PART TWO
A PRISONER ON A PASSENGER STEAMER
From New Guinea the Wolf steamed southwest through the Malay archipelago, then between Borneo and Java and Sumatra, thence through the Java sea; and on the night of September 6th the Wolf laid over one hundred mines across the Northwest approach to the entrance of the Singapore harbour.
Going up the Java sea, we were continually sighting vessels, and it was only the barefaced gall of the Wolf that saved her from destruction. Less than a month previous to this the Australian Government had sent wireless messages broadcast stating that there was a raider somewhere in the South Pacific or Indian Oceans, and giving a complete description of the Wolf. Yet here we were, steaming calmly along as if bound for Singapore, meeting many merchantmen, and at one time one of the officers said he could see the smoke from five torpedo boats steaming along in squadron section. When the Wolf would pass another vessel close to, she would usually have only a couple of men about the decks doing odd jobs of painting and repairing. I believe that it was the innocent appearance of the Wolf which led to her safety. She ignored all signals (which is characteristic of the merchantman).
The night before the Wolf mined Singapore harbour we had a narrow escape from being discovered. At 11:30 P.M., just as I was dozing off to sleep on my bed on the floor, I heard the call to stations and sprang up to see what it was all about. I looked out-of-doors and saw the two ship's surgeons passing aft, both with their first aid kits strapped to their waists. Slipping to the rail I saw that all four cannon were swung into position, clear for battle, and I could also see that both of the Wolf's torpedo tubes were protruding over the side. Just on the port bow was a small cruiser or battleship. From where I stood I could see her funnels and two masts, also the outline of her hull. She was travelling without lights, the same as we were.
I slipped back into my room, closed the door and switched on the light. I dressed my little girl while my wife got into her clothes. This did not take long as we always slept with our clothes in such a position that we could get into our "emergency outfit" in short order. Every moment while dressing I expected to hear and feel the crash of the Wolf's guns, but fortunately the other fellow didn't see us, and in a few minutes the signal was given to swing the guns in. The danger was past, but there was a mighty nervous crew of men on board the Wolf that night. On the other hand, it was perhaps just as well for the Japanese cruiser that he did not spot us, because the minute he had made any signal and given us any indication that he had seen us, the Wolf would have launched both torpedos and given him a broadside, and at that short range they could not have missed very well. Personally I was satisfied the way things turned out, as I did not like my chances of getting the family into a boat under the circumstances, neither did I have any wish to be present when the actual firing began. While counting my chances of getting the family safely into the boats, should an engagement ensue, I thought of just how much chance the poor devils down in the hell hole had of being saved. They would have been battened down and probably would have gone down with the vessel, should she have been sunk, without a fighting chance for their lives. Even if the German crew had released them at the last moment, what chance did they have of being saved? Under the most favourable circumstances the Wolf's equipment of life-boats and rafts was probably sufficient for only three hundred and fifty at the outside, and there was a total of about seven hundred on board. It would be only natural for the German crew to have the life-saving equipment themselves and our poor chaps would have been left to drown, there being no articles of an inflammable or floating description around her decks.
On the wall of my room was a typewritten notice over Commander Nerger's signature, stating that in event of the Wolf's engaging an enemy a boat would be lowered and the women, children and medicos would be placed in same, under my charge. This provided that there was sufficient time and the weather conditions favourable. I could imagine just about how many chances we had that there would be sufficient time to execute this manœuvre. However, this sign served the very good purpose of alleviating the women's anxieties to a certain extent. It is quite possible that this was the only reason this notice was given us. However, I am grateful for the part it played. The preceding was the tensest crisis in the Wolf's fifteen months' history. Commander Nerger sent down word to me afterwards that it was a Japanese man-of-war, and to keep the news from my wife if possible.
The next night, September 6th, the Wolf, which was primarily a minelayer and not a raider, laid ninety-eight mines at a distance of from seven and a half to ten miles off shore. The lights of Singapore were plainly visible from the port-hole. On this occasion I was locked in the room for about two hours, but it was not difficult to count the "eggs" as they were being laid, for the mines came up out of No. 3 hatch on an elevator and were conveyed aft to the "chute" on a small rail car which had a flat wheel, and I could hear it going along the deck "humpety-hump, humpety-hump." I estimated that it took about one hour and forty minutes to lay these ninety-eight mines.
