All this, and more, cascaded through Dalroy's brain while his enemy was lighting the second cigarette. He was in the plight of a shipwrecked sailor clinging to a sinking craft, who saw a lifeboat approaching, yet dared neither look at nor signal to it. He must bend all his energies now to the task of keeping Von Halwig occupied. What would happen when the noose coiled around the orator's neck? Would it tighten with sufficient rapidity to choke a cry for help? Would it fall awkwardly, and warn him? Were any of the troopers so placed that they could see into that section of the barn, and thus witness their officer's extraordinary predicament? Who could tell? How might a man form any sort of opinion as to the yea or nay of a juggler's feat which savoured of black magic?
Dalroy gave up the effort to guess what the next half-minute might bring forth. Those mysterious beings up there needed the best help he could offer, and his powers in that respect were strictly limited to two channels--he must egg on the talker--he must not watch that rope.
"I am ready to admit Germany's strength on land," he said, resolutely fixing his eyes on an iron cross attached to the Prussian's tunic above the top button. "That is a reasonable claim. How futile otherwise would have been your twenty years of preparation for this very war! But my mind is far too dense to understand how you can disregard the English Channel."
"The _English_ Channel!" scoffed Von Halwig. "The impudence of you _verdammt_----No, it's foolish to lose one's temper. Well, I'll explain. The really important part of the _English_ Channel is about to become German. For a little time we leave you the surface, but Germany will own the rest. Your navy is about to receive a horrible surprise. We've caught you napping. While Britain was ruling the sea we Germans have been experimenting with it. Our visible fleet is good, but not good enough, so we allowed your naval superiority to keep you quiet until we had perfected our invisible fleet. We are ready now. We possess three submarines to your one; and can build more, and bigger, and better under-sea boats than you. Do you realise what that means? Already we have sunk four of your best cruisers, and they never saw the vessel that destroyed them. We are playing havoc with your mercantile marine. Britain is girdled with mines and torpedoes. No ship can enter or leave any of your ports without incurring the almost unavoidable risk of----"