“You vas der first vun,” said the man, dully.
“I think we’ll survive our misfortune,” smiled Dalzell, grimly. “How many submarines have you served on?”
“None, in dis var,” was the answer.
“And you won’t serve in any more during this war,” rejoined Dan. “Don’t you fellows feel like criminals, firing on women and children, and committing wilful and useless murder all over the high seas?”
“Vat?” demanded the fellow, stupidly. “Vat?”
Dan had to repeat the question in two or three different forms before it sank in.
“Chermany got to vin by der var,” replied the seaman, with a shrug of his broad shoulders.
“Why don’t you win, then, by fair fighting?”
“Chermany got to vin der var,” the fellow replied, stolidly. “Der vay, it makes noddings.”
By which he meant that Germany must win, but that the means by which she won did not matter.