"General," I said, "youre talking like a wildeyed crackpot. A businessman"s concern is with business; he leaves abstractions to visionaries. Our plants will be closed down, because until the Gra.s.s is stopped they can make us no profit. Let some idealistic industrialist take care of civilization."
"Albert, you know very well no business of any size can operate today without your active support. Think again, Albert; listen to me as a friend; we have been a.s.sociated a long time and to some extent you have taken Joe"s place in my mind. Consider the larger aspects. Suppose you don"t make a profit? Suppose you even take a loss. You can afford to do it for common humanity."
"I certainly think I do my share for common humanity, General Thario, and it cuts me to the heart that you of all people should imply such a sentimental and unjust reproach against me. You know as well as I do I have given more than half my fortune to charitable works."
"Albert, Albert, need there be this hypocrisy between you and me?"
"I don"t know what you mean. I only know I called you to evolve specific plans and you have embarked instead on windy plat.i.tudes and personal insult."
He sat for a long time quietly, his drink untouched before him. I did not disturb his meditation, but indulged in one on my own account, thinking of all I had done for him and his family. But only a foolish man expects grat.i.tude, or for that matter any reward at all for his kindnesses.
At last he broke his silence, speaking slowly, almost painfully. "I have not had what could be called a successful life, even though today I am a wealthy man." He resumed his drink again and I wondered what this remark had to do with the subject in hand. Perhaps nothing, I thought; he is just rambling along while he reconciles himself to the situation.
I was glad he was going to be sensible afterall. Not that it mattered; I could get many able lieutenants, but for oldtime"s sake I was pleased at the abandonment of his recalcitrance. He relaxed further into the chair while I waited to resume the practical discussion.
"When you first came to me in Washington, Albert, seeking warcontracts for your microscopic business, I suppose there was even then a mark upon your forehead, but I was too heavy with the guilt of my own affairs to see it. We all have our price, Albert, sometimes it is another star on the shoulderstraps or a peerage or wealth or the apparent safety of a son....
"I have come a long way with you since then, Albert, through shady deals and brilliant coups and dark pa.s.sages which would not bear too much investigation. I"m afraid I cannot go any further with you. You will have to get someone else to kill civilization."
"As you choose, General Thario," I agreed stiffly.
"Wait, I"m not finished. I have always tried, however inadequately, to do my duty. Articles of War ... holding commission in the Armies of the United States...." Emotion seemed to be sobering him rapidly. "Duty to you ... Consolidated Pemmican ... resign commission. Must mention spot ... try Sahara...."
He stood up.
"Thank you, General Thario," I said. "I shall certainly consider the Sahara as location for depots."
"You won"t change your mind about this whole thing, Albert?"
I shook my head. How could I fly in the face of commonsense to gratify the silly whim of an old man whose intelligence was clearly not what it had once been?
"I was afraid not," he muttered, "afraid not. I don"t blame you, Albert. Men are as G.o.d created them ... or environment, as the socialist fellers say ... you didnt put the mark on your forehead ... Not successful ... Joe (I called him George but he was Joe all the time) wanted to go to West Point afterall ... First Symphony in the fire ...
_I_ burned Joe"s First Symphony ... Do you understand me, Albert? Though I refuse, I am still guilty ... Cannibal Thario, they said ... Chronos would be better ... cla.s.sical allusion escapes the enlistedman...."
He walked out, still mumbling inarticulately and I sat there saddened that a man once alert and vigorous as the general should have come at last to senility and an enfeebled mind.
_84._ The defection of General Thario threw a great burden of work upon my shoulders. Preblesham was able enough in his own sphere, but his vision was not sufficiently broad to operate at the highest levels. The process of closing down our plants was more complicated than had been antic.i.p.ated and Thario"s military mind would have been more useful than Preblesham"s theological one. The employees, conceiving through some fantastic logic that their jobs were as much their property as the mills or mines or factorybuildings were mine, rioted and had to be pacified--the first time such a tactic was resorted to in years. In some places these misguided men actually took possession of the places where they worked and tried to operate them, but of course they were balked by their own inefficiency. Human nature being what it is, they tried to blame their helplessness on my control of their sources of raw material and their consequent inability to obtain vital supplies; as well as the cutting off of light and power from the seized plants, but this was mere buckpa.s.sing, always noticeable when some radical scheme fails.
