The Crown Prince had been so busy that he hadn't had time to get together with his father and have a confidential chat. But one evening when there was a lull in the 808-centimeter guns, they managed to get a few moments off. The Crown Prince turned to his father and said:
Dad, there is something I have been wanting to ask you for a long time.
Is Uncle George really responsible for this scrap?
No, my son.
Well, did Cousin Nick have anything to do with it?
Not at all
Possibly you did?
No, sir.
Then would you mind telling me who it was?
The anointed one was silent for a moment. Then he turned to his son and said:
I'll tell you how it happened. About two or three years ago there was a wild man came over here from the United States, one of those rip-roaring rough riders that you read about in dime novels, but he certainly did have about him a plausible air. I took him out and showed him our fleet. Then I showed him the army, and after he had looked them over he said to me, 'Bill, you could lick the world,' And I was damn fool enough to believe him.