"Your question shows that you are misinformed, sir. Instead of a few thousands of the off-scouring, as you call them, there has simply been a rush to the English recruiting stations; not only of the poorer classes, but of every class--from our public schools, from the Universities, from our middle-class families, the flower of our young manhood have come." "Do you mean that your well-born people have been willing to join as privates?" "I mean, sir, that there are tens of thousands of the sons of our best families, who have joined, side by side with privates with labourers and colliers. In three weeks after the call, half a million volunteered." "Half a million!" this with a contemptuous shrug, "and what then?" "The call for the second half-million came," was Bob's reply; "and that second half-million has responded." "From England alone?" "From the British Isles." "But the Empire as a whole has not responded." "The Germans thought our Empire was a rope of sand--that it would fall to pieces at the first touch of war; instead of that, from Canada, from Africa, from India, from Australia, men volunteered by thousands--by hundreds of thousands." "And you believe that these can stand against the Army through which you passed?" "I don't believe--I am sure, sir." "And that is the feeling of your nation?" "That is the conviction of our nation, sir." "But do you realise that Germany has millions of trained soldiers?" "Yes, sir; but every German is forced to be a soldier. We have in England to-day hundreds upon hundreds of thousands who are soldiers because they long to be at the front. If a man doesn't pass the doctor's examination, he is disappointed beyond measure, because he is longing to fight. Ours is not a conscript army, sir, but an army which pleads to be at the front." "You are sure of this?" "I'm absolutely certain, sir." Again the lonely man turned to some papers before him and read eagerly. "And when your first million is killed, what then?" He again spoke suddenly. "Another million will come forward, sir, and, if need be, another, and another, and another. Rather than that Germany should conquer, the whole nation will come forward--the whole Empire will fight." "And what have the English thought of the German victories?" "That they are merely passing phases," was Bob's reply; "but this I will tell you: the greatest impetus to volunteers coming forward has been the news of a German victory. Officers have repeatedly told me that our new volunteers, eagerly do more work in a week and learn more of the art of war in a few days than the men learned in six months in time of peace. In England we have no need for conscription, because the best manhood of our nation pleads to be allowed to fight for the country." "And yet the English hate war?" Again there was a sneer in the voice.