The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | Page 5

"secretary" was
pacing up and down the studio talking of Servia, Russia and the Kaiser.
This youth, too, skeptical as he generally was about everything not
connected with his own interests, appeared infected by the general
excitement.
When Desnoyers awoke he found her note awaiting him, setting their
meeting at five that afternoon and also containing a few words about
the threatened danger which was claiming the attention of all Paris.
Upon going out in search of lunch the concierge, on the pretext of
welcoming him back, had asked him the war news. And in the
restaurant, the cafe and the street, always war . . . the possibility of war
with Germany. . . .
Julio was an optimist. What did all this restlessness signify to a man
who had just been living more than twenty days among Germans,
crossing the Atlantic under the flag of the Empire?
He had sailed from Buenos Aires in a steamer of the Hamburg line, the
Koenig Frederic August. The world was in blessed tranquillity when
the boat left port. Only the whites and half-breeds of Mexico were
exterminating each other in conflicts in order that nobody might believe
that man is an animal degenerated by peace. On the rest of the planet,
the people were displaying unusual prudence. Even aboard the
transatlantic liner, the little world of passengers of most diverse
nationalities appeared a fragment of future society implanted by way of

experiment in modern times--a sketch of the hereafter, without frontiers
or race antagonisms.
One morning the ship band which every Sunday had sounded the
Choral of Luther, awoke those sleeping in the first-class cabins with the
most unheard-of serenade. Desnoyers rubbed his eyes believing himself
under the hallucinations of a dream. The German horns were playing
the Marseillaise through the corridors and decks. The steward, smiling
at his astonishment, said, "The fourteenth of July!" On the German
steamers they celebrate as their own the great festivals of all the nations
represented by their cargo and passengers. Their captains are careful to
observe scrupulously the rites of this religion of the flag and its historic
commemoration. The most insignificant republic saw the ship decked
in its honor, affording one more diversion to help combat the monotony
of the voyage and further the lofty ends of the Germanic propaganda.
For the first time the great festival of France was being celebrated on a
German vessel, and whilst the musicians continued escorting a racy
Marseillaise in double quick time through the different floors, the
morning groups were commenting on the event.
"What finesse!" exclaimed the South American ladies. "These Germans
are not so phlegmatic as they seem. It is an attention . . . something
very distinguished. . . . And is it possible that some still believe that
they and the French might come to blows?"
The very few Frenchmen who were travelling on the steamer found
themselves admired as though they had increased immeasurably in
public esteem. There were only three;--an old jeweller who had been
visiting his branch shops in America, and two demi-mondaines from
the rue de la Paix, the most timid and well-behaved persons aboard,
vestals with bright eyes and disdainful noses who held themselves
stiffly aloof in this uncongenial atmosphere.
At night there was a gala banquet in the dining room at the end of
which the French flag and that of the Empire formed a flaunting,
conspicuous drapery. All the German passengers were in dress suits,
and their wives were wearing low-necked gowns. The uniforms of the
attendants were as resplendent as on a day of a grand review.

During dessert the tapping of a knife upon a glass reduced the table to
sudden silence. The Commandant was going to speak. And this brave
mariner who united to his nautical functions the obligation of making
harangues at banquets and opening the dance with the lady of most
importance, began unrolling a string of words like the noise of clappers
between long intervals of silence. Desnoyers knew a little German as a
souvenir of a visit to some relatives in Berlin, and so was able to catch
a few words. The Commandant was repeating every few minutes
"peace" and "friends." A table neighbor, a commercial commissioner,
offered his services as interpreter to Julio, with that obsequiousness
which lives on advertisement.
"The Commandant asks God to maintain peace between Germany and
France and hopes that the two peoples will become increasingly
friendly."
Another orator arose at the same table. He was the most influential of
the German passengers, a rich manufacturer from Dusseldorf who had
just been visiting his agents in America. He was never mentioned by
name. He bore the title of Commercial Counsellor, and among his
countrymen was always Herr Comerzienrath and his wife was entitled
Frau Rath.