IN the course of a few hours the officers and crew of the _Olive Branch_ were in possession of the state of affairs so far as it was possible for their English agent to impart information. Great things were taking place, events of momentous importance, yet with few exceptions the country was kept in ignorance of the initial disasters of the war. A secret treaty had been contracted between three great European Powers, and so well were the terms of the understanding guarded that the British Foreign Office was absolutely unaware of the existence of any agreement between the countries concerned. Simultaneous "autumn manoeuvres" had been the means of the foregathering of a powerful combined fleet in the Atlantic, where, though away from the recognised trade routes, it was within twelve hours' steaming distance of the south coast of England. At the same time most of the British warships under the supreme command of Sir Protheroe Hobbes, Admiral of the Fleet, were cruising off the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland, while through unforeseen defects, an unprecedented number were under refit at the home ports. Several events, to which no one at the time attached the real importance, took place during the week preceding the outbreak of war. A large British-owned vessel entering Portsmouth Harbour with a cargo of Norwegian granite for use on some of the dockyard works, ran aground opposite the Round Tower--the narrowest part of the mouth of the harbour. As she swung round broadside on to the strong flood tide there was an explosion amidships and the vessel sank in ten minutes, completely blocking up the fairway, and consequently "bottling up" six useful units of the British Navy. On the same day a mysterious outrage took place in Scotland, the centre spans of the Forth Bridge being destroyed by some powerful explosive. This act was wrongly attributed to Anarchists, who had been extremely active of late. Though fortunately there was no loss of life entailed, the consequences were disastrous, since, until the debris was removed, the naval base of Rosyth was completely isolated. The following afternoon the ambassador of the Triple Alliance left London, and hostilities, without a formal declaration of war, immediately broke out. Under cover of darkness simultaneous attempts were made by airships upon the principal naval ordnance magazines of Great Britain. The attack upon Priddy's Hard Magazine failed, mainly through the initiative taken by a young lieutenant in charge of B Y aeroplane at Fort Blockhouse; but the enemy succeeded in destroying the magazines of Bedenham, Chattenden, and Bull Point, though in the last instance the airship dealing the blow was so crippled by the effect of the explosion that she was compelled to come to earth at Saltash, where her crew were immediately taken prisoners.