The Crown Prince stepped back as though he had received a blow in the face. He recovered himself quickly, however, and said quietly. "Please repeat that again, Sire." The kaiser did so, and for a space of perhaps five minutes there was silence in the tent. Then the Crown Prince said: "Well, Sire, what are you going to do?" "Abdicate," said the kaiser briefly. "I shall abdicate in your favor. You may treat with the enemy." "Hold on," ejaculated the Crown Prince. "You don’t need to abdicate in my favor, sir. I don’t want to be emperor, not under present conditions." "Are you afraid?" demanded the kaiser sternly. The Crown Prince was not to be bluffed like that. "Maybe I am, and maybe I’m not," he said doggedly; "but I’m not going to be left in any such plight as this. You may wager on that, sir. If you abdicate in my favor, I shall follow suit, your majesty." "As you will," said the kaiser. "I, at least, shall abdicate, and that at once. General Ludendorff; how soon can you have the necessary papers prepared?" "I have already had them prepared, your majesty," was General Ludendorff’s response. "I had hoped that you might see the light." "Play the coward, you mean, eh?" said the kaiser. "But no matter. Put the paper before me and I shall sign." From his pocket the general produced a long parchment, which he laid on the table. As his officers gathered about him, the German emperor read the paper carefully. "You don’t seem to have had much doubt about how I would act," he commented dryly. "Well, perhaps it is for the best." He seized a pen and scrawled his name across the paper. He stepped back and looked at General Ludendorff. "Perhaps," he said, "you have Had a similar paper drawn for the Crown Prince to sign?" "I have," said General Ludendorff briefly. "I have overlooked nothing, Sire." "So it would seem," said the Crown Prince angrily, "but I shall sign just the same." He attached his signature to a second paper produced by General Ludendorff. And thus ended the rule of the family of Hohenzollern. *CHAPTER XXIV* *IN TROUBLE AGAIN* Hal and Chester, from their place of concealment, had been interested spectators of the abdication of the German emperor, and his son, the Crown Prince. "By Jove!" said Hal, drawing back, "this is a sight we can brag about the rest of our natural lives." "I should say so," agreed Chester. "And so the kaiser has abdicated. Who would have thought it?" "Certainly not the kaiser himself four years ago," was Hal’s response. "But it just goes to show that right is bound to triumph in the end." "So it does. Now I suppose the signing of the armistice will be only a matter of form." "I should judge so. But who will sign the armistice for Germany?" "Chancellor Ebert, I imagine," said Chester. "He should be the proper man to do so now."