{"product_id":"2940013083622","title":"DANGER! AND OTHER STORIES","description":"I.  DANGER! {1}\u003cbr\u003eBEING THE LOG OF CAPTAIN JOHN SIRIUS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is an amazing thing that the English, who have the reputation of being\u003cbr\u003ea practical nation, never saw the danger to which they were exposed.  For\u003cbr\u003emany years they had been spending nearly a hundred millions a year upon\u003cbr\u003etheir army and their fleet.  Squadrons of Dreadnoughts costing two\u003cbr\u003emillions each had been launched.  They had spent enormous sums upon\u003cbr\u003ecruisers, and both their torpedo and their submarine squadrons were\u003cbr\u003eexceptionally strong.  They were also by no means weak in their aerial\u003cbr\u003epower, especially in the matter of seaplanes.  Besides all this, their\u003cbr\u003earmy was very efficient, in spite of its limited numbers, and it was the\u003cbr\u003emost expensive in Europe.  Yet when the day of trial came, all this\u003cbr\u003eimposing force was of no use whatever, and might as well have not\u003cbr\u003eexisted.  Their ruin could not have been more complete or more rapid if\u003cbr\u003ethey had not possessed an ironclad or a regiment.  And all this was\u003cbr\u003eaccomplished by me, Captain John Sirius, belonging to the navy of one of\u003cbr\u003ethe smallest Powers in Europe, and having under my command a flotilla of\u003cbr\u003eeight vessels, the collective cost of which was eighteen hundred thousand\u003cbr\u003epounds.  No one has a better right to tell the story than I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI will not trouble you about the dispute concerning the Colonial\u003cbr\u003efrontier, embittered, as it was, by the subsequent death of the two\u003cbr\u003emissionaries.  A naval officer has nothing to do with politics.  I only\u003cbr\u003ecame upon the scene after the ultimatum had been actually received.\u003cbr\u003eAdmiral Horli had been summoned to the Presence, and he asked that I\u003cbr\u003eshould be allowed to accompany him, because he happened to know that I\u003cbr\u003ehad some clear ideas as to the weak points of England, and also some\u003cbr\u003eschemes as to how to take advantage of them.  There were only four of us\u003cbr\u003epresent at this meeting--the King, the Foreign Secretary, Admiral Horli,\u003cbr\u003eand myself.  The time allowed by the ultimatum expired in forty-eight\u003cbr\u003ehours.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079178961136,"sku":"2940013083622","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013083622_p0.jpg?v=1763576158","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013083622","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}