From off Singapore we practically retraced our steps back through the Java sea and entered the Indian Ocean on October 9th, passing between the islands of Java and Canor. We then proceeded to the northward and westward until we arrived on the trade route running from Colombo to Delagoa Bay. Here Wolf cruised around slowly for a day or so, crossing and recrossing the route at regular intervals. While lying here waiting for the prey, the wireless man told me he could hear several cruisers working their wireless and that there was one British cruiser patrolling the Straits of Malacca, one at Bombay, two lying in the harbour of Colombo—the Venus and the Vulcan, I believe—and another at a naval station in the Mauritius Islands. All this time the bird, i.e., the Wolf's hydroplane, had been down below in the hole undergoing general repairs from an accident she had had, which nearly ended her activities and drowned both of the operators.
Some two weeks previous, while she was rising from the water and at a height of about sixty metres, something suddenly went wrong with the balancing mechanism and the plane made a dive for the sea, which she hit at a terrific speed; the back wings and the pontoons or boats were completely demolished. The mechanic and the observing lieutenant were catapulted into the sea and had much difficulty in swimming back to the wreck, which had the appearance of a gigantic bird sitting on its nose with its tail standing up in the air. It reminded me of an ostrich with its head buried in the sand. The bonnet around the engine and mechanic's seat, in all seaplanes of this description, is watertight, so that in case of an accident of this kind the weight of the engine will not cause it to sink. However, in this case, one of the struts supporting the pontoons had caused this watertight bonnet to leak and, although both operators baled for dear life, the water gained on them steadily. When the rescuing launch finally arrived alongside the machine it was just on the verge of sinking. The crew of the launch tied the machine to the launch with ropes in such a manner that it could not sink and the whole outfit was hoisted on board the Wolf. All six cylinders of the engine were cracked and the "bird" appeared a total wreck. However, the "aeroplane" squad set to work and repaired the planes and put spare cylinders on the engine; and in a few days she was ready for duty again. The crew of the plane apparently were none the worse for their mishap.
One day one of the officers told me that probably in a few days they would pick up a nice fat steamer with plenty of food on board. On the morning of October 26th, immediately after breakfast, I noticed that they were getting the "bird" on deck and assembling it. I asked one of the officers whether there was "something doing" and he said: "If we have any luck after lunch we shall have fresh meat for supper." About 11 A.M. the "bird" was finished and the engine warmed up. Suddenly somebody shouted, and everybody got his binoculars and looked astern of us, and, sure enough, a faint outline of smoke could be seen on the horizon. The hydroplane went up and in half an hour came back and reported a large steamer approaching. Commander Nerger shaped his course so as to meet this steamer but still give him the impression that we were en route from the Cape to Colombo. At 3:05 P.M. the steamer was right abreast, She was a fine big Class A Japanese passenger steamer, deeply loaded, and I could see passengers on her saloon deck. At 3:07 P.M. the Wolf broke out the Imperial Navy flag and signalled for the Hitachi Maru to stop and not use her wireless, also dropped a shot across the Hitachi's bow. When the Hitachi failed to stop, the Wolf fired another shot closer to her bow.
The Jap concluded to run for it and started in to work his wireless, also swung his ship into such a position as to bring his gun for submarine defence, 4.7 quick firer, into action. Meantime the Wolf had opened fire on her in deadly earnest. One six-inch shell from the after gun struck the Hitachi and exploded just under her gun where the gun crew was working, killing six Japs and blowing the balance into the water. I saw one Jap in particular hoisted high into the air above the smoke of the explosion, and he was spinning around like a pin-wheel. Another shot from the after gun put the gun on the Hitachi out of commission altogether, and killed another man. In the meantime from forward the Wolf had succeeded in putting a 4.5 shell through the wireless room, where the operator was working. This shell came through one side of the room, passed between the operator and his "set," cutting one of his aerial leads in two, and passed out through the opposite side of the room, decapitating a man standing outside. This shell eventually hit a ventilator shaft, ripped it to pieces and knocked a man down in the engine room so hard that he afterwards died of internal injuries. There were several more hits, one on the water line in No. 4 hatch, two more in the stern, and one in the wheelhouse on the bridge. About this time the flying machine came along and tried to drop a bomb on deck forward but missed, the bomb exploding when it hit the water just ahead.
