THE LUST OF HATE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 167, 13 July 1912, Page 16

THE LUST OF HATE.

—•— i BY AT.ATf H. BTJRGOYirE ] Author of "Trafalgar Refcmgbt," "The 1 War Inevitable; * etc 1 CHAPTER —(Ctntttnnet-.. ' Tie German emissary. Hugelmann, who ; ■:o successfully for many weeks prior to : the war had been carrying cm a propaganda amongst the workers, saw quite .1 number of his schemes terminate successfully before he met his death. For example be promoted a series of shipbuilding strikes that were without precedent, and the work on the Clyde and in the Nort.i of England ceased entirely. At the v.rd of -'-a mm ell. Laird and CoBirkenhead, a battleship cruiser, almost ready for launching, fell from the slips i as the result of a dynamite explosion beneath her hull: but for the discovery in adva n ■(■ cf similar attempts, the fate of the 1.0-.-.1 . overei_m at Vk-kers. Ltd.. Barrow, ' and the Empress of India. building at Palmer's Yard. | must, hate bci. the same. Synchro-, ni'-ing with tuts disaffection in the! shipbuilding tr.-.des. disorders broke out in the Welsh coalfields, disorders re- j calling Tonyr-.iiKly in their lack of re- | -.traint. but involving nearly all the j mines when-, -..ere drawn the chief supplies of smokeless coal. Then, ably supported by lieutenants drawn trom the list of unemployable, in this country, a gigantic labour demonstration, in favour of stopping the war on any terms, was organised to be held in Hyde I'ark. The effect of this spread rapidly through the North and Midland.*, and an impression gained ground in some mysterious manner that the working classes of this country had but to refuse to fight their fellow "man, for a similar attitude to be I adopted by the German raiders! This view bad 'been fostered by agitators through two generations, and it was now decided to put it to the test. To this | end a body of five thousand men. drawn j from Halifax. Bradford, Wakefield, and Leeds. collected outside the latter town at the little village of K'lppax. Hugelmann hired a car—al! the railw '.' - hid lv'en taken over by the military —and -pi i n* fast as he could from Liver,..'-! fh ; -i las', headquarters. to try and stop this entirely unexpected move. Its dangers nnd probable ouvom. were patent to .-.) .-'.'.'-.' a schemer. He! i-.uight then up north of Selbv. and at on- interviewed D-.iv. Hudson, the Demagogue leader, and iii" chief col leagues. 'in his amazement he found his control of these- men hail gone — had played his part '-".i earnestly at'd in very truth j the;.- b.l.ved in the certain success of their mission and were bouyed up with | the thought of all they were- about to do I for mankind. He begged, did Hugelmann, lie rea.-' .led with them and used every argument, specious or otherwise'but I trey would have none of it. Indeed, they toll him h" was a something nuisance and they didn't want any more of his j dirty lip'and the sooner be "cleared" the ] bette-r. They al'O added that they haled; lousy aliens in general and him in par- j ticular—a trilling paradox in view of | their self-imposed mission which did not tome home to them! So Hur_. lmann. his ccat torn ami with a bleeding nose, drove sadly bne-k to Leeds and asked hi* chauffeur to render an account of the damage from the stones that had followed him as he dashed away. Which was all most elisconc-erring. i)av. Hudson met a small I division of British regulars preparing a line of defence along the Ousel the Colonel was not certain how to deal with then. lie had an old friend with him, a campaigner of many years in many lands, a.:., acting era his advice, sent then; forward. '"I'm certain Tin right, dear boy. certain." he st'id emphatically, "these thingdon't happen unless Fate wants 'em to!"' A poor argument, but it sufficed. So the marchers left their patriotic, i -countrymen behind and went on I towards the German lines, singing the Marseillaise. X.so rick Park lies; south-west of York, and here was epiartered the German Commander-in-Chief awaiting the final preparations before a definite attack on the capital of the country. Hourly more men were being brought up to oppose him. and he was eoitsquently by no means in a good temper, the more so since he had been informed that to date no less than two thousand three hundred and forty of bis men had, in one way and another, been killed or captured. At least a further three thousand were incapacitated through sick- \ ii;-.