"It was possible. Were there any signs of one of our incomparable submarines about?"
"We saw one several hours later."
"Then it is certain that your 'Heracles' was sunk," declared the German joyously. Already he had decided to report that a party of English Seamen, the sole survivors of a torpedoed cruiser, had been rescued by a division of the High Seas Fleet. He could imagine the intense enthusiasm in Berlin at the news.
He plied Tressidar with questions to elicit the information as to the exact position where the engagement started, but beyond the vague statement that it was somewhere in the North Sea, the sub. refrained from giving further details.
"The fellow is obstinate," remarked the unter-leutnant to his superior. "Why not lock him up in the fo'c'sle with his men?"
"He is an officer, von Möber," said the lieutenant-commander. "He is entitled to a certain amount of consideration."
"If I had my way I'd make it hot for this Pig of an Englishman, officer or no officer," declared von Möber.
"You are over-zealous," said his superior. "These Englishmen treat our men who fall into their hands in a proper manner."
"Because they fear reprisals," added the unter-leutnant. "Once they began to ill-treat the crew of one of our lost submarines, but we soon frightened them into better manners. That shows how the English fear the German arms."
The young German firmly believed what he said. Like hundreds of his fellow-countrymen, he regarded the considerate treatment of Huns held as prisoners in England as a sign of weakness, while, on the other hand, severity towards British captives was looked upon as a testimony to the certainty of success to the German arms. Leniency to prisoners and to interned Germans in England, instead of raising a spark of gratitude in the minds of the kultured Huns, was accepted as a token of moral weakness on the part of the strafed Englishmen.