The cannonading, while it lasted, was very severe, there being something over forty shots fired in as short a time as possible. Of these shots only nine were direct hits. I must add that the first possible twenty of these shots were directed in such a manner as to hit (if they did) the vessel in such a position as not to sink or permanently disable her; but towards the last, when it became evident that the Jap was trying to make her getaway, the shooting was in deadly earnest. Several broadsides were fired, which I think did more damage to the Wolf than to the Hitachi Maru, as the air concussion stove in the doors and glass ports on all the staterooms on the berth deck. In several of the rooms the wash basins and plumbing were broken. I was standing in my open doorway with one foot on the threshold in such a manner that half of my foot protruded outside the line of the wall. When the first broadside was fired the concussion or rush of air passing my doorway, hit the part of my foot outside the door, feeling just exactly as if somebody had kicked it away or hit it with a baseball bat. Something went wrong with the six-inch gun mounted on the stern of the Wolf and a shell exploded a few yards away from the muzzle, putting the gun crew and gun out of commission for the balance of the voyage.
The prisoners who were confined directly below this gun said that the shock and concussion down below was dreadful during the firing, and that when the shell exploded they thought the Wolf had been hit. At this time they did not know but that the Wolf had met a cruiser and many thought they were about to be drowned, especially when suddenly all firing ceased; they thought that the Wolf had been vitally hit and that the Germans had scuttled her and were abandoning her. Many of these men will remember this experience for the balance of their lives.
By this time the Japanese captain had decided that he did not have a chance, and stopped his vessel, while the Wolf sent the prize crew on board. In the meantime the passengers and crew had managed to get clear in the life-boats, which were picked up. The people were taken on board the Wolf. There were some 70 odd passengers, 1st and 2nd class, among them 6 women and one little black girl. They were a sorry looking sight as they climbed on board the Wolf; many of them were only half dressed, being just awakened from their afternoon nap by the cannonading. Over a hundred of the Japanese crew came along with the passengers. The Wolf could not accommodate such a large addition of prisoners without making new quarters for them, so they had to live and sleep on deck for the first three days, when they were transferred back to the Hitachi. The Hitachi had altogether 16 killed or mortally wounded. The Wolf incidentally lost its fresh meat for supper, because one shell had wrecked the refrigerator plant and spoiled all the fowl and fresh meat.
One of the passengers on the Hitachi Maru, an American chap hailing from Chicago, told me his experience.
When the Wolf was first sighted he was in bed reading; someone told him that they were going to pass a steamer, and he got up and dressed and went on deck to watch her. There was speculation regarding her nationality among those watching although none of them imagined her anything but what she seemed—an ordinary tramp. When she dropped her ports and fired across their bow, everybody for a moment was dumbfounded.
He ran into the cabin giving the alarm to those sleeping and secured some valuable papers he had in his cabin. The Jap crew were in a panic after seeing their gun crew killed, and many of them rushed the boats. The first boat to be lowered was filled with members of the Japanese crew, only one second class passenger being among them. On landing in the water this boat was capsized; but the occupants were shortly picked up by a boat, also manned by Japs.
The first boat to be launched with passengers in it was handled entirely by the white passengers. In this boat were four women and twenty-eight men; on being lowered the davit fall on one end fouled; and it looked very much as if everybody were going to slide out, as the boat was nearly perpendicular. Fortunately for all concerned, the fouled davit fall broke, and the boat dropped into the water. A lot of water was shipped but the boat floated right side up. The men immediately pulled away from the vicinity of the vessel. It was the firm belief of the occupants of this boat that they were to be shelled later on by the Raider.
One of the lady passengers during the excitement lost a lot of jewels. Some days later a German sailor clearing out one of the life-boats found these jewels. He came down the deck to where there were several of the passengers standing and asked: "Does anybody belong to these things?" He held out for their inspection a handful of diamonds, rubies, pearls and other valuable articles. Needless to say, he had no difficulty in finding an owner. This sailor earned 18 marks per month and the value of the find was in the neighbourhood of ten thousand dollars. I wonder how many men, under the circumstances, would have returned these jewels.
The Wolf and the Hitachi now steamed to the southernmost group of the Maldive Islands, arriving there on September 27th. The vessels tied up alongside of each other and coal and cargo were transferred from the Hitachi to the Wolf. The cargo of the Hitachi Maru was valued at over a million and a half pounds sterling, chiefly copper, tin, rubber, thousands of tons of silk, tea and hides. It always seemed uncanny to me that these "deep-sea vultures" seemed to be able to capture a vessel loaded with any particular kind of cargo they wanted. About a month before this capture, I heard the officers talking among themselves and one of them remarked, "Now the next ship we get should be loaded with copper and rubber and tin." Sure enough the Hitachi had what they wanted.