-* or wounds, and, as he studied these I figures, he' realised that matters were ' not going ton well with him. Over live thousand officers and men gone, and he had i>.. yet not met the! British in anything but skinnishi-: Nor could he replace a single man—he 1 hail no reserves, and each unit as he ! fell out \v:u. a total net loss. i True, li" had i following out his I axiunr that war. to be' successful, must I be' bloody) killed or murdered quite as, many civilians who had come in his. path as he had lost. men. and their wo- : men folk had given sport to his troops: 1 but that is very different from sue- I cess. Many .. title the Knglisl'i v.-ere re-I ported a* sighted, 'but they always fell I away -before him. with the result that j an ever-increasing front was .-.idly weakening his position. <;__<! he was. then, when the news \ came through that j. large body of nip.-i was bearing down from the direction of t'-wood. banners firing and bauds pl.y- i ing. They had hoisted numberless white { Hags, and this was a feature no: comprehended. "Another d British trick!" growled the Genera!, as he waited, impatiently, for further information. I Then it came. They had not a war- i like weapon between them. They de-' nounced the war. and had come to offer : up England without fighting—that was , th"ir message. i "Hi! ha!" laughed the General. An orderly rushed in. "'Three of them are preaching treason to the troops—ln German!" he tried, ant a van cheer from without followed and confirmed hi- words. The C.-in-C. gloweredhere was a new trouble. " . "t'ei.t in H'.mme l . We'll teaeii these wasters a lesson!" and be w»nl from 1 his room to where lie members of his 1 it.itl sat. elfcseiTSstng the S-.uatiim. 1 " Breitfel...'nermann —" he shouted; ~i them. '"these d fellows are: breaking the discipline of our men. Co, out ami shoot them all!" j "Shoot tbe.ii. Five or six thousanil of them.'' or.eri d t-cneral Breifcfels. won-: dering. | " J-.nner und Blit__*_n!" roared the .-, raged tier, . " have I be-.rome incoucr- 1 cut. Yes—...thousand time. .— .shoot,. th- -vermin nnd show our men what we thin!; of '<■"). Show th»m we .i-i not recognise t-.c. he rry. shoe." them an., damn thi... _■ .V.i please, but carry out ray orders. Mother of Heaven! arc ;. on or are. 1 the '.-j.iimr.nd_T-_n-Cbiei''." j As -Biititiels ..rorie out into tie Park,!

ie saw that already the younger officers | t .ere ordering the men back to their ! • ents. But a good crowd still sur- I t trunded three figures, who were harm- , t ruing them from the tops of meat bar- ! 1 els, gaining many a round of applause, I : Breirfels. Woetrmann walking beside j I dm, took his pistol from its sling and . '__amined it. 1 1 " Always start with the ringleader,*' ] ! ie said "calmly, as he approached the j ; rroup. His own men gave way before ; . lim. and Day. Hudson, Harry Beelstcin 1 1 md lark Petre, the three orators, I .- .topped in the midst of their speeches. ' '1 Breitfels had a nasty job to do. and lie | 1 ivanted to get it over. lie called to a , - -rother officer: j ! "Colonel Kehm. please surround these 'i men ami don't let one of them escape, j 1 The Commander-in-Chief has given or- i 1 iers to hue them all shot in the inter- it esrts of discipline!"' ' • : lireirfel? turned to live three speakers 1 —they understood even if their comrades ( did not. 1 1 "Listen, you!" Wo may be fighting; your country, bnt we've no use for tra.t- ' i or . Understand?" . 1 Day. Hudson had opened his mouth to i speak: what he wished to say will never 1 be known, for Breitfels shot him as he l stood, and he tumbled limply off Ids bar- ] red- Petre was .