have we seen it all?" sighed marguerite, as she removed her veil and glasses and gazed back blinkingly into the last light of day.

"hardly," i said; "we have not seen a cloud, nor a drop of rain nor a flake of snow, nor a flash of lightning, nor heard a peal of thunder."

again she looked at me with worshipful adoration. "i forget," she whispered; "and can you vision those things also?"

but i only smiled and did not answer, for i saw admiral von kufner glaring at me. i had monopolized marguerite's company for the entire occasion, and i was well aware that his only reason for arranging this, to him a meaningless excursion, had been in the hopes of being with her.

~5~

but admiral von kufner, contending fairly for that share of marguerite's time which she deigned to grant him, seemed to bear me no malice; and, as the months slipped by, i was gratified to find him becoming more cordial toward me. we frequently met at the informal gatherings in the salon of the countess luise. more rarely dr. zimmern came there also, for by virtue of his office he was permitted the social rights of the royal level. i surmised, however, that this privilege, in his case, had not included the right to marry on the level, for though the head of the eugenic staff, he had, so far as i could learn, neither wife nor children.

but dr. zimmern did not seem to relish royal society, for when he chanced to be caught with me among the members of the royal house the flow of his brilliant conversations was checked like a spring in a drought, and he usually took his departure as soon as it was seemly.

on one of these occasions admiral von kufner came in as zimmern sat chatting over cups and incense with marguerite and me, and the countess and her son. the doctor dropped quietly out of the conversation, and for a time the youthful count ulrich entertained us with a technical elaboration of the importance of the love passion as the dominant appeal of the picture. then the countess broke in with a spirited exposition of the relation of soul harmony to ardent passion.

admiral von kufner listened with ill-disguised impatience. "but all this erotic passion," he interrupted, "will soon again be swept away by the revival of the greater race passion for world rule."

"my dear admiral," said the countess luise, "your ideas of race passion are quite proper for the classes who must be denied the free play of the love element in their psychic life, but your notion of introducing these ideas into the life of the royal level is wholly antiquated."

"it is you who are antiquated," returned the admiral, "for now the day is at hand when we shall again taste of danger. his majesty has--"

"of course his majesty has told us that the day is at hand," interrupted the countess. "has not his majesty always preserved this allegorical fable? it is part of the formal kultur."

"but his majesty now speaks the truth," replied the admiral gravely, "and i say to you who are so absorbed with the light passions of art and love that we shall not only taste of danger but will fight again in the sea and air and on the ground in the outer world. we shall conquer and rule the world."

"and do you think, admiral," inquired marguerite, "that the german people will then be free in the outer world?"

"they will be free to rule the outer world," replied the admiral.

"but i mean," said marguerite calmly, "to ask if they will be free again to love and marry and rear their own children."

at this na?ve question the others exchanged significant glances.

"my dear child," said the countess, blushing with embarrassment, "your defective training makes it extremely difficult for you to understand these things."

"of course it is all forbidden," spoke up the young count, "but now, if it were not, the princess marguerite's unique idea would certainly make capital picture material."

"how clever!" cried the countess, beaming on her intellectual son. "nothing is forbidden for plot material for the royal level. you shall make a picture showing those great beasts of labour again liberated for unrestricted love."

"there is one difficulty," count rudolph considered. "how could we get actors for the parts? our thoroughbred actors are all too light of bone, too delicate of motion, and our actresses bred for dainty beauty would hardly caste well for those great hulking round-faced labour mothers."

"then," remarked the admiral, "if you must make picture plays why not one of the mating of german soldiers with the women of the inferior races?"

"wonderful!" exclaimed the plot maker; "and practical also. our actresses are the exact counterpart of those passionate french beauties. i often study their portraits in the old galleries. they have had no eugenics, hence they would be unchanged. is it not so, doctor?"

"without eugenics, a race changes with exceeding slowness," answered zimmern in a voice devoid of expression. "i should say that the french women of today would much resemble their ancestral types."

"but picturing such matings of military necessity would be very disgusting," reprimanded the countess.

"it will be a very necessary part of the coming day of german dominion," stated the admiral. "how else can we expect to rule the world? it is, indeed, part of the ordained plan."

"but how," i questioned, "is such a plan to be executed? would the men of the world state tolerate it?"

"we will oblige them to tolerate it; the children of the next generation of the inferior races must be born of german sires."

"but the germans are outnumbered ten to one," i replied.

"polygamy will take care of that, among the white races; the coloured races must be eliminated. all breeding of the coloured races must cease. that, also, is part of the ordained plan."

the conversation was getting on rather dangerous ground for me as i realized that i dare not show too great surprise at this talk, which of all things i had heard in germany was the most preposterous.

but marguerite made no effort to disguise her astonishment. "i thought," she said, "that the german rule of the world was only a plan for military victory and the conquering of the world government. i supposed the people would be left free to live their personal lives as they desired."