It seemed a pity to me to see the thousands of bales of silk goods, ladies' blouses and silk kimonos being dumped from one hold to another and trampled on. When the Hitachi was finally sunk there were a couple of thousand tons of expensive Japanese lingerie and other ladies' wear and miscellaneous department store merchandise sunk with her. The mermaids must have had "some" bargain sale.
It was the intention of Nerger to pick up, if possible, a vessel that could furnish him with enough coal to take both the Hitachi and Wolf back to Germany. At this time there was a lot of talk about landing us on one of the islands where there were missionaries. However, none of us took any stock in this "landing talk," as it was too apparent what their intentions were.
It was here that the married folks with their wives along, sent a written petition to the Commander of the Wolf, begging to be given one of the Hitachi life-boats and a supply of provisions, so that on the eve of the Wolf's departure for parts unknown, we could make our way to one of these islands and there await the arrival of some trading schooner to take us to civilisation again. Nerger sent word back that he could not do that, and repeated the same old "bull" about landing us in some safe place, some time. Lord, he must have thought we were a bunch of "gillies" to believe that guff.
On October 1st we were transferred from the Wolf to the Hitachi along with all the rest of the "top side" prisoners. Our quarters on the Hitachi were splendid. We fell heir to the bridal suite. It seemed mighty good to sit down at a regular table with a white cloth and napkins again. I shall never forget my feelings as we sat there for the first meal, waiting for the whitecoated Jap waiter to bring on the food. I could feel myself getting up from the table with that satisfied, contented feeling amidships. Soon the waiter came and set before us each a plate containing two ordinary soda crackers or ships' biscuits, with a poor lonely god-forsaken sardine stranded on the top. This, and a cup of the regulation "near" coffee comprised our first evening meal on the Hitachi Maru. For the following morning's breakfast we had porridge with kerosene spilt on it. Absolutely uneatable. For dinner, rotten meat with good potatoes, water—or soda water, if you had money to buy it with—and in the evening canned crab and crackers. In the meantime our commander, Lieutenant Rose, was having a banquet in his room with his brother officers on the Wolf.
On the Hitachi it was noticed that Rose very seldom made his appearance in the dining room at mealtimes. Quite frequently at meals one of the Australian passengers who belonged to Lieut. Rose's bridge-playing clique, would send a card up to his room asking if it were not possible to have an extra slice of bread or a cracker. The answer would come back: "Sure, boys, just ask the steward." But on asking the Jap steward he would only smile and say: "Velly sorry, but Captain write his name each day on paper that speaks how much you eat." This was the fact, as I have seen the paper.
The German chief engineer and chief mate used to eat at the same table as we did, and used to complain of the food as being inadequate; and one night the chief engineer took the matter up with Rose and told him a few truths. Rose said that it was "too bad," that he did not know anything about it before but now he would straighten it up. The engineer told Rose that if he cut out a lot of his private champagne suppers and looked into what the rest of us were getting it would not be necessary to make these complaints.
This is a condition that could not exist on the Wolf because there we were under the charge of a gentleman and an officer and we got square treatment, but on the Hitachi and later on the Igotz Mendi we were under a sub-lieutenant, a snob and a man who did not know the meaning of the word gentleman. In my opinion it is this class of "under officer" that gives the Germans the unenviable reputation that they have.
My wife at this time was convalescing rapidly and regaining her strength; and it was of the utmost importance that she be provided with sufficient food. Luckily I was able to purchase from one of the stewards a couple of large cans of biscuits, some preserved ginger and an occasional piece of cheese. This helped out a whole lot, although even at that she was under-nourished. Little Juanita did not fare so badly as she was given as much as her elders, and being only a child did not require so much as they.
At this time it was possible to purchase stout on the Hitachi, which was a Godsend to us. A few days after coming on board, when ordering stout, I was told that it had all gone. On making inquiries afterwards I found out that Lieut. Rose had stopped its sale and was reserving it along with all the beer and wine for his own use, and for the use of his particular friends, who were all able-bodied persons. There were three women, in addition to my wife, who actually needed something of this description.
