of loyalty, but a call to every
devoted workers gave their services without pay, because they had been promised a great
collective reward, the betterment of the lot of the common man in Germany. But so far they
had got nothing; not one of the promised economic reforms had been carried out, and indeed
many of the measures which had been taken were reactionary, making the reforms more remote
and difficult. The big employers had got a commanding voice in the control of the new shop
councils—which meant simply that wages would be frozen where they were, and the workers
deprived of all means of influencing them. The same was true of the peasants, because prices were
being fixed. "If this continues," said Hugo, "it will mean a slave system, just that and nothing
else."
To Lanny it appeared that the young sports director talked exactly like a Social-Democrat;
he had changed nothing but his label. He insisted that the rank and file were of his way of
thinking, and that what he called the "Second Revolution" could not be more than a few weeks
off. He pinned his hopes upon Ernst Rohm, Chief of Staff and highest commander of the
S.A., who had been one of the ten men tried for treason and imprisoned after the Beer- hall
Putsch; a soldier and fighter all his life, he had become the hero of those who wanted the
N.S.D.A.P. to remain what it had been and to do what it had promised to do. The Führer must
be persuaded, if necessary he must be pushed; that was the way it was in politics—it was no
drawing-room affair, but a war of words and ideas, and if need be of street demonstrations,
marching, threats. None knew this better than Hitler himself.
Lanny thought: "Hugo is fooling himself with the Chief of Staff, as earlier he fooled himself
with the Führer." Ernst Rohm was a homosexual who had publicly admitted his habits; an ignorant
rough fellow who rarely even pretended to social idealism. When he denounced the
reactionaries who were still in the Cabinet, it was because he wanted more power for his
Brownshirts and their commander. But it wasn't Lanny's business to hint at this; he must find
out who the malcontents were—and especially whether any of them were in power at Dachau.
Such men want money for their pleasures, and if they are carrying on a struggle for power they
want money for that. There might be a good chance of finding one who could be paid to let a
prisoner slip through the bars.
Their conference was a long one, and their drive took them into the country; beautiful level
country, every square foot of it tended like somebody's parlor. No room for a weed in the
whole of the Fatherland, and the forests planted in rows like orchards and tended the same way.
It happened to be Saturday afternoon, and the innumerable lakes around Berlin were gay with
tiny sailboats, the shores lined with cottages and bathhouses. The tree-lined paths by the roads
were full of
uniforms and their songs were of defiance. Drill-grounds everywhere, and the air full of sharp
cries of command and dust of tramping feet. Germany was getting ready for something. If you
asked what, they would say "defense," but they were never clear as to who wished to attack them
—right after signing a solemn pact against the use of force in Europe.
Another way in which Hugo resembled the Social-Democrats rather than the Nazis—he hated
militarism. He said: "There are two ways the Führer can solve the problem of unemployment;
one is to put the idle to work arid make plenty for all, including themselves; the other is to
turn them over to the army, to be drilled and sent out to take the land and resources of other
peoples. That is the question which is being decided in the inner circles right now."
"Too bad you can't be there!" remarked Lanny; and his young friend revealed what was in the
depths of his mind. "Maybe I will be some day."
V
Seine Exzellenz, Minister-Präsident General Göring, was pleased to invite Mr. and Mrs. Lanny
Budd to lunch at his official residence. He didn't ask them to bring their paintings, and Lanny
wasn't sorry about it, for somehow he couldn't see the
cub. He doubted very much if Seine Exzellenz was being deceived as to the real reason for
Lanny's coming to Berlin; and anyhow, the' Commander of the German Air Force was having his
own art made to his own order—a nude statue of his deceased wife, made from photographs
and cast in solid gold!
At least that was what the Fürstin Donnerstein had told Irma. There was no stopping the
tongues of these fashionable ladies; the Fürstin had poured out the "dirt," and Irma had
collected it and brought it home. The good-looking blond aviator named Göring, after being
wounded in the Beerhall Putsch, had fled abroad and married a Swedish baroness; the lady was
