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“One of the details which have still to be thought out, I suppose, Biles,” he continued. “Don’t let it delay us at present. There is another point upon which I wish some information.”

The meeting was a curious study by this time. Almost without seeming to notice it, Nordenholt had driven the three Cabinet Ministers into a corner; and he now seemed to dominate them as though they were clerks who had been detected in scamping their work. Personality was telling in the contest, for contest it had now become.

“This news which I have given you implies that the twelve-weeks’ supply of food in the country is all that we have at our command anywhere. What do you propose to do?”

“We shall have to take stock and begin the issue of ration tickets as soon as possible.”

“Twelve-weeks’ supply; how long will that last the country under your arrangements?”

The Colonial Secretary made a rapid calculation on a sheet of paper.

“As we shall need to carry on till the next harvest, I suppose it means that the daily ration will have to be reduced to less than a quarter of the full amount—three-thirteenths, to be exact.”