The Jap stewards on board were being paid their regular wages by the German Government, but as their Captain was a prisoner on board the Wolf, and they were away from his authority, they paid absolutely no heed to any of the prisoners' needs, merely contenting themselves with keeping the Lieutenant well supplied with booze and anything else he wanted. Afterwards Rose told me that the service of the Japs on the Hitachi was splendid. I told him that it was rotten and told him why; Rose merely pulled that Prussian smile of his and said: "What do you expect? You're not first class passengers, you know." To this I agreed and told him all I wanted was an even break with the rest of the prisoners, or "ex-passengers," as he used to call us. There were some sixty of us occupying the first class cabins, among whom were many of the original passengers of the Hitachi. We were, with one or two exceptions, all young people, and despite the short rations we had and the rough experience we'd undergone, we managed to have some very enjoyable times, playing deck billiards, quoits, cricket and various card games. In the dining saloon was a piano. Some of the Australian chaps were great mimics and had good voices, so we had some very enjoyable evenings. The last night we were on the Hitachi, in particular, the Japs came to life and were almost human. One of them unlocked a large closet that was filled with masks, costumes, false beards, hair, etc., which were used for amateur theatricals. We all dressed up as various characters, and we had a regular variety show. Among the offerings were clog dancing, sword dancing, highland fling, the good old cake walk, and the Texas Tommy. The last number was what we called the "Hitachi Rag" and was danced by everybody. It consisted of the regulation "rag" varied by every conceivable step, including high and lofty tumbling. All during the performance the German sailors on the Hitachi were peering in through the portholes and lining the alley ways and steps, enjoying the show almost as much as the rest of us. But this "Hitachi Rag" was more than the disciplined Teutons could stand. First two of them tried it, and in a few minutes all the Germans were dancing. The news spread to the Wolf and there was a general stampede of Teuton guards and sailors, in our direction. For a few minutes we had full charge of the ship, as the Teutons wouldn't stop when their petty officers called them. Shortly afterwards the Chief Officer appeared and made us all stop, saying that it was the Commander's orders, and that we were "stopping the work of the ship"—to say nothing of undermining German discipline.
On the Hitachi, many of us lost things out of our rooms, such as razors, a camera, combs and various toilet articles and articles of clothing. One day, one of the British chaps caught a Jap steward in his room using his safety razor. As this particular Jap had pimples and sores all over his face, the British ally and owner of the razor was very hostile. I asked him what he was going to do about it. "I shall report the bally rotter to the management," the Briton replied. Not being used to such violent outbursts of emotion I beat it.
All the time that we were lying here among the Maldive Islands, 12 days in all, transferring cargo, the flying machine made regular observation trips twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. On three different occasions it reported seeing steamers passing not more than 50 or 60 miles off, and once it reported seeing a fast cruiser, probably British, travelling along at full speed. This island where we were lying was only 50 or 60 miles off the regular trade route and I had hopes that some patrolling vessel would blunder on to us, but no such luck; although one night our hopes were raised to a great height.
Just shortly after sunset, my wife imagined that she saw something on the Western horizon. I got my glasses and concealing myself so that I could not be discovered I had a look. I, too, could see something, but at that time could not make it out; although in another ten minutes I had another look and sure enough it was bigger and plainer. Shortly after, it was discovered by the Germans, and an alarm sounded. Everybody was thrown into great excitement, and the lines tying the Wolf and the Hitachi together were let go. All of us prisoners ran to our rooms and got our "emergency kits" ready.
Just across the hall from our "Bridal suite" there was tremendous confusion. A corpulent British technical mining expert was rushing about his room in a perfect frenzy, looking for a heavy blue sweater he had carefully hung on a peg against just such an emergency as this;—of course, manlike, he blamed his wife for having mislaid it (my wife contributes this slam gratis.) However, after a few minutes' search, one of them discovered that the sweater was just where it belonged—on the man's back. I met "Father" Cross,—a veritable giant of a man and the greatest authority on Chinese dialects in the country,—shouting in a great, roaring voice: "Bar steward! Bar steward! bring me a bottle of whiskey, quick!" I could hear him mumbling: "You don't get me into a life-boat without a bottle of something to keep me warm." This same man lost his trousers while climbing out of the life-boat onto the Wolf when the Hitachi was first captured. Somebody sent him a package a few days afterwards containing an old pair of suspenders, and I think that "Father" would have murdered the sender if he could have found out who it was. I have often regretted that the sender did not enclose Lieut. Rose's calling card.
