"And when you come back to dinner to-night, Admiral Hingeston, you will have my orders to bring it to an end within that time." "I sincerely hope so, sir," replied Admiral Hingeston, as he raised his right hand to the peak of his cap. "I can assure you, that nothing would please me better." As the lifting-fans began to spin round and the _Auriole_ rose from the gravelled courtyard, Lord Kitchener looked up with a twinkle in his brilliant blue eyes and said: "I wonder what His Majesty of Germany will think of that thing when he sees it. I suppose that means the end of fighting on land and sea--at least, it looks like it." "I hope to be able to convince your lordship that it does before to-morrow morning," said Lennard, as they went towards the dining-room. Then came half an hour's hard work, which resulted in the allotment of the aerial fleet to positions from which the vessels could co-operate with the constantly increasing army of British citizen-soldiers who were now passing southward, eastward and westward, as fast as the crowded trains could carry them. Every position was worked out to half a mile. The details of the newly-created fleet in British waters and of those ships which were arriving from the West Indies and the Mediterranean were all settled, and, as the clock in the drawing-room chimed half-past eleven, the _Auriole_ swung down in a spiral curve round the chimney-pots and came to rest on the gravel. "There she is; time's up!" said Lord Kitchener, rising from his seat. "I suppose it will only take us half an hour or so to run down to Aldershot. I wonder what His Majesty of Germany will say to us this time. I suppose if he kicks seriously we have your Royal Highness's permission to haul down the flag of truce?" "Certainly," replied the Duke. "If he does that, of course, you will just use your own discretion." CHAPTER XXXVI A PARLEY AT ALDERSHOT Lord Kitchener had probably never had so bitter an experience as he had when the _Auriole_ began to slow down over the plain of Aldershot. Never could he, or any other British soldier, have dreamt six months ago that the German, Austrian, French and Russian flags would have been seen flying side by side over the headquarters of the great camp, or that the vast rolling plains would be covered, as they were now, by hosts of horse, foot and artillery belonging to hostile nations. He did not say anything, neither did the others; it was a time for thinking rather than talking; but he looked, and as Lennard watched his almost expressionless face and the angrily-glittering blue eyes, he felt that it would go ill with an enemy whom K. of K. should have at his mercy that day.