-hot in the act of jump- : , ing from his platform, and Beelstein , 1 doubled up under a bullet from .Yoer- j j naann. j , Three dead, and five thousand more to I . kill: j, Their astonished followers stood in i groups, dumbfounded, speechless. They j knew nothing an yet of their coming ; . fate, nor did they guess it from that j which had overtaken their leaders. Sloping gradually to a long lake was a . \ huge hollow field of some forty acres. A young officer went to these men. who had been standing expectant for half an hour, and. pointing the direction, told them to march towards the water. Soon they were all on their way. chatting nervously over their lack of success. ! They had gone -200 yards, perhaps, when | from three sides a terrible devastating I ma .line gun fire was opened upon them. i 1-rrr! Brrr! it went, ami plunk plunk! I sounded the bullets as they swept, from body to body. Ten guns had been set to j work, ten —with a maximum output of ! GOO shots per minute each; Five mm- | tiles did that awful fire continue, and | then ceased, as suddenly as it had com- j menced. The grassy basin lay fnll to ' overflowing of mangled human remains j —not an arm moved, not a leg. It was j the apogee of the Decalogue. I Five thousand, aye, five thousand! j After litis ih.c General ordered the ad- ! value, because, as he elelieatcly put it, he ; hated a lot of carrion so near his com- j missariat. j Five thousand misled mcn —five thou- ' sand! I A wave of horror, of dreadful horror, ! swept the whole world as the result of I this—given, even, that war to be success- I ful should be bloody, wholesale murder could find no vestige of excuse. : Hugelmann was met at Liverpool by I a few hundred of his former allies, and j they lynched him from a tree. Every | able-bodied man. irrespective of creed or 1 political -views, was from that day a: soldier of the Empire. In two days every shipyard was in full swing, every I mini- in Wales was working. Oat of ! much evil much good may condp. And as the weeks slipped away the i limp seemed remote when duty would } permit mc to see Joan again. " One letter from her came through. Ir, was couched in her bright, hopeful style, but I I knew that between the lines was very real a!a-rr.i. ! "I am worried about Hazel," she i wrote. ''she seems as if she could not I get over the remembrance of the past. ' and, of course, matters here are not of i a sort to make her forget it. 1 am I with her all 1 can. and 1 try to cheer 1 her up, but yon know, dea_r boy. one • wants cheering up oneself. It seemed I before as if we were all fast asleep. I thinking we were quite safe. Weil, we ' are wide awake cnongh now. and. al- I though the news in the papers is heart- j rending, yet people seem more hopeful, , more ready, and determined. Our King • is splendiel. You know what I mean. j What a pity. dear, we. were all so care- ! less before." J Joan's letter set mo thinking deeply. J Subsequent events were to show how I strange our meeting was to-be. ' , ! CT_A'FT__R3_rV. I TUT. FORTH. BRIDGE D_SAf>TT__. ! 1 will make no apology for recounting j more of the episodes of a terrible and de- ] vastutiiHr war. I To us sailor, the -work was only too I scanty. v et the British Navy did its ' share, anel if circumstances connected , with the land forces permitted the' enemy to work his will on wide districts 1 —well, i suppose the lesson had to bo I learned. Often enough as time went on, the news us to what was actually occurring only reached us week? after the panic-s-irii-ken public in London had read the! intelligence. There was the disaster of the Forth Bridgewhich tor tome days placed our • command of the spa in j-r.pttrdy. (If Admiral Browne's great tight I have writ- 1 ten: yet had no; that, which I will now recount, taken pLice. the sacrifice would never hive _.pn asked of him. Who is there who 1-"= not. on the first . visit to Queens ferry stood long in rap; '< amazement gazing 0:1 th« immense Forth ' l!rid_e. a structure which cost three and i a-quarter millions of money to build and j which weighs eive- fifty thousand tons. . The two main -nans extend over seven- i tern hundred f'-er. and it would, had the i Fates ruled otherwise, have remained ' for many, many yrxr? a striking testi- . atony to the genius of British engineer- , inc. ' j In 1.04. as is well known, a large tract i. of land was purchased at Rosyt.li" on the north shore above the bridge, and here for some years a veritable army of men ; hud worked day alter day. to found a second Tort-mouth. This task had been , accomplished — l>otli the long graving • dunks had if.'