WILLIAM LE QUEUX: 15 Dystopian Novels & Espionage Thrillers (Illustrated Edition). William Le Queux

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       REMEMBER: TEN O’CLOCK TO-NIGHT!

      “Almost simultaneously with the report of the British victory, namely, at five o’clock, the truth — the great and all-important truth — became revealed. The mandate has gone forth from the headquarters of the League of Defenders that London is to rise in her might at ten o’clock to-night, and that a million men are ready to assist us. Placards and bills on red paper are everywhere. As if by magic, London has been flooded with the defiant proclamation of which the copy here reproduced has just been brought in to me.

      “Frantic efforts are being made by the Germans all over London to suppress both posters and handbills, but without avail. The streets are littered with them, and upon every corner they are being posted, even though more than one patriot has paid for the act with his life.

      “It is now six o’clock. In four hours it is believed that London will be one huge seething conflict. Night has been chosen, I suppose, in order to give the populace the advantage. The by-streets are for the most part still unlit, save for oil-lamps, for neither gas nor electric light are yet in proper working order after the terrible dislocation of everything. The scheme of the Defenders is, as already proved, to lure the Germans into the narrower thoroughfares, and then exterminate them. Surely in the history of the world there has never been such a bitter vengeance as that which is now inevitable. London, the greatest city ever known, is about to rise!

      “Midnight.

      “London has risen! How can I describe the awful scenes of panic, bloodshed, patriotism, brutality, and vengeance that are at this moment in progress? As I write, through the open window I can hear the roar of voices, the continual crackling of rifles, and the heavy booming of guns. I walked along Fleet Street at nine o’clock, and I found, utterly disregarding the order that no unauthorised persons are to be abroad after nightfall, hundreds upon hundreds of all classes, all wearing their little silk Union Jack badges pinned to their coats, on their way to join in their particular districts. Some carried rifles, others revolvers, while others were unarmed. Yet not a German did I see in the streets. It seemed as though, for the moment, the enemy had vanished. There was only the strong cordon across the bottom of Ludgate Hill, men who looked on in wonder, but without bestirring themselves.

      “Is it possible that Von Kronhelm’s strategy is to remain inactive, and refuse to fight?

      “The first shot I heard fired, just after ten o’clock, was at the Strand end of Fleet Street, at the corner of Chancery Lane. There, I afterwards discovered, a party of forty German infantrymen had been attacked, and all of them killed. Quickly following this, I heard the distant booming of artillery, and then the rattle of musketry and pom-poms became general, but not in the neighbourhood where I was. For nearly half an hour I remained at the corner of Aldwych; then, on going farther along the Strand, I found that the defenders from the Waterloo Road had made a wild sortie into the Strand, but could find no Germans there.

      “The men who had for a fortnight held that barricade at the bridge were more like demons than human beings; therefore I retired, and in the crush made my way back to the office to await reports.

      “They were not long in arriving. I can only give a very brief résumé at the moment, for they are so numerous as to be bewildering.

      “Speaking generally, the whole of London has obeyed the mandate of the League, and, rising, are attacking the Germans at every point. In the majority of cases, however, the enemy hold strong positions, and are defending themselves, inflicting terrible losses upon the unorganised populace. Every Londoner is fighting for himself, without regard for orders or consequences. In Bethnal Green the Germans, lured into the maze of by-streets, have suffered great losses, and again in Clerkenwell, St. Luke’s, Kingsland, Hackney, and Old Ford. Whitechapel, too, devoid of its alien population, who have escaped into Essex, has held its own, and the enemy have had some great losses in the streets off Cable and Leman Streets.

      “With the exception of the sortie across Waterloo Bridge, South London is, as yet, remaining in patience, acting under the orders of General Bamford.

      “News has come in ten minutes ago of a fierce and sudden night attack upon the Saxons by Lord Byfield from Windsor, but there are, as yet, no details.

      “From the office across the river I am being constantly asked for details of the fight, and how it is progressing. In Southwark the excitement is evidently most intense, and it requires all the energy of the local commanders of the Defenders to repress another sortie across that bridge.

      “There has just occurred an explosion so terrific that the whole of this building has been shaken as though by an earthquake. We are wondering what has occurred.

      “Whatever it is, one fact is only too plain. Both British and Germans are now engaged in a death-struggle.

      “London has struck her first blow of revenge. What will be its sequel?”