CHAPTER XLI.

DAWN.

A raw, cold December morning in London. With the exception of a statuesque sentry on the Horse Guards' Parade, the wide open space was deserted. It had not long been light, and a heavy yellow mist still hung over the grass in St. James's Park.

A bell clanged mournfully. Big Ben chimed the hour, and then boomed forth eight o'clock. An icy wind swept across the gravelled square. The bare, black branches of the stunted trees creaked and groaned, and the lonely sentry standing at ease before his box rubbed his hands and shivered.

Suddenly a side door opened, and there emerged a small procession. Slowly there walked in front a clergyman bare-headed, reciting with solemn intonation the Burial Service. Behind him, with unsteady step and bent shoulders, a trembling man with blanched, haggard face, and a wild look of terror in his dark, deep-sunken eyes. He wore a shabby morning-coat tightly buttoned, and his hands in bracelets of steel were behind his back.

Glancing furtively around at the grey dismal landscape, he shuddered. Beside and behind him soldiers tramped on in silence.

The officer's sword grated along the gravel.

Suddenly a word of command caused them to halt against a wall, and a sergeant, stepping forward, took a handkerchief and tied it over the eyes of the quivering culprit, who now stood with his back against the wall. Another word from the officer, and the party receded some distance, leaving the man alone. The monotonous nasal utterances of the chaplain still sounded as four privates advanced, and, halting, stood in single rank before the prisoner.

They raised their rifles. There was a momentary pause. In the distance a dog howled dismally.

A sharp word of command broke the quiet.

Then, a second later, as four rifles rang out simultaneously, the condemned man tottered forward and fell heavily on the gravel, shot through the heart.

It was the spy and murderer, Karl von Beilstein!

He had been brought from Glasgow to London in order that certain information might be elicited from him, and after his actions had been thoroughly investigated by a military court, he had been sentenced to death. The whole of his past was revealed by his valet Grevel, and it was proved that, in addition to bringing the great disaster upon England, he had also betrayed the country whose roubles purchased his cunningly-obtained secrets.

Geoffrey Engleheart, although gallantly assisting in the fight outside Leatherhead, and subsequently showing conspicuous bravery during the Battle of Caterham, fortunately escaped with nothing more severe than a bullet wound in the arm. During the searching private inquiry held at the Foreign Office after peace was restored, he explained the whole of the circumstances, and was severely reprimanded for his indiscretion; but as no suspicion of von Beilstein's real motive had been aroused prior to the Declaration of War, and as it was proved that Geoffrey was entirely innocent of any complicity in the affair, he was, at the urgent request of Lord Stanbury, allowed to resume his duties. Shortly afterwards he was married to Violet Vayne, and Sir Joseph, having recovered those of his ships that had been seized by the Russian Government, was thereby enabled to give his daughter a handsome dowry.

The young French clerk who had been engaged at the Admiralty, and who had committed murder for gold, escaped to Spain, and, after being hunted by English and Spanish detectives for many weeks, he became apparently overwhelmed by remorse. Not daring to show himself by day, nor to claim the money that had been promised him, he had tramped on through the snow from village to village in the unfrequented valleys of Lerida, while his description was being circulated throughout the Continent. Cold, weary, and hungry, he one night entered the Posada de las Pijorras at the little town of Oliana, at the foot of the Sierra del Cadi. Calling for wine, he took up a dirty crumpled copy of the Madrid _Globo_, three days old. A paragraph, headed "The Missing Spy," caught his eyes, and, reading eagerly, he found to his dismay that the police were aware that he had been in Huesca a week before, and were now using bloodhounds to track him!

The paper fell from his nerveless grasp. The wine at his elbow he swallowed at one gulp, and, tossing down his last real upon the table, he rose and stumbled away blindly into the darkness.

