King smiled inwardly as he saw the diners clatter toward the exits, crying in excited voices for their wraps. Here were the well-to-do manufacturers and merchants of America, many of whom had been made extremely wealthy by the war. The owners of the liquid-air factories had all been present to hail him. Makers of shot and shell and armor plate had gripped him by the hand, murmuring fervent admiration and promises of aid. Men who lived by supplying the army with clothing and equipment at exorbitant prices were also there. The salt of the earth, the Secretary had called them, the backbone of the nation, the Government’s staunchest supporters! Like frightened rabbits they scurried for the street when exposed, for the first time during the war, to actual danger. The room began to clear as if by magic, leaving Dr. Angell, cut off and dangling in the middle of his radio speech, white-faced and trembling on the dais. Dr. Scott, Anna, King, and Diane stood together and regarded each other questioningly, wondering what the aerial attack might bring.
The room had been cleared hardly soon enough. It was on the top floor of the building, and above it was a tremendous, many-paned skylight of opaque glass. With a crash that shivered the chandeliers and sent bits of flying crystal everywhere, the overhead protection suddenly burst through.
The score of persons at the table on the dais took refuge instantly behind it. An explosion shook the entire building, and from the men and women near the doorway, who had been unable to escape, there came a piercing scream.
King rose from behind the table as soon as the crash was over. By the dim light of the remaining bulbs in the shattered chandeliers, he saw that many had been killed.
In the center of the room, where the bomb had spent its fury, tables, chairs, and glasswork lay in a tangled mass of wreckage. On the floor, scattering in all directions were lumps of yellow metal. With an exclamation he ran and picked one of the pieces up.
It was gold!
Gold! They were bombing the city with gold, showering it with wealth, which, being so abundant, was no longer wealth but ugly yellow metal, no more. And these diners, the last to reach the door, had been killed by pellets of gold! King, holding a bit of the accursed metal in his hand, was struck by the irony of it.
He might have known, he might have guessed that the Asians were storing that metal, useless to them, for some such purpose. Now they were showering New York, Washington, Philadelphia. all the big centers of population, with gold. Of what value was gold, then, with tons of it falling into the streets? When this word got out, what a panic there would be!
The servants and the bellboys had seen the gold, too. Screaming and fighting, they were already upon the floor on hands and knees, scratching among the wreckage and picking it up. The word spread through the building quickly. In five minutes the place was bedlam. The maids quit their work; the cooks came up from their kitchens armed with butcher knives and cleavers.
Gold!
Once men had risked their lives in the Klondike and over desert California trails for less than this. Gold lay free and scattered on the ballroom floor, and though King and Dr. Scott and the Secretary of War, all three aroused now to the true seriousness of the situation, cried themselves hoarse with commands, they might as well have screamed their orders to the errant winds.
It was with difficulty, even, that they escaped unharmed into the streets, where on every side scenes of debauchery and stupid greediness met their eyes. Even while the battle raged overhead, the word had spread that gold was showering into the streets. Without considering the uselessness of gold when there was plenty to be had, the whole population had turned out to rake the glittering metal from the gutters and to kill each other on the curbs for plunder.
The city was demoralized. With difficulty did King get a wire through to Washington, only to learn that conditions were equally bad there. The whole economic system had collapsed. The President, beside himself, unable to gather together even his personal aides, could hardly keep himself from giving way to the general panic which had stricken every one in authority. He realized that the whole financial structure of the country depended upon the stability of gold. Of what value now would be the money in the banks, the wages paid to workers day by day, the huge issues of fiat currency which were guaranteed by the Government on the strength of the value of gold?
Rioting, murder, pillage, the disruption of civic and governmental forces. these were the natural consequences of the flood of gold. The situation was the more horrible because nothing could be done about it. The Asian planes dropped all their gold before they could be shot down or driven off, and it was more than sufficient to offset any natural adjustment which the economic system might itself be able to make.
“The liquid-air factories!” shouted King over the telephone. “Have they shut down?”
“Not yet,” replied the President. “The guards have succeeded in keeping word of the rain of gold from reaching the workers. But I’m afraid it is only a matter of minutes. hours at most.”
Factories everywhere were closing down. The munitions plants would inevitably follow them. Would any man make shells or liquid air when in ten minutes he might pick up more gold on a city street than he could earn in a year of work in a factory?
“The liquid-air and munitions factories must be kept on a producing basis,” King declared.
“But how?” demanded the President.
King searched his mind hastily for a plan which would keep the vital processes of the nation in operation, at least temporarily, until something better could be devised. The country was in a state of paralysis; there seemed no way in which the Government could turn.
“Didn’t the act of Congress creating the War Council give that body powers of life and death over the citizens of the country for the continuance of the war?” he asked at length.
“Yes. we have that power if we can enforce our authority,” replied the President.