But the setting up of depots in the Sahara, as General Thario had suggested, and by extension, in Arabia, was a different matter. Here Preblesham"s genius shone. He flew our whole Australian store of raw materials out without a loss. He recruited gangs of Chinese coolies with an efficiency which would have put an oldtime blackbirder to shame.
He argued, cajoled, bullied, sweated for twentyfour hours a day and when in six months he had completed his task, we had seven depots, two in Arabia and five in Africa, complete with four factories, with enough concentrates on hand to feed the world for a year--if the world had the means to pay, which it didnt--and to operate for five.
During those six months the Gra.s.s ravenously s.n.a.t.c.hed morsel after morsel. New Zealand"s South Island, New Caledonia, the Solomons and the Marianas were gobbled at the same moment. It gorged on New Guinea and searched out the minor islands of the East Indies as a cat searches for baby fieldmice in a nest her paw has discovered. It took a bite of the Queensland coast just below the Great Barrier Reef. The next day it was reported near Townsville and soon after on the Cape York peninsula, the Australian finger pointing upward to islands where lived little black men with woolly hair.
The people of Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane took the coming of the Gra.s.s with calm anger. Preparations for removal had been made months before and this migration was distinguished from previous ones by its order and completeness. But although they moved calmly in accordance with clear plans their anger was directed against all those in authority who had failed to take measures to protect their beloved land.
Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania went. The Gra.s.s swept southward like a sickle, cutting through South Australia and biting deep with its point into Western. Although we were amply provided with raw material, considering the curtailment of our activities, Preblesham, on the spot, could not resist buying up great herds of sheep for a penny on the pound and having them driven northward in the hope of finding somehow a means to ship them. I am sorry to say--though I"m afraid I could have predicted it--this venture was a total loss.
_85._ Burlet, unfolding the _Times_ on my breakfastplate, coughed respectfully. "If I could speak to you at your convenience, sir?"
"What is it, Burlet? Lord Arpers finally come through with a higher offer?"
"Not at all, sir. I consider the question of service closed as long as you find yourself satisfied, sir."
"Quite satisfied, Burlet."
"I ad in mind the discussion of quite another matter, sir. Not relating to domestic issues."
"Very well, Burlet. Come into the library after breakfast."
"Very good, sir."
With a world of problems on my mind I thought it would be wryly amusing to resolve whatever difficulties troubled my butler. Promptly after I had settled myself at my desk and before I rang for my secretary, Burlet appeared in the doorway, his striped vest smoothed down over his rounded abdomen, every thin hair in place over the dome of his balding head.
"Come in, Burlet. Sit down. What"s on your mind?"
"Thank you, sir." To my surprise he accepted my invitation and seated himself opposite me. "I ave been speculating, sir."
"Really, Burlet? Silly thing to do. Lost all your wages, I suppose, and would like an advance?"
"You misappre--end me, sir. Not speculating on Change. Speculating on the Gra.s.s."
"Oh. And did you arrive at any conclusion, Burlet?"
"I believe I ave, sir. As I understand it, scientists and statesmen are exerting their energies to fight the Gra.s.s."
"That"s right." I was beginning to be bored. Had the butler fallen prey to one of the graminophile sects like Brother Paul"s and gone through all this rigmarole merely to give me notice previous to immolating himself?
"And so far they ave achieved no success?"
"Obviously, Burlet."
"Well then, sir, would it not be a sensible precaution to find some means of refuge until and if they find a way to kill the Gra.s.s?"
"There is no "if," Burlet. The means will be found, and shortly--of that I am sure. As for temporary refuge until that time, no doubt it would be excellent, if practicable. What do you propose--emigration to Mars or floating islands in the oceans?" Both of these expedients had long ago been put forth by contestants in the _Intelligencer_.
"Journeys to other planets would not solve things, sir. a.s.suming the construction of a vessel--an a.s.sumption so far unwarranted, if I may say so, sir--it would accommodate but a fraction of the affected populations. As for floating islands, they would be no more immune to airborne seeds than stationary ones."
"So it was discovered long ago, Burlet."
"Quite so, sir. Then, if I may say so, protection must be afforded on the spot."
"And how do you propose to do that?"
"Well, sir, by the building of vertical cities."
"Vertical cities?"