., opened and a clutch ofi - , rovers lay snugly ensconced in the 1 l-a-in provided both for 1 hem and for'; their cousins the -r.i___.rir,... i To go from K..yl'n to th" open sea it ! is neces-.-nry 10 foil a r.irrotv passage! «'f ,ie,.]> water i h ■ first two, towers from the nc-ih.rn Me—-.: .'pen j the promontory of Nor.'' Qurrnsfeny ' and In.-hgyrvie Island. Hero the depth . is 2(X) t.-et a- lis greatest, and no: a ■' rock is found to hinder •_.''. navigation. i *(____;,._■ th ; . is one of the c.in'.ilpvrr -, s-iigir: ? s carrying the r.-.i! and foot I tti-'kr-. and for a nimb°r of years ln.j i warnings gone out fro.i s.-.r'otts minded 1 me:i of t':,. e_a.Ti_e_r that mitrin. 'to behind I a successful attemp. to block the Channel I by brtne-inri io-.v the mighty mes-hes of ! .t"r! iiitu its mi.lst. j At th • time o; which f write, the ! il.i.i' i"'., i wits lit -oitlisli waters. ti,e 1-: Pivisior, <■','( Tio.s-.ii'. ill- -Jml Divisinni a; ( .o_n_..ry ikiy. With lhe Ist Division ' '•- tin- I"!.-;. e't.:is,t- Sqii-rdron ~n.l ,1 , • .7.1 of -•■• .'..'Strove.-. Many a lir.i-..- • Scot and hi. boii'iic lassie came down the • lair road from Edinburgh 10 Q-e____e_-._ |

to see these mighty vessels—and nous the less was their interest because of the possibility that soon might come the tinie to test their "battle-worth. In two lines lay the eight huge super-Dread-noughts, the flagship Toi____nt at their bead. Behind her, towering as was their leader, lay the Hollers!-, Hero, and Defiance, .rig-antic implements of death, tilted to tight aye! and to stand lighting in return. The other line held the Rarfieur, __s_e, Trafalgar, and Devastation —and from all eight 'bristled the menacing muzzles of 1 .... inch guns. glowering like evil spirits in their black length over the pctncful country side. The sepiart, funnels, a mere kare now and then chasing hurriedly away from the oval lips, gave little sign of the vast powiT concealed within and they lay, these eight immense -hips, terrible in their silent strength, rendering no token of their de.a.th-dcaling capabilities, telling nought of their dread mission in the hour of battle. Their solid serenity and shapely polish, hulls, ft-licked by the waters of the icy. ru-hlre. tide, gave the lie to that oft-heard statement that with the abolition of masts and sails died all that is beautiful in fighting craft. From each broadside could come a hurtling storm of hell-shod metal weighing nearly thirteen thousand poundsno ship on which fell so heavy a human curse could hope again to lie in line of battle. They were strong, these ships—but it was a mights begotten of the strength, of hostile contemporaries. We had never built to threaten; we had built to d"-end our ancient integrity and i- 1 preserve to our nation for the sake of posterity that grea". and glorious heritage which had come down to us from the historical past. A national instinct let us know that the fated hour was come at last, and t liis much can be well and truly told that if criticism of our political masters and pastors were just, none such could be levelled at the efficiency and organisation of the tle-et. The patriotism of the men, their willingness to face the world for the land of their being, the unbreakable .courage and deterniina.ion to winall j these filled them as surely as in tho : days of Nelson. The officers and the men were, ,13 always, of the —as Ito the ships, no better sailed the seas. I Look at the first Cruiser Squad- ; ron—have you ever seen such vessels jin your life. Four of them, each over i seven hundred feet long, and burdened with the same mighty armament as their j slower and heavier protected companies. j 'The Prince, Alexandra, Lion and Prm- ' ce>ss Royal, private built except the Lion, j and .