and Göring now was seeing that the pledge was kept. There wasn't going to be any "Second
Revolution" in Prussia if the head of the government could prevent it, and he thought that he
could.
The party traveled in that six-wheeled Mercedes which Lanny had come to call "the tank." The
chauffeur and the guard who rode beside him were black-uniformed Schutzstaffel men, both
well armed. The very large General lolled in the back seat, with Lanny in the place of honor
beside him. In two retractable seats rode Oberst Siemans, a Reichswehr officer who was a World
War buddy of the General's, and Hauptmann Einstoss, an S.A. man who had accompanied Göring
in his flight to Switzerland after the Beerhall Putsch. A second car followed with Furtwaengler
and another staff officer, a secretary, a telephone operator, and a valet.
The party in the "tank" talked about the trial. Lanny wished he might hear what they would
have said if he hadn't been along, but there was no way to arrange that. They talked on the
assumption that the five prisoners were the spawn of Satan, and that the General had
completely annihilated Dimitroff. When they asked Lanny what would be the opinion of the
outside world, he replied that all people were inclined to believe what it was in their interest to
believe, and the outside world was afraid of the Nazis because it suspected that they meant to
rearm Germany. Thus, if one was cautious, it was possible to avoid lying and at the same time
avoid giving offense.
They drove at high speed, with a powerful horn giving notice to all the world to clear the way.
Toward dusk they left the highway and entered a heavy forest; they drove many miles on a
private road before coming to a hunting lodge, well lighted for their reception. A spacious hall,
with bearskins on the floor and trophies on the walls; a glass-cased rack of guns at one end, a
banquet-table at the other, and a great stone fireplace with logs blazing. There was no host—
the place had been turned over to the General. Servants in green foresters' uniforms brought
drinks, and when Seine Exzellenz called for supper there came a procession of men, each
bearing a silver platter: the first containing a huge roasted boar's head, steaming hot, the
second a haunch of venison, the third several capercailzie, a kind of grouse bigger than any
chicken, and the fourth some fricasseed hares. Lanny, dining under the feudal system, could
only laugh and beg for mercy. His host, proud of his prowess as a trencherman, was not
displeased to have others take an attitude of inferiority.
It was the same with the drinking. Hot punch and cold Moselle, burning brandy sauces,
cocktails, beer—there was apparently no ordained sequence; the valiant air commander took
everything that he saw and called for more. The way Lanny saved himself was by music; when
they started singing he took his glass of punch to the piano and played and sang: "Show me
the way to go home, boys," and other "college songs" which he had learned as a boy from his
father. The General was amused, and Lanny kept him entertained with various kinds of
American humor: "Yankee Doodle" and "Down Went McGinty" and "There'll be a Hot Time in
the Old Town Tonight." Whether they all knew the language didn't matter, for pretty soon they
didn't know what they knew. He played "My Old Kentucky Home" and they wept; he played
"The Arkansas Traveler" and "Turkey, in the Straw" and they tried to dance. Lanny cut his
capers on the keyboard, and the head of the Prussian state approved of him so ardently that he
wouldn't let his own valet help him upstairs, but insisted upon having the young American on
one side and a blue-eyed Wendish damsel on the other.
This was another aspect of the feudal system about which Lanny had heard talk and which he
now saw in action. The men servants who had brought in the heavy dishes had disappeared,
and desserts and coffee and various drinks were served by young women in peasant costumes
with flaxen hair in heavy braids down their backs. They were not prostitutes, but daughters of
the servants and retainers; they curtsied to these high-born great gentlemen in uniforms,
danced with them when invited, and were prepared to be honored by their further attentions.
Not much flirtation or cajoling was called for; they obeyed commands. Fortunately for Lanny
there were not enough to go around, and his renunciation was appreciated.
The party arose late next day. There was no hurry, for this kind of shooting proceeds
according to the convenience of the shooters and not of the game. After a "fork breakfast" they
set out to stands in the forests, and beaters drove stags and buffalo and boar out of the thickets
into the open ranges. Lanny had the honor of being posted with the General, and he waited
respectfully while the great man shot, and when he was told that it was his turn he upheld the
reputation of Budd Gunmakers. It was worth while for him to do so, for he guessed it wouldn't
be long before Robbie would be making use of these valuable connections.
II
