Chapter 30
The Stolen SubmarineAs the full extent of this audacious
plot was laid bare before my eyes I had a difficulty in believing
in its reality.
I was obliged to remind myself of some of the maneuvres which
have marked German statecraft in the recent past, of the forgeries
and “reinsurance” treaties of Bismarck, of the patronage extended
to Abdul Hamid, of the secret intrigue that brought about the
disasters of Greece.
If I had had any scepticism left, the Emperor would have
dispelled it by the clear and business-like explanations which
followed.
His majesty produced a chart of the North Sea, showing the
coasts of Great Britain and Germany, with the Kiel Canal and so
forth. Half-way between the opposite shores a dotted outline marked
the situation of the great shoals wh