When the wintry dawn spread in that silent, distant valley, it showed a corpse lying in the snow with face upturned. In the white wrinkled brow was a small dark-blue hole from which blood had oozed over the pallid cheek, leaving an ugly stain. The staring eyes were wide open, with a look of unutterable horror in them, and beside the thin clenched hand lay a revolver, one chamber of which had been discharged!

* * * * *

The dreary gloom of winter passed, and there dawned a new era of prosperity for England.

Dark days were succeeded by a period of happiness and rejoicing, and Britannia, grasping her trident again, seated herself on her shield beside the sea, Ruler of the Waves, Queen of Nations, and Empress of the World.

THE END.

MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

_Ready shortly, price 6s._ Demy 8vo, handsomely bound in cloth gilt.

ZORAIDA. _A ROMANCE OF THE HAREM AND THE DESERT._

BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX, F.R.G.S., AUTHOR OF "THE GREAT WAR IN 1897." _PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED BY H. PIFFARD._

* * * * *

_Ready shortly, price 6s._ THE TOWER ROMANCE LIBRARY. VOL. I.

A TORQUAY MARRIAGE. A NEW MODERN NOVEL OF TO-DAY.

BY G. RAYLEIGH VICARS AND EDITH VICARS.

* * * * *

_Ready shortly, price 6s._ VOL. II.

IN QUEST OF A NAME.

BY MRS. HENRY WYLDE.

* * * * *

_Ready shortly._ Demy 8vo, handsomely bound in cloth, price 6s. _With numerous Illustrations by E. S. Hope._

THE OUTLAWS OF THE AIR.

BY GEORGE GRIFFITH, AUTHOR OF "THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION," "OLGA ROMANOFF," ETC.

* * * * *

_Now ready. Picture Cover. Price 1s._

BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER. _A POLITICAL DREAM._

BY GEOFFREY DANYERS. A Vision of the Reunited Anglo-Saxondom asserting the Dominion of the Sea.

_Now ready. Eleventh Edition. Price 6s._

THE GREAT WAR IN ENGLAND IN 1897.

BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX, F.R.G.S.

_With Numerous Illustrations by T. S. Crowther and Captain C. Field, and Nine Military Maps._

* * * * *

The Opinions of some Great Authorities.

THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, writing to the Author, says: "Such books cannot fail to have a good effect in inducing people to think more seriously of the necessity which lies upon the whole country to always be prepared, and to be more openhanded in giving money for the means of defence."

FIELD MARSHAL LORD WOLSELEY says: "A pleasure to peruse it."

THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY says: "It is very realistic and interesting."

LORD GEORGE HAMILTON says: "It is very striking and original."

SIR C. DILKE says: "I think it is most valuable as tending to make people realise how little we are prepared for war."

* * * * *

Opinions of the London Press.

_The Times_ says: "Everything that can spice a sensational volume."

_The Morning Post_ says: "Few works can compare in stirring incidents or careful elaboration of detail.... A great deal of what he forecasts would be very likely to occur if once England were in the clutches of a strong enemy, and in the matter of description wherein the tumult and carnage is brought vividly before the reader.... A clever and exciting book."

_The Standard_ says: "Full of excitement and realism."

_The Globe_ says: "It is vigorous and rousing.... Will do a public service."

_The Sun_ says: "Mr. Le Queux' narrative is well and spiritedly written."

_The Evening News_ says: "Mr. Le Queux has succeeded in a very difficult task. He has brought home to us the dangers we expose ourselves if we neglect to maintain our Army and Navy in an adequate state of efficiency."

_The Daily Graphic_ says: "Various essays have been made to forecast the next great European war, but Mr. William Le Queux' volume is certainly the most comprehensive and thrilling of anything yet attempted. Regarded simply as a work of fiction, it is exciting enough to satisfy the most enthusiastic lover of 'blood and thunder' literature. In its more serious aspect--and it is this aspect, of course, which the author desires for it--this book certainly evidences serious thought.... It is all very graphic and very thrilling, especially the bombardment of London by the Russians, and the author has not scrupled to avail himself of the latest, even of the future, resources of science."

