Sion, but
this I knew to be absolute nonsense, for the British must have
learned by this time that it would be sheer murder to send transports
full of soldiers to sea in the face of submarines. When they have a
tunnel they can use their fine expeditionary force upon the
Continent, but until then it might just as well not exist so far as
Europe is concerned. My own country, therefore, was in good case and
had nothing to fear. Great
Britain, however, was already feeling my grip upon her throat. As in
normal times four-fifths of her food is imported, prices were rising
by leaps and bounds. The supplies in the country were beginning to
show signs of depletion, while little was coming in to replace it.
The insurances at Lloyd's had risen to a figure which made the price
of the food
prohibitive to the mass of the people by the time it had reached the
market. The loaf, which, under ordinary circumstances
stood at fivepence, was already at one and twopence. Beef
was three shillings
and fourpence a pound, and mutton two shillings
and ninepence. Everything else was in proportion. The Government had
acted with energy and offered a big bounty
for corn to be planted at once. It could only be reaped five months
hence, however, and long before
then, as the papers pointed out, half the island would be dead from
starvation.
Strong appeals h