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Page 50
For a time it looked as if this first Peace Conference session would
break up in a storm of angry recrimination; but Elihu Root, by tactful
appeals, finally smoothed things over and an adjournment was taken for
forty-eight hours, during which it was agreed that both sides, by
telegraph and cable, should lay the situation before their respective
governments in Chicago and Berlin.
I remained at Mount Vernon for two weeks while the truce lasted. Every
day the peace commissioners met for hours of argument and pleading, but
the deadlock of conflicting purposes was not broken. Both sides kept in
touch with their governments and both made concessions. America raised
her indemnity offer to five billion dollars, to six billion dollars, to
seven billion dollars, but declared she would never surrender one foot of
the Atlantic seaboard. Germany lessened her demands for territory, but
refused to withdraw from New York, New England and Philadelphia.
For some days this deadlock continued, then America began to weaken. She
felt herself overpowered. The consequences of continuing the war were too
frightful to contemplate and, on September 8, I cabled my paper that the
United States would probably cede to Germany within twenty-four hours the
whole of New England and a part of New York State, including New York
City and Long Island. This was the general opinion when, suddenly, out of
a clear sky came a dramatic happening destined to change the course of
events and draw me personally into a whirlpool of exciting adventures.
It was about three o'clock in the afternoon of September 9, a blazing hot
day, and I was seated on the lawn under one of the fine magnolia-trees
presented years before by Prince Henry of Prussia, wondering how much
longer I must swelter here before getting off my despatch to the _Times_,
when I heard the panting of a swiftly approaching automobile which
presently drew up outside the grounds. A moment later a coloured
chauffeur approached and asked if I was Mr. James Langston. I told him I
was, and he said a lady in the car wanted to speak to me.
"A lady?" I asked in surprise. "Did she give her name?"
The chauffeur broke into a beaming smile. "She didn't give no name, boss,
but she sure is a ve'hy handsome lady, an' she's powh'ful anxious to see
you."
I lost no time in answering this mysterious summons, and a little later
found myself in the presence of a young woman whom I recognised, when she
drew aside her veil, as Miss Mary Ryerson, sister of Lieutenant Randolph
Ryerson. With her in the car were her brother and a tall, gaunt man with
deep-set eyes. They were all travel-stained, and the car showed the
battering of Virginia mountain roads.
"Oh, Mr. Langston," cried the girl eagerly, "we have such wonderful news!
The conference isn't over? They haven't yielded to Germany?"
"No," said I. "Not yet."
"They mustn't yield. We have news that changes everything. Oh, it's so
splendid! America is going to win."
Her lovely face was glowing with enthusiasm, but I shook my head.
"America's fleet is destroyed. Her army is beaten. How can she win?"
Miss Ryerson turned to her brother and to the other man. "Go with Mr.
Langston. Tell him everything. Explain everything. He will take you to
General Wood." She fixed her radiant eyes on me. "You will help us? I can
count on you? Remember, it's for America!"
"I'll do my best," I promised, yielding to the spell of her charm and
spirit. "May I ask--" I glanced at the tall man who was getting out of
the car.
"Ah! Now you will believe. You will see how God is guiding us. This is
the father of the brave little boy in Wanamaker's store. He has seen
Thomas A. Edison, and Mr. Edison says his plan to destroy the German
fleet is absolutely sound. Mr. Langston, Mr. Lemuel A. Widding. Now
hurry!"
CHAPTER XVII
THOMAS A. EDISON MAKES A SERIOUS MISTAKE IN ACCEPTING A DINNER INVITATION
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