CHAPTER XXIV LAWFUL COMBATANT OR PIRATE?
About 5 a.m. I was taken on deck. We were now at Milford Haven, on the south-west coast of England. A strong escort of Marines, which had been sent in all haste from Chatham, came to fetch us. A long, unpleasant journey by special train then followed. Our food during the eighteen hours' journey consisted of two slices of bread with a suggestion of butter. I could not discover where we were going. At various stations the people came to the carriage windows and shouted and spat at us, and the officer in charge of the escort angrily drew the curtains. The soldiers escorting us filled the passages of our two corridor carriages, and when asked where we were going I heard them repeatedly answer, 'To London. They are to be shot in the Tower!' This did not sound very hopeful.
After midnight on a pitch-dark night we arrived in Chatham. We could see nothing. All the lights were masked in consequence of a recent Zeppelin raid. Nothing could be heard but the rattle of rifles and bayonets. Now and then the silence was broken by a muffled word of command. We were then surrounded by a squad of Marines and marched through the dark streets to the barracks. We halted before a large building. My crew had been taken off in another direction, only the first and second mates remaining with me. We were taken up two flights of stairs.
All the proceedings had taken place in uncanny silence. Several cells were opened. The middle one was mine. I had hardly crossed the threshold when the door was again barred, and a heavy key turned in the lock. I was left to myself.
Early next morning I received a visit from an Admiral and his A.D.C. As a well-bred man and as the junior in rank, I saluted in curt military fashion. But this gentleman did not consider it necessary to return my salute, not even with his stick, as is the custom of most English officers. I therefore answered his questions so curtly and evasively that he soon left.
This day and the succeeding ones dragged heavily. I tried to while away the time with physical exercises, but as I could not go on for ever with these I was left most of the day to my reflections. Next night I chanced to overhear a conversation between two of my guards, who were standing directly opposite the peephole in my cell-door. They were speaking of an attack on Lowestoft by the German Fleet. To my joy, I gathered from their conversation that the English had suffered heavily.
Twenty times during the night a sentry came into my cell, in order to make sure that I had not hanged myself, and went out again with a loud rattle of keys. When I entered the cell my first thought was, 'How am I to get out of this?' But I was soon convinced that there was not the slightest possibility of escape. I had not even that most necessary of all tools, a knife. At meals (which were good and abundant) I was given only a spoon.
The most unpleasant feature of this captivity was that I had too much time to think about our ultimate fate. I had no idea what was happening outside, or what was to happen to my men and myself. I had discovered that the room on my right was occupied by the officer of the guard, and that on my left by the sergeant of the guard. Farther on, on each side, were the cells of the first and second mates. It was therefore impossible to communicate with them by tapping on the wall.
Next morning when I got up all my clothes had vanished, uniform, linen, shoes—in fact, everything I had taken off. I was just about to knock and ask the explanation when an English petty-officer appeared and explained to me that my things were still in the tailor's and shoemaker's shops, and that they were being sewn together again. He told me they had taken everything apart during the night and had discovered a large quantity of English, Norwegian, and Danish banknotes in our clothes. It would count against me that I had sewn my money in the lining. They had unfortunately found no secret documents, he added regretfully. This put all possibility of bribing our guards out of the question. It was what you might call very hard luck. As soon as I was dressed I was taken downstairs. The escort was already waiting to take us to the railway station. On the way to the station we were joined by my crew with another escort. I was glad to see that they were in good spirits. They had no idea yet what was on foot.