XVI.--A DINNER AT THE BRITZ XVII.--THE VOICE IN THE TELEPHONE XVIII.--IN THE HANDS OF THE GERMANS XIX.--THE GERMAN POINT OF VIEW XX.--GENERAL VON LICHTENSTEIN XXI.--HE INSTALLS HIS WIRELESS XXII.--KAFFEE KLATSCH XXIII.--THE TWO-WHEELED MYSTERY XXIV.--DER KAISER XXV.--THE MASQUERADER XXVI.--TWO REMARKABLE MEN XXVII.--ALL CARDS ON THE TABLE XXVIII.--WHERE IS IT? XXIX.--THE DIFFERENCE OF THEIR STATIONS XXX.--THEY CALL FOR ASSISTANCE XXXI.--"SIT DOWN, YOU DOG!" XXXII.--L. P. M. XXXIII.--YACHTING IN THE AIR XXXIV.--THE ULTIMATUM XXXV.--A LYING KING MAKES A NATION OF LIARS XXXVI.--THINK OF IT! WHY NOT? L. P. M. CHAPTER I THE MAN AND THE HOUR The Secretary of State, although he sought to maintain an air of official reserve, showed that he was deeply impressed by what he had just heard. "Well, young man, you are certainly offering to undertake a pretty large contract." He smiled, and continued in a slightly rhetorical vein--the Secretary was above all things first, last, and always an orator. "In my many years of public life," he said, "I have often had occasion to admire the dauntless spirit of our young men. But you have forced me to the conclusion that even I, with all my confidence in their power, have failed to realize how inevitably American initiative and independence will demand recognition. It is a quality which our form of government seems especially to foster and develop, and I glory