"that was the old idea," replied the admiral, "in the days of open war, before the possibilities of eugenic science were fully realized. but the ordained plan revealed to his majesty requires not only the military and political rule by the germans, but the biologic conquest of the inferior races by german blood."

"i think our german system of scientific breeding is very brutal," spoke up marguerite with an intensity of feeling quite out of keeping with the calloused manner in which the older members of the royal house discussed the subject.

the admiral turned to her with a gracious air. "my lovely maiden," he said, "your youth quite excuses your idealistic sentiments. you need only to remember that you are a daughter of the house of hohenzollern. the women of this house are privileged always to cultivate and cherish the beautiful sentiments of romantic love and individual maternity. the protected seclusion of the royal level exists that such love may bloom untarnished by the grosser affairs of world necessity. it was so ordained."

"it was so ordained by men," replied marguerite defiantly, "and what are these privileges while the german women are prostituted on the free level or forced to bear children only to lose them--and while you plan to enforce other women of the world into polygamous union with a conquering race?"

"my dear child," said the countess, "you must not speak in this wild fashion. we women of the royal house must fully realize our privileges--and as for the admiral's wonderful tale of world conquest--that is only his latest hobby. it is talked, of course, in military circles, but the defensive war is so dull, you know, especially for the royal officers, that they must have something to occupy their minds."

"when the day arrives," snapped the admiral, "you will find the royal officers leading the germans to victory like atilla and william the great himself."

"then why," twitted the countess, "do you not board one of your submarines and go forth to battle in the sea?"

"i am not courting unnecessary danger," retorted the admiral; "but i am not dead to the realities of war. my apartments are directly connected with the roof."

"so you can hear the bomb explosions," suggested the countess.

"and why not?" snapped the admiral; "we must prepare for danger."

"but you have not been bred for danger," scoffed the countess. "perhaps you would do well to have your reactions to fear tested out in the psychic laboratories; if you should pass the test you might be elected as a father of soldiers; it would surely set a good example to our impecunious hohenzollern bachelors for whom there are no wives."

the young count evidently did not comprehend his mother's spirit of raillery. "has that not been tried?" he asked, turning toward dr. zimmern.

"it has," stated the eugenist, "more than a hundred years ago. there was once an entire regiment of such hohenzollern soldiers in the bavarian mines."

"and how did they turn out?" i asked, my curiosity tempting me into indiscretion.

"they mutinied and murdered their officers and then held an election--" zimmern paused and i caught his eye which seemed to say, "we have gone too far with this."

"yes, and what happened?" queried the countess.

"they all voted for themselves as colonel," replied the doctor drily.

at this i looked for an outburst of indignation from the orthodox admiral, but instead he seemed greatly elated. "of course," he enthused; "the blood breeds true. it verily has the quality of true divinity. no wonder we super-men repudiated that spineless conception of the soft christian god and the servile jewish jesus."

"but jesus was not a coward," spoke up marguerite. "i have read the story of his life; it is very wonderful; he was a brave man, who met his death unflinchingly."

"but where did you read it?" asked the countess. "it must be very new. i try to keep up on the late novels but i never heard of this 'story of jesus.'"

"what you say is true," said the admiral, turning to marguerite, "but since you like to read so well, you should get prof. ohlenslagger's book and learn the explanation of the fact that you have just stated. we have long known that all those great men whom the inferior races claim as their geniuses are of truth of german blood, and that the fighting quality of the outer races is due to the german blood that was scattered by our early emigrations.

"but the distinctive contribution that prof. ohlenslagger makes to these long established facts is in regard to the parentage of this man jesus. in the jewish accounts, which the christians accepted, the truth was crudely covered up with a most unscientific fable, which credited the paternity of jesus to miraculous interference with the laws of nature.

"but now the truth comes out by prof. ohlenslagger's erudite reasoning. this unknown father of jesus was an adventurer from central asia, a man of teutonic blood. on no other conception can the mixed elements in the character of jesus be explained. his was the case of a dual personality of conflicting inheritance. one day he would say: 'lay up for yourself treasures'--that was the jewish blood speaking. the next day he would say: 'i come to bring a sword'--that was the noble german blood of a teutonic ancestor. it is logical, it must be true, for it was reasoned out by one of our most rational professors."

the countess yawned; marguerite sat silent with troubled brows; dr. ludwig zimmern gazed abstractedly toward the cold electric imitation of a fire, above which on a mantle stood two casts, diminutive reproductions of the figures beside the door of the emperor's palace, the one the likeness of william the great, the other the statue of the german god. but i was thinking of the news i had heard that afternoon from my ore chief--that captain grauble's vessel had returned to berlin.