"I was on your trail here, Count, but I lost you near New Zealand."
"I am sorry to say, Admiral, that my ship was never within six thousand miles of those waters."
"But," he responded, "the ships you sank in the Pacific were all to or from Australia."
"I know, but—" A little judicious hesitation.
"But where were you, Count? Tell me."
"I cruised back and forth south of the Hawaiian Islands over the waters where the Australia-San Francisco ships, the eastbound and westbound, pass." There is nothing like the truth.
"You are right, Count. I should have thought of it."
"I am glad you didn't," I replied, "or you would have captured me."
He dropped the questioning for a while and asked me about the Battle of Jutland, which always seems to interest Japanese naval men tremendously. When I said I had been through the battle, they made me tell them every detail I could remember. They were interested in everything. The admiral's comment on what I told him was interesting.
"Another proof," he exclaimed, "that the smaller fleet was superior per ship to the larger."