No one could
say he travelled across the Atlantic Ocean in war days for pleasure,
and no one did.
Once ashore, the party began a series of inspections of munition
plants, ship-yards, aeroplane factories and of meetings with the
different members of the English War Cabinet. Luncheons and dinners
were the order of each day until broken by a journey to Edinburgh to
see the amazing Great Fleet, with the addition of six of the foremost
fighting machines of the United States Navy, all straining like dogs at
leash, awaiting an expected dash from the bottled-up German fleet. It
was a formidable sight, perhaps never equalled: those lines of huge,
menacing, and yet protecting fighting machines stretching down the
river for miles, all conveying the single thought of the power and
extent of the British Navy and its formidable character as a fighting
unit.
[Illustration: Where Edward Bok is happiest: in his garden.]
It was upon his return to London that Bok learned, through the
confidence of a member of the British "inner circle," the amazing news
that the war was practically over: that Bulgaria had capitulated and
was suing for peace; that two of the Central Power provinces had
indicated their strong desire that the war should end; and that the
first peace intimations had gone to the President of the United States.
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