“Then let us declare martial law throughout the country. Commandeer all supplies of food. Refuse to feed any persons who do not swear allegiance to the Government in this crisis or who refuse to take orders from it. We can abolish money, and scrap with it the outworn economic system we have been harboring all these years. In that way only can we meet the Asians on their own ground. Let us regiment our whole people for the war and tolerate no uprisings!”
“Perhaps you have hit upon a solution, but it is a difficult and dangerous one,” said the President. “If the army is not demoralized, perhaps we could put it into operation.”
“I will come to Washington as soon as possible,” said King. “This is a thing that only the War Council can handle.”
“In the meantime,” returned the President, “I’ll see how the situation stands out West. I rather imagine they have not been so excited out there. The majority of the gold seems to have dropped along the eastern seaboard.”
“This blow will surely cost us Houston,” exclaimed King, “and God knows how much more. We cannot risk a test of our liquid-air defense until the stability of the country is fairly assured.”
“What will you do?” asked the President.
“I will have to order a general retreat of our forces. As things stand, the troops can do nothing, and a show of resistance would only mean useless loss of life.”
The voice at the other end of the wire was filled with despair. “My God,” he said. “If, on top of this other difficulty, the people learn that we are retreating again, they will lose faith in us completely!”
“There is no help for it; we must fall back,” said King.
CHAPTER IX
THE DEVOURING WATERS
I
WHEN King and his party, which included Diane and Dr. Scott, reached the Capitol, they found the War Secretary and other important officials of the Government already there. Dr. Angell had come in his private plane directly from the scene of the dinner, to seek out the President at once and ask him what could be done for the safety of the country. The others had been assembled at the President’s command.
All were stricken with panic at the chaos which the showers of gold had brought. Dr. Angell, perspiring and upset, was mopping his forehead with a silk handkerchief. His face was agitated, his eyes filled with dismay. With him, in the offices of the President, was Anna Scott, who had come with him by plane to Washington. It was partly solicitude for her welfare as well as concern for the country at large that caused his nervousness.
With the first burst of gold in the upper hall of the Pan-American Building, the Secretary had moved hastily along behind the barricade of the dais until he had joined King, Dr. Scott, Diane, and Anna at the farther side of it, ready to go with them in any attempt they might make to leave the shattered room. From the comparative safety of the overturned table he had peered around uncertainly in a vain attempt to locate his bodyguard, but the swarthy man who generally accompanied him on every public trip was nowhere to be seen. There was no further time to look for him. Forcing their way through the crowd of eager gold-seekers on the floor of the hall, King and Dr. Scott, with Anna and Diane, were making their way toward the door. The Secretary went with them, shouting hoarsely at persons who heard nothing and who scrambled unceremoniously in and out as the party passed.
It was almost too fantastic for belief, that struggle to escape from the building where gold had burst through the skylight and shattered the chandeliers. Somehow they got down the elevators and into the street. It was not until he had gone a good distance from the building, excited and worried both by the battle which was still going on overhead and the noise and actions of the frenzied people in the streets, that the Secretary realized that he and Anna had become separated from the others and that they were alone.
He paused uncertainly. “It was the excitement of getting out of that place,” he explained. “We have lost your father and King somewhere in the streets, and my bodyguard as well.”
He was suddenly annoyed at the awkward position in which he found himself. It was too late to turn back; he must reach Washington as soon as possible. There was nothing to do but to take Anna with him.
She could send a message back that she was safe.
She agreed, and they went together to the official hangar27 which they found had been almost deserted by the crew of workers regularly stationed there. The official pilot of Dr. Angell’s plane, notified by others that gold was to be found in the streets, had also abandoned the place. Nobody else was to be found who was willing to operate the plane; virtually all of the mechanics had gone with the pilot to hunt for easier wealth.
“I’ll have to drive the thing myself,” exclaimed the Secretary in exasperation.
“Can you?” queried Anna.
Dr. Angell hesitated. He had suddenly an unaccountable and ridiculous desire to make a gesture which would convince her of his resourcefulness. At one time he had been moderately expert in handling the old-fashioned type of plane. That the newer ones handled differently he had no doubt, but with the Secretary to have an impulse was usually to act. “Why . yes, of course I can drive,” he replied.
He was not particularly uncertain of himself when. he took the controls. But once clear of the landing, he shot rapidly and unexpectedly into the sky, the powerful motors roaring as they drove the plane at a terrific rate through the air. He immediately felt less confident. He circled once to get his bearings and headed off rapidly toward Washington. The battle which had rolled flashing over New York but a few minutes before had swung well to the south, where Asians were in full retreat, their object accomplished. Two or three battle planes, standing guard over the city, swung out to investigate when the Secretary’s plane appeared, but when they recognized the official insignia, they did not molest him.