_Naval and Military Record_ says: "Mr. Le Queux has special qualifications for the task. He knows a great deal of our Army and Navy, and he is familiar with continental systems and sentiment. The narrative is lively and spirited, and the author writes with an air of conviction which is calculated to carry the reader on from beginning to end."

_Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette_ says: "Mr. Le Queux is a vivid writer, and his work gives evidence of care and thoroughness. The chapter dealing with the march of the French on London is particularly fine. The author's production is the best of the kind we have come across for some time. It should emphasise our old contention as to the unreadiness for active service on a prolonged campaign of the sea and land forces of the Empire."

_Army and Navy Gazette_ says: "The story is a capital one, full of interest and incident, well sustained and well told."

_The Idler_ says: "Mr. Le Queux writes brilliantly, sensibly, and with a thorough mastery of his subject."

_The Sketch_ says: "No novel of the day comes up to Mr. Le Queux' 'Great War in England in 1897' for excitement. From the preface to the last paragraph he has kept up his prophetic heroics in magnificent style, and if his patriotism does not scatter our indifference to our insular defences, why, then, nothing will. It is really a terrifying book. Mr. Le Queux has power to shake one's nerves as he foretells fights and slaughters in peaceful suburbs."

_The World_ says: "It serves to bring home in a very realistic fashion the horrors of a war brought into our very midst."

_To-Day_ says: "A mastery of military and naval details is displayed with conception and execution."

_The Review of Reviews_ says: "The story is useful as a warning, and is worked out with much knowledge."

_The Gentlewoman_ says: "Once having started, I couldn't lay it down till I had made an end thereto."

_The Literary World_ says: "It is undoubtedly one of the books of the year. It is so ingenious and so exciting, it is at once extremely technical and extremely readable. The book is a great book, and one that no Englishman could read without a thrill."

_The Publishers' Circular_ says: "Mr. Le Queux shows us what will happen if we do not better prepare ourselves."

* * * * *

Read what the Country Press say.

_Manchester Evening News_ says: "Lovers of exciting literature will be satisfied to the full with the graphic story."

_Liverpool Daily Mercury_ says: "Extremely interesting, and well worth reading."

_Liverpool Daily Chronicle_ says:--"The story is full of stirring episode."

_Birmingham Daily Post_ says: "The scenes are marked with real and affecting power."

_Sheffield Daily Telegraph_ says: "We offer criticism in no carping spirit, but as part of our grateful acknowledgment for a brilliant, patriotic, and useful work."

_Yorkshire Post_ says: "Well calculated to make the nervous tremble at every rumour of foreign complications."

_The Scotsman_ says: "Strategical and other problems are elaborately worked out.... Amusing, entertaining, and exciting."

_The North British Mail_ says: "It is a very powerful work."

_Glasgow Herald_ says: "One of the best books we have read on a subject on which it is only too easy to be tiresome."

_Glasgow Evening News_ says: "Whether as a romance or as a prophecy it is highly interesting."

_The Western Morning News_ says: "Very exciting reading. Of real literary merit."

_Bradford Daily Argus_ says: "Full of interesting and exciting reading."

* * * * *

Read what the Foreign and Colonial Press say.

_Sydney Daily Telegraph_ says: "The writer's capability to speak regarding his subject is displayed on every page of the book. It is splendidly written."

_The Belgian News_ says: "The book is a remarkable and a phenomenal success."

The _Palladium_ (Newhaven, Conn.) says: "One of the most successful books of the season."

"Il Capitano Nemo," the well-known Italian naval writer, in _L'Opinione_ of Rome, says that the problems put forward by Mr. Le Queux should secure the serious consideration of European Governments. "It is unquestionably a most important book," he says; "it is of interest to everyone, and the minuteness of its detail is astonishing. I can recommend it to the Italian public as a very startling yet highly instructive book."

