"There is no doubt but that, to a certain extent, the anti-English feeling of which you spoke exists! I have made other inquiries, and so far I am convinced!" "So! The seed is sown! It has been sprinkled with a generous hand! Believe me, my friend, that for this country there are in store very great surprises. I speak as one who knows! I do know! So!" Mr. Sabin was thoughtful. He looked into the fire and spoke musingly. "Yet the ties of kindred and common origin are strong," he said. "It is hard to imagine an open rupture between the two great Saxon nations of the world!" "The ties of kindred," said Mr. Sabin's visitor, "are not worth the snap of a finger! So!" He snapped his fingers with a report as sharp as a pistol-shot. Mr. Sabin started in his chair. "It is the ties of kindred," he continued, "which breed irritability, not kindliness! I tell you, my friend, that there is a great storm gathering. It is not for nothing that the great hosts of my country are ruled by a war lord! I tell you that we are arming to the teeth, silently, swiftly, and with a purpose. It may seem to you a small thing, but let me tell you this--we are a jealous nation! And we have cause for jealousy. In whatever part of the world we put down our foot, it is trodden on by our ubiquitous cousins! Wherever we turn to colonise, we are too late; England has already secured the finest territory, the most fruitful of the land. We must either take her leavings or go a-begging! Wherever we would develope, we are held back by the commercial and colonising genius--it amounts to that--of this wonderful nation. The world of to-day is getting cramped. There is no room for a growing England and a growing Germany! So! one must give way, and Germany is beginning to mutter that it shall not always be her sons who go to the wall. You say that France is our natural enemy. I deny it! France is our historical enemy--nothing else! In military circles to-day a war with England would be wildly, hysterically popular; and sooner or later a war with England is as certain to come as the rising of the sun and the waning of the moon! I can tell you even now where the first blow will be struck! It is fixed! It is to come! So!" "Not in Europe," Mr. Sabin said. "Not in Europe or in Asia! The war-torch will be kindled in Africa!" "The Transvaal!" Mr. Sabin's visitor smiled.