B. Macdonald Hastings

“ H. G. Wells was missing. An anxious search revealed the fact that the ornamental sword and plumed casque of the Military Member of the Invasion Committee of the Thorpe-le-Soken Division of Essex had disappeared at the same time, and the meeting broke up in disorder. ”

“ They had all heard about the War from their publishers, and there had been one or two suggestive allusions in The Author. The question of the moment was "How can we help?" The chairman was the President of the Society of Authors, who knew everybody by sight.
The first to rise was Mr. Harold Begbie, but he failed to catch the Chairman's eye, which had been secured by Mr. H. G. Wells. This well-known strategist rose to point out that what England wanted in the event of an invasion was the man, the gun and the trench. When he said man he meant an adult male of the human species. ”