Upton Sinclair - Dragons’s teeth

"Wer spricht?" inquired Lanny.

"Pressmann."

"Wer ist Pressmann?"

"Reichsbetriebszellenabteilung Gruppenführerstelhertreter." The Germans carry such titles proudly and say them rapidly.

"What are you doing on board the yacht?"

"Auskmift untersagt," replied the voice. Information forbidden!

"But the yacht was supposed to sail yesterday!"

"Auskunft untersagt."

"Aber, bitte—"

"Leider, nicbt erlaubt"—and that was all. "Sorry, not permitted!" The receiver clicked, and Lanny, aghast, listened on a dead wire.

"My God!" he exclaimed. "Can the Nazis have seized the Bessie Budd?" Hansi went white and Bess dug her nails into the palms of her hands. "Why would they do that!" she exclaimed.

"I don’t know," answered Lanny, "unless one of them wanted a yacht."

"They have arrested Papa!" whispered Hansi. He looked as if he was about to keel over, and Bess caught him by the shoulders. "Oh, Hansi! Poor Hansi!" It was characteristic that she thought of him. He was the one who would suffer most!

It was as if a bolt of lightning had fallen from the sky and blasted their plans, turned their pleasures into a nightmare of suffering. Utter ruin, doom without escape—that was the way it appeared, and none could think of anything to say to comfort the others. More than thirty-six hours had passed since the scheduled sailing, and was it conceivable that Johannes would have delayed that length of time to get word to his friends? If any member of the family was at liberty, would that person have failed to communicate?

Just one other possibility: they might have been "tipped off" and have made their escape. They might be on their way out of Germany; or they might be hiding somewhere, not daring to wire. In the latter case they would use the method which they had already resorted to, of an unsigned letter. If such a letter was on the way it was to be expected in the morning.

"I’ll try Berlin," said Lanny. Anything to break that dreadful spell of inaction! He put in a call for the Robin palace, and when he got the connection, an unfamiliar voice answered. Lanny asked if Johannes Robin was there, and the stranger tried to find out who was calling; when Lanny gave his name, the other started to put him through a questioning as to his reasons for calling. When Lanny insisted upon knowing to whom he was talking, the speaker abruptly hung up. And that again could mean only one thing: the Nazis had seized the palace!

"I must go and help Papa!" exclaimed Hansi, and started up as if to run to the station right away, or perhaps to the airplane field if there was one. Lanny and Bess caught him at the same moment. "Sit down," commanded the brother-in-law, "and be sensible. There’s not a thing you can do in Germany but get yourself killed."

"I certainly must try, Lanny."

"You certainly must not! There’s nobody they would better like to get hold of."

"I will go under another name."

"With false passports? You who have played on so many concert stages? Our enemies have brains, Hansi, and we have to show that we have some, too."

"He is right," put in Bess. "Whatever is to be done, I’m the one to do it."

Lanny turned upon her. "They know you almost as well as Hansi, and they will be looking for you."

"They won’t dare do anything to an American."

"They’ve been doing it pretty freely. And besides, you’re not an American, you’re the wife of a German citizen, and that makes you one." All four of the Robins had made themselves citizens of the Weimar Republic, because they believed in it and planned to live their lives there. "So that’s out," declared Lanny. "You both have to give me your word of honor not to enter Germany, and not to come anywhere near the border, where they might kidnap you. Then Irma and I will go in and see what we can find out."

"Oh, will you do it, Lanny?" Hansi looked at his brother-in-law with the grateful eyes of a dog.

"I promise for myself. I’m guessing that Irma will go along, but of course I’ll have to ask her."

Irma was in her room resting, and he went to her alone. He couldn’t be sure how she would take this appalling news, and he wanted to give her a chance to make up her mind before it was revealed to anybody else. Irma was no reformer and no saint; she was a young woman who had always had her own way and had taken it for granted that the world existed to give it to her. Now fate was dealing her a nasty blow.

She sat staring at her husband in consternation; she really couldn’t bring herself to realize that such a thing could happen in this comfortable civilized world, created for her and her kind. "Lanny, they can’t do that!"

"They do what they see fit, dear."

"But it ruins our cruise! It leaves us stranded!"

"They probably have our friends in prison somewhere; and they may be beating and abusing them."

"Lanny, how perfectly unspeakable!"

"Yes, but that won’t stop it. We have to figure out some way to save them."

"What can we do?"

"I don’t know yet. I’ll have to go to Berlin and see what has happened."

"Lanny, you can’t go into that dreadful country!"

"I can’t refuse, dear. Don’t forget, we have been Johannes’s guests; we were going to be his guests another whole year. How could we throw him down?"

She didn’t know what to say; she could only sit staring at him. She had never thought that life could play such a trick upon her and her chosen playmate. It was outrageous, insane! Lanny saw her lips trembling; he had never seen her that way before, and perhaps she had never been that way before.

For that matter, he didn’t like it any too well himself. But it was as if fate had got him by the collar, and he knew he couldn’t pull loose. "Get yourself together, darling," he said. "Remember, Johannes is Hansi’s father, and Hansi is my sister’s husband. I can’t let them see that I’m yellow."

"But Lanny, what on earth can you do? Those Nazis control everything in Germany."

"We know some influential people there, and I’ll ask their advice.

The first thing, of course, is to find out what has happened, and why."

"Lanny, you’ll be in frightful danger!"

"Not too great, I think. The high-ups don’t want any scandals involving foreigners, I feel sure."

"What do you expect me to do? Go with you?"

"Well, it’s not a holiday. You might prefer to go to Bienvenu with Baby. You could have your mother come; or you could take Baby and visit her."

"I wouldn’t have a moment’s peace, thinking you might be in trouble. I haven’t the least idea what I could do, but I think I ought to be with you."

"I have no doubt there’ll be ways to help. The fact that you have money impresses the Germans—and that includes the Nazis."

"Oh, Lanny, it’s a horrid nuisance and a disappointment! I thought we were going to have such fun!"

"Yes, dear, but don’t let Hansi or Bess hear you say that. Remember what it means to them."

"They should have thought of this long ago. But they wouldn’t let anybody tell them. Now they see the results of their behavior— and we are expected to pay for it!"

"Dear, there’s no reason to suppose that they have been the cause of the trouble."

"There must be some reason why Johannes is picked on, and not other rich Jews. The fact that one of his sons is a Communist and the other a Socialist certainly must have made him enemies."

Lanny couldn’t deny that this was so; but he said: "Please don’t mention it now, while Hansi and Bess are half beside themselves with grief. Let’s go and get their family out, and then we’ll be in position to talk to them straight."

"Yes, but you won’t!" said Irma, grimly. She would go with him into the lion’s den, but she wouldn’t pretend that she liked it! And when it was over, she would do the talking herself.