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in the Burgerbraukeller in Munich seven years ago. Lanny had said: "One must admit that he

is sincere," and Rick had replied: "So are most lunatics."

How long this would have continued no one could say. The housekeeper opened the door and

said: "Verzeihung, mein Führer. Herr Strasser." Behind her came, without delay, a large

man in S.A. uniform. He had large, rather coarse features, a somewhat bulbous nose, a

drooping mouth with deep lines at the sides. According to the practice with which Lanny was

familiar he should have halted in the doorway, clicked his heels, given the Nazi salute, and

said: "Heil Hitler!" Instead he came forward, remarking in a nonchalant way: "Grüß Gott,

Adolf." This meant that he was an old friend, and also that he came from Bavaria.

The visitors were greatly startled by the Führer's response, delivered with the force of a blow:

"You have not been conducting yourself as a friend, and therefore you have not been

summoned as a friend!" The speaker rose to his feet and, pointing an accusing finger at the new

arrival, went on: "Learn once for all, I have had enough of your insubordination! You

continue at your peril!" It set the big man back on his heels, and his large mouth dropped

open.

Would the Führer of the Nazis have attacked his subordinate in that abrupt and violent way if

he had not already got steamed up? Impossible to say; but the astonishment and dismay of Herr

Strasser were apparent. He opened his mouth as if to ask what was the matter, but then he

closed it again, for he got no chance. Hitler was launched upon a tirade; he rushed at the man

—not to strike him, but to thrust the accusing finger within a couple of inches of the big nose

and shriek:

"Your intrigues are known! Your insolence is resented! Your public utterances are

incitements to treason, and if you do not mend your ways you will be driven out. Go and join

your brother's Schwarze Front, and the other disguised Communists and scoundrels! I—I,

Adolf Hitler, am the Führer of the N.S.D.A.P., and it is for me to determine policies. I will not

have opposition, I will not have argument, I will have obedience. We are in the midst of a

war, and I demand loyalty, I demand discipline. "Zucht! Zucht! Zucht!" It is one of those many

German words which require a clearing of the throat, and the unfortunate Strasser flinched as

if from a rain of small particles of moisture.

"Adolf, who has been telling you stories about me?" He forced the sentence in while the

Führer caught his breath.

"I make it my business to know what is going on in my movement. Do you imagine that you

can go about expressing contempt for my policies without word of it coming to me?"

"Somebody has been lying, Adolf. I have said only what I have said to you: that now is the

time for action, and that our foes desire nothing but delay, so that they can weaken us by

their intrigues".

"They weaken us because of arrogance and self-will in my own party officials; because these

presumptuous ones dare to set themselves up as authorities and thinkers. I think for the

National Socialists, I—and I have ordered you to hold your tongue— Maul halten— and obey my

orders, follow my policies and not your own stupid notions. Your brother has turned himself

into a criminal and an outlaw because of that same arrogance"

"Leave Otto out of it, Adolf. You know that I have broken with him. I do not see him and have

no dealings with him."

"Ich geb' ' n Dreck d'rum!" cried Adolf; he spoke that kind of German. Talking to a Bavarian,

he added: "Das ist mir Sau-wurscht!"

He rushed on: "You stay in the party and carry on Otto's agitation in favor of discarded

policies. I am the captain of this ship, and it is not for the crew to tell me what to do, but to do

what I tell them. Once more, I demand unity in the face of our foes. Understand me, I

command it! I speak as your Führer!"

Lanny thought he had never seen a man so beside himself with excitement. Adolf Hitler's face

had become purple, he danced about as he talked, and every word was emphasized as with a

hammer blow of his finger. Lanny thought the two men would surely fight; but no, presently

he saw that the other was going to take it. Perhaps he had seen the same thing happen before,

and had learned to deal with it. He stopped arguing, stopped trying to protest; he simply stood

there and let his Führer rave, let the storm blow itself out— if it ever would blow itself out.

Would the ocean ever be the same after such a hurricane?

X

Lanny had learned much about the internal affairs of the Nazi party from the conversation of

Kurt and Heinrich. Also, during the summer he had been getting the German papers, and

these had been full of a furious party conflict over the question of the old program, which

Hitler had been paring down until now there was nothing left of it. Here in North Germany

many of the Nazis took the "Socialist" part of their label seriously; they insisted upon talking

about the communizing of department stores, the confiscation of landed estates, the ending of

interest slavery, common wealth before private wealth, and so on. It had caused a regular civil

war in the party earlier in the year. The two Strasser brothers, Gregor and Otto, had fought

for the old program and had been beaten.

Gregor had submitted, but Otto had quit the party and organized a revolutionary group of

his own, which the Hitlerites called the "Black Front" and which they were fighting with

bludgeons and revolvers, just as they fought the Communists. Later on, immediately before the

elections, there had been another attempt at internal revolution; the rebels had seized the offices of

the Berlin party paper, Der Angriff, holding it by force of arms and publishing the paper for

three days. A tremendous scandal, and one which the enemies of the movement had not failed

to exploit.

So here was Gregor Strasser, Reich Organization Leader Number 1. A lieutenant in the World

War, he had become an apothecary, but had given up his business in order to oppose the Reds

and then to help Adi prepare for the Beerhall Putsch. He was perhaps the most competent

organizer the party had, and had come to Berlin and built the Sturmabteilung by his efforts.

Hitler, distrusting him as too far to the left, had formed a new personal guard, the Schutz-

staffel, or S.S. So there were two rival armies inside the Nazi party of all Germany; which was

going to prevail?

Lanny wondered, had Hitler really lost his temper or was this merely a policy? Was this the

way Germans enforced obedience— the drill-sergeant technique? Apparently it was working,

for the big man's bull voice dropped low; he stood meekly and took his licking like a schoolboy

ordered to let down his pants. Lanny wondered also: why did the Führer permit a foreigner to

witness such a demonstration? Did he think it would impress an American? Did he love power

so much that it pleased him to exhibit it in the presence of strangers? Or did he feel so secure

in his mastery that he didn't care what anybody thought of him? This last appeared to be in

character with his procedure of putting his whole defiant program into a book and selling it to

anybody in the world who had twelve marks.

Lanny listened again to the whole story of Mein Kampf. He learned that Adolf Hitler meant

to outwit the world, but in his own good time and in his own way. He meant to suppress his land