Weary and sad as I was, broken with the horror of the day, my purpose had become stronger than ever before. As we ran slowly through Whitehall and around to the Savoy, the thoughts of the past were disappearing in cogitations as to the effect this would have upon our search for “the man.” Though every battleship in the world was sunk, my purpose held good. I would find the destroyer. The next morning came a startling announcement. The King of England, the President of the United States, the President of the French Republic, the Mikado of Japan, and the Czar of Russia issued an immediate call for representatives of all nations to assemble at The Hague to consider the question of disarmament. That, in itself, differed but little from the other summonses which had resulted in academic discussions, but the paragraph which succeeded the call was one of the most extraordinary the world had ever seen. The five rulers who issued this invitation each pledged himself to do everything in his power to bring about complete disarmament, and to end war in the whole world. In view of the urgency of the situation, the meeting was to be held in a month at The Hague. It was soon learned that the initiative in this step had come from the King of England, that the four other rulers had gladly joined with him in the action, when asked concerning it by wireless, and that the Emperor of Germany had been invited to make one of the number, but had refused. That seemed to leave Germany as the stumbling-block in the way. Complete disarmament was wholly possible if every nation were to agree. If a single powerful nation refused to disarm, it became practically an impossibility,--for no nation would give up her defenses, with a powerful armored foe at her gates. I had scarcely finished reading the account in the morning paper, as a waiter approached with a wireless message from the office. “Take three weeks’ vacation, and then go to Hague as special correspondent for peace conference.” “Confound it!” I ejaculated, as I read the missive. “Look at this,” and I passed the paper over to Tom and Dorothy. Tom’s face fell. “Of course it’s a good thing in a way,” said Tom, “but it takes you right off the track of ‘the man.’” “I refuse to go off the track,” I said warmly. “I’m going to wire them back refusing this.” “Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” interrupted Dorothy eagerly. “You stand almost, or quite as much of a chance to get news of ‘the man’ at the peace conference, as elsewhere. We can take the wave-measuring machine right over to The Hague, and work from there. Besides, I want the three weeks’ vacation.”