-he out of Devonport. On trial each j had stepped from mark to mark a.t over j thirty knots—and yet how hard put to :it had the Powerful and Terrible been j fourteen years previously, to attain nine miles an hour less! Tiifir hulls showed the fine lines of an Atlantic liner— the Aquitania would not catch either of the fliers once they had got into their ■ stride, and had sent, the whirling water , coursing after from the narrow slimness iof their entry to the. clean sweep of their ' fine drawn run towards the stern. The ! genius of Sir Philip Watts and Sir Wi_--1 ham Smith could be seen in every inch lof them —the cunning manner of placing 116 4-inch .runs, those little spitfires for ; shooting out 31 pound shells at the rate of fifteen a minute. j The boats, steam and motor pinnaces, 1 gigs, barges, were neatly stowed away jin most unexpected places under the lee lof one huge tripod mast, whence fell the I thin anti-ihae of the powerful wireless--1 installation. Tophamme.r there was 1 none, bridges were reduced to a minij mum. ."-nil the yellow cowls, once standi ing about tho deck like a forest of sugarI cane, were no longer in evidence, indeed a I number of flat steel mushrooms, raised lat most a foot from the deck, pave room , for the whirring fans they hid to suctl j the outer air below, there to be distrii buted -where most needed. I The straight wall sides were no longer , pierced every foot or so with openings ' for glass scuttlesmetal sheets of great j thickness sheathed the hull from well 1 below the water-line to the level of the ! main deck. A great change this, front I even five years previously. j The air was pregnant with wild and 1 warlike rumours at the moment I de--1 scribe. Sunday. October 10th: the riots, I written of in a previous chapter, were [ then taking place and as each awful I event was noted, the telegraph ticked lit through to the Naval Club erected for I the officers of the Fleet at North Queensj ferry. A small croup stood around the i machine whilst one of their number read 1 off the details coming through. 1 An officer rushed in. I '-Join ships at once." he yelled, unceremoniously, "urgent wireless from Admiraltyjust telling us reason when i messages stopped—something damnable ' anyone knowing of one of us on j leave in the town to fetch —Admiral ! sent mc anel five others to recall you , all "' this in a jerked sentence. 1 .pathless and incoherent — and lip had gone! So. too. had most of th" officers; , th" short road from the club to the Admiralty steps presented the spectacle of a hundred scurrying officers of all ! ranks from lieutenant to captain. Carefully uneoded copies of the order nece-Si-lat.ir._- their recall were e.igerlv read. "Admiralty order 1276 A.H.— O.X- — Sunday. October If..loin all officers and men immediately and clear ships for instant service— to be entirely cancelled —advices from Germany unsatisfactory— attack at any moment—M. informs— *' and so it ended! Dotihtlcss at this moment the wireless room at Whitehall was railed and the operators shot as already narrated. .-hips were at once cleared for action —not a difficult business, since the vessels of the British Navy are ready at all times for a fight. Then, double watches having been set and half-gun crews placed at their battle stations, Hie Meit -etlled clown for the night. The de.- trover. Tigress, Forrester, and Ferret were' beyond the bridge patrolling the Strait, and a further three, the Attack, Badger, and Hornet made unceasing circles around the fleet itself. whilst fc.ir.-ilights played constantly in every direction. Not a suspicious thing could take place without instant discovery, and even a small fishing boat, plodding siowiy down stream under the heavy pushing, of a couple of brawny 10-.e----landers. had she. instructions to -heer off and not -poke their dam noses into things that didn't concern them!" The good mi 11 shoved stolidly away with the remark that it was a sad sign of modern times when sailor-folk so needlessly desecrated the Sabbath with uncouth and ungodly language. (To be continued nest Saturday.)