Anna came forward and sat beside him in the little cabin. The Secretary had been greatly unnerved by the happenings of the evening. As he had walked through the streets of New York with Anna, he had become clearly cognizant of what the addition of several hundred tons of gold to the country’s supply would mean to the economics of the Western Hemisphere.
In addition, he was beginning to feel that he had done a foolish and impetuous thing to take the plane on a flight of such consequence when his knowledge of flying was only that of an amateur at best.
He observed that Anna herself shared some of his nervousness. “Have you driven a plane often?” she asked.
“Why. yes,” he replied, wishing heartily that it were so.
“I. wondered,” she replied. There was just a hint of unbelief in her voice. The Secretary compressed his lips the tighter and put his full attention on the controls.
He observed, after what seemed to him hours later, that they were drawing close to Washington. In another moment he would have to make a landing, the most difficult part of all. With a rush the worries of the night, which he had partly forgotten in the drone of the motors and the sound of his companion’s voice, came back upon him. He saw the landing lights. With a sudden turn he brought the ship to and tried without much success to reduce the speed. Inward toward the hangar she drove with almost unbelievable rapidity. Something happened just as her wheels began to touch the landing surface. There was a ripping sound; the plane skewed half around. Anna grasped his arm with a cry of fright; a handful of men came running out of the hangar to help.
But it was all right. The little plane had slowed sufficiently; she stopped right side up. One wing was broken and the propeller smashed, but her passengers were unhurt.
Nervously the Secretary helped Anna out. Together they hastened toward the Capitol. Dr. Angell tried to find a cab, but there was none in sight. His own garage failed to answer the telephone. “We’ll have to walk, then,” he said. “Do you mind?” Anna shook her head and took his arm. On every hand the distressing scenes which had so alarmed the Secretary in New York were reproduced in Washington. Through the streets roamed gangs of men and women, searching for the gold which had been dropped from the sky. The Asian planes were now all gone, but the damage they had done remained after them. The whole city seemed demoralized. Even the police had joined the mobs. There were guards at the Capitol, but they were dressed in the army uniform. Two tall men at the entrance saluted the Secretary and Anna as they passed, and a third ushered them quickly to the offices of the President.
King, Dr. Scott, and Diane arrived a few minutes later. Already King had been thinking over many possible courses of action, and he and Dr. Scott had agreed upon a plan which they intended to submit to the President for approval. Dr. Scott inquired immediately what had been done.
“We have commandeered the radio, the television, the newspapers. all the instruments of publicity we could get our hands upon,” replied the President. “We have connected them all with Washington, ready for our use. Representatives of perhaps half a hundred newspapers are waiting to hear from us at this minute.
“In addition,” he continued, turning toward King, “martial law has been declared throughout the country, and as rapidly as possible our military stations everywhere are seizing all available supplies of food, clothing, and other necessaries. Remembering your concern for the safety and productivity of the liquid-air factories, I have already dispatched additional troops to guard and man them. The munitions plants are being protected also, and every soldier in the country not actually engaged at present has been ordered to hold himself ready for immediate duty in any field to which we may assign him.”
“Good,” said King.
The President continued.
“The next job is to get the normal machinery of civilization back into operation. That will be a somewhat more difficult task, I’m afraid.”
Dr. Scott nodded with understanding. “It will be virtually impossible,” he commented, “if conditions such as we have seen to-night in New York and Washington hold good throughout the country.”
“Our one chance,” said King, “lies in the fact that it will be hours, perhaps days, before the full understanding of our calamity reaches the people. To-night they are only excited by the sight of free gold. Scramb
ling and fighting for it, they do not yet realize that gold is no longer of any value in this country. But sooner or later they will realize it, and when that time comes we must already have perfected our plans for reorganization, so that instead of rioting and civil war, we will have only an orderly change from one system to another.
“To reorganize the country thoroughly will probably take months. perhaps years. To-night we are confronted by the vital problem of whipping together some kind of organization which will see us through until we have blocked the invasion.”
Dr. Scott and the President signified agreement. Secretary Angell broke into the discussion.
“I was thinking of a plan on the way down,” he said. “If gold is no longer scarce enough to retain its value, why not shift our money to some other basis? Platinum, say, or some other scarce and valuable metal.”
King smiled. “In the vaults beneath Tiplis I saw enough platinum to destroy the monetary value of this metal as easily as that of gold. I saw there enough of all of the so-called precious metals to ruin a monetary system based on the scarcity or value of any one of them. We must make a more sweeping change than that. We must try to do away with money altogether.”
Two or three of the other Secretaries gasped but said nothing. Dr. Angell replied, however, with some heat.
“My dear fellow,” he said, “how can you ever do such a thing as that?”
King answered calmly. “By adopting, for the time being,” he said, “the economic arrangement of the Asians, whereby every citizen is an employee of the Government.”
The silence in the room was heavy. Only the President, after a little, broke into it.
“You have a good plan,” he commented at last. “But do you understand the system well enough to help us put it into operation?”
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