The Great War Syndicate

American cruisers guard the fishing fleets on the Newfoundland banks, and trouble over the Maine schooner Eliza Drum brings the United States and Great Britain to war. The newspapers turn the news into a national blaze of anger, yet the Government knows how weak its navy is, and the seaboard cities cry out for ships fit to defend their harbours.

Twenty-three American capitalists then form a syndicate and offer a contract: they will take over the entire control and expense of the war and bring a satisfactory peace within one year, with an immense sum deposited in the Treasury as a guarantee. Their weapons are new machines, repellers armed with motor-bombs and armoured "crabs" that grip an enemy's rudder. When the great British ironclad Adamant arrives to break their blockade of a Canadian port, Crab K shrugs off shot dropped on her spring armour and snaps the Adamant's rudder in two.

At the end the Syndicate insists on finishing its contract and dealing with London itself, to the anger of politicians at home.