_The Italia Marinara_ says: "It is not a mere fantastic romance; it is a book to study seriously, and we recommend it to the Army and Navy of Italy, for it contains many valuable hints."

_Il Secolo_ says: "A very remarkable and important work. There is genius in every line. The descriptions are most realistic, and it is of interest to everybody."

_The China Telegraph_ says it is "of really intense and thrilling interest."

_Now ready. Sixth Edition. Price 6s._ Demy 8vo, handsomely bound in cloth gilt.

THE CAPTAIN OF THE MARY ROSE. _A TALE OF TO-MORROW._

BY W. LAIRD CLOWES, U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE.

With 60 Illustrations by the Chevalier de Martino and Fred. T. Jane.

* * * * *

This work has been truly described by the public press as an intensely realistic and stirring romance of the near future. It describes the wonderful adventures of an armour-clad cruiser, built on the Tyne, which takes part in a great Naval War that suddenly breaks out between France and Great Britain. The dashing way in which the vessel is handled, her narrow escapes, the boldness of her successful attacks upon the enemy, and the heroic conduct of her commander and crew, form altogether a narrative of most absorbing interest, and full of exciting scenes and situations.

* * * * *

THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW PRESS OPINIONS.

"Deserves something more than a mere passing notice."--_The Times._

"Full of exciting situations.... Has manifold attractions for all sorts of readers."--_Army and Navy Gazette._

"The most notable book of the season."--_The Standard._

"A clever book. Mr. Clowes is pre-eminent for literary touch and practical knowledge of naval affairs."--_Daily Chronicle._

"Mr. W. Laird Clowes' exciting story."--_Daily Telegraph._

"We read 'The Captain of the Mary Rose' at a sitting."--_The Pall Mall Gazette._

"Written with no little spirit and imagination.... A stirring romance of the future."--_Manchester Guardian._

"Is of a realistic and exciting character.... Designed to show what the naval warfare of the future may be."--_Glasgow Herald._

"One of the most interesting volumes of the year."--_Liverpool Journal of Commerce._

"It is well told and magnificently illustrated."--_United Service Magazine._

"Full of absorbing interest."--_Engineers Gazette._

"Is intensely realistic, so much so that after commencing the story every one will be anxious to read to the end."--_Dundee Advertiser._

"The book is splendidly illustrated."--_Northern Whig._

_Ninth Edition, Price 6s._ Demy 8vo, handsomely bound in cloth gilt. _Uniform with "The Captain of the Mary Rose," with numerous Illustrations by Fred T. Jane and Edwin S. Hope._

THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION. A TALE OF THE COMING TERROR.

BY GEORGE GRIFFITH.

* * * * *

In this Romance of Love, War, and Revolution, the action takes place ten years hence, and turns upon the solution of the problem of aerial navigation, which enables a vast Secret Society to decide the issue of the coming world-war, for which the great nations of the earth are now preparing. Battles such as have hitherto only been vaguely dreamed of are fought on land and sea and in the air. Aerial navies engage armies and fleets and fortresses, and fight with each other in an unsparing warfare, which has for its prize the empire of the world. Unlike all other essays in prophetic fiction, it deals with the events of to-morrow, and with characters familiar in the eyes of living men. It marks an entirely new departure in fiction, and opens up possibilities which may become stupendous and appalling realities before the present generation of men has passed away.