Just about the time I reached the deck there was an order given from the bridge of the Wolf in a very disgusted voice, which was shortly followed by a very choice assortment of cuss words, some of which were in English. I looked to the Westward and saw that our rescuing cruiser was only a cloud, and at that time was about five degrees up from the horizon. Later on I kidded some of the German Officers about it, and they each passed the blame on to somebody else; but just as this cloud had fooled me it had fooled them as well. "Father" Cross, however, averred that he knew what it was all the time, and that it was only a "sandy" on his part to get an extra bottle of whiskey.
On October 7th both ships sailed from the Maldive Islands, the Wolf going in search of a vessel loaded with coal, so that both Wolf and Hitachi could fill their bunkers with coal which would enable them to get "home" to Germany. We on the Hitachi loafed along at a slow speed in a southwesterly direction, meeting the Wolf again on the 19th, when we both steamed to the Chagos Archipelago, arriving there on October 20th, when we both tied up together and dropped anchor. During this time the Wolf had not been able to pick up a vessel, but the "bird" came back one day from an observation trip and reported a large steamer some 180 miles distant; later in the day she again went up and reported this steamer to be a big B.B. Liner of about 16,000 tons, and that she was equipped with 4 or 5 big guns. Needless to say, the Wolf wasn't looking for anything that could bite back, so the Commander decided to pass her up, and, returning to the Chagos group, take the balance of the Hitachi's coal and provisions on board the Wolf and sink the Hitachi, relying on getting another steamer in the Atlantic to furnish him with enough coal to complete his voyage.
It was during this cruise that Mr. Johnson, Second Officer on my vessel, died on board the Wolf from heart trouble (so they reported to me). The Germans gave him a burial at sea with full naval honours, Capt. Oleson, of the American schooner Encore, reading the burial service, the Commander and his officers standing by in full dress uniforms. The corpse was covered with an American flag and launched overboard from under the muzzle of one of the cannon.
THE BURIAL OF A. JOHNSON, SECOND OFFICER OF THE AMERICAN BARK "BELUGA," WHO DIED ON THE "WOLF".
Before shifting all the prisoners from the Hitachi to the Wolf, some arrangement for accommodation had to be made. The Germans cleaned out and fitted up No. 3 hold between decks for the ex-passengers of the Hitachi and also for the Japanese crew, a total of 170 odd persons. Iron berths were taken from the Hitachi along with washstands and other furnishings; and one corner of this "Glory Hole" was set aside for the whites and the fittings installed there. The Japs had wooden bunks built in the opposite corner for them, and rough wooden tables were knocked together for all hands to eat from and to play cards on. Also one of the pianos from the Hitachi was installed there—to the best of my knowledge this piano was never played, and my chief mate, Mr. Buckard, who was quartered there, used the top of the piano to keep his clothes in, while the cover of the keyboard was used as a kind of mantelpiece or shelf by all hands.
The whole place below was lighted by three clusters of electric light, at night, and three fans were installed and the whole given a coating of white paint. The ventilation down below was very poor, and it was tough on the white men being forced to breathe this air as it was full of all kinds of oriental odours, and no doubt also oriental germs. A couple of armed sentinels were on guard below, continually, and also four on deck in the immediate vicinity of the hatch, at such times when the German crew were not at their almost continual gun drill and practice; at which times all hands were chased below, as also on the appearance of any vessel. The greatest hardship these men had to contend with was the lack of drinking water, as there seemed to be an unequal division of it between the Japs and the whites, with the latter getting the worst of it.
Immense quantities of iron piping and pipe fittings were taken from the Hitachi to be used later in fitting the prisoners' quarters under the poop and in No. 3 hatch, with heaters against the cold weather that was to be encountered before they finally reached Germany.
Auction bridge, poker and a German game called "Mussel" were the favourite card games and the stakes were very small; one pfennig ante and five pf. limit. Considering that it takes 100 pfennigs to make 25 cents, nobody won or lost a fortune, although on several occasions diplomatic relations were temporarily severed between some of the players. It was laughable, for instance, to hear an Australian chap named McEnally, who is very well off, owning plantations and big manufacturing concerns, squabbling over who would shy a penny in the pot. Taking it all in all, these men, amongst whom were some splendid fellows, adapted themselves to conditions as only the Britisher and the American can.