* * * * *

_A FEW PRESS OPINIONS._

"Since the days of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, we know of no writer who 'takes the cake' like Mr. George Griffith."--_Daily Chronicle._

"A really exciting and sensational romance."--_Literary World._

"As a work of imagination it takes high rank."--_Belfast News Letter._

"Full of absorbing interest."--_Barrow Herald._

"This powerful story."--_Liverpool Mercury._

"An entirely new departure in fiction."--_Reynolds' Newspaper._

"Of exceptional brilliancy and power."--_Western Figaro._

"This remarkable story."--_Weekly Times and Echo._

"There is a fascination about his book that few will be able to resist."--_Birmingham Gazette._

"This exciting romance."--_Licensing World._

"A work of strong imaginative power."--_Dundee Courier._

"We must congratulate the author upon the vividness and reality with which he draws his unprecedented pictures."--_Bristol Mercury._

"Is quite enthralling."--_Glasgow Herald._

"A striking and fascinating novel."--_Hampshire Telegraph._

Demy 8vo, handsomely bound in cloth, price 6s. _With Frontispiece by Edwin S. Hope._

OLGA ROMANOFF; Or, The Syren of the Skies.

BY GEORGE GRIFFITH, AUTHOR OF "THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION," "THE OUTLAWS OF THE AIR."

* * * * *

Dedicated to Mr. HIRAM S. MAXIM.

* * * * *

A sequel to the author's striking and successful romance. _The Angel of the Revolution_, describing the efforts of a beautiful daughter of the House of Romanoff to restore the throne of her ancestors destroyed in the World-War of 1904, and presenting to the reader the spectacle of a world transformed into a wonderland of art and science, yet trembling on the brink of a catastrophe, in comparison with which even the tremendous climax of _The Angel_ sinks almost into insignificance.

* * * * *

SOME PRESS OPINIONS.

"Mr. George Griffith has made himself a high reputation as an imaginative novelist by his brilliant romances, _The Angel of the Revolution_ and _The Syren of the Skies_."--_Sketch._

"This is quite as imaginative, as clever, and as enthralling a book as its predecessor."--_Glasgow Herald._

"The book is a wild one, but its wildness and imaginative boldness make it uncommonly interesting."--_Scotsman._

"The flights of fancy and imagination displayed by the author show a most marvellous power and conception."--_Aberdeen Free Press._

"An entrancing book."--_Birmingham Post._

"Full of originality in its rendition.... A marvel of imaginative strength and picturesque pen painting."--_European Mail._

"On the whole Mr. Griffith has published a work which to our mind is the most suggestive of its kind that has been published for many years."--_Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette._

"The work hardly lends itself to critical remark other than the expression of one's appreciation of an imaginative and glowing style likely to add to the pleasure of those who enjoy purely speculative fiction. These pictures have a weird splendour in keeping with the theme, but it is natural to desire a better future for the human race than the one here prophesied."--_Morning Post._

"His theme is a more tremendous one, and the incidents of his story tenfold more terrible than even those awful battles in the former volume. There is the same swift succession of awful calamities, the same sustained interest from title page to cover, and the same thread of human love running through the narrative which lent its chief charm to the 'Angel of the Revolution.'"--_Weekly Times and Echo._

"By lovers of sensational writing, in which the scientific discoveries of the future are forecast, and intrigue and warfare related in realistic manner under conditions which now exist but in prophetic imagination, it will be warmly welcomed.... The book must be read to be appreciated. Description is impossible."--_Bradford Daily Argus._

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

Hyphens removed: muzzle[-]loaders (p. 127), look[-]out (p. 164), short[-]sightedness (p. 176), blood[-]stained (p. 325).

p. 67: "Termius" changed to "Terminus" (over the débris in Terminus Road).

p. 72: "Halsted" changed to "Halstead" (Surrey to Halstead in Kent).

p. 92: "crusier" changed to "cruiser" (the unarmoured cruiser _Faucon_).

p. 119: "thousand" changed to "thousands" (thousands fleeing into the country).

p. 159: "fusilade" changed to "fusillade" (commenced a terrific fusillade).

p. 160: "momemt" changed to "moment" (Our situation at that moment).

p. 240: "Hundred" changed to "Hundreds" (Hundreds of tons).

p. 257: "evacute" changed to "evacuate" (to evacuate Edinburgh).

p. 316: "detatched" changed to "detached" (came upon a detached post).