At the same time his replies were guarded and as inaccurate as they could possibly be without running the risk of betraying the fact. To make a statement that was absolutely inconsistent with details which his inquisitors knew already would be asking for additional trouble.
The interview, having lasted for nearly forty minutes, was followed by a medical examination of a perfunctory nature. So long as the prisoners were not suffering from any disease that might be a source of danger to the garrison, nothing else mattered from the authorities' point of view. The captives might die of starvation without raising a spark of compassion in the minds of the kultured Huns.
"Now," thought the sub., who by this time was shivering with cold, "I suppose they'll let me dress."
They did—but not in the manner he expected, for at an order from the governor, one of the soldiers kicked Tressidar's uniform into a corner of the room, while another emptied a small canvas sack full of dirty and badly worn clothes on the floor at the prisoner's feet.
With feelings of repugnance Tressidar dressed. The trousers were parti-coloured, a half being made from a French soldier's baggy red pair, the other part being of pale blue and indescribably greasy. The coat was a sort of civilian's lounge jacket, of dark grey, with a diamond-shaped patch of scarlet let into the back. It was impossible to cut the distinctive mark away without leaving a corresponding opening in the coat. Wooden-soled shoes with canvas uppers and a flat-topped cap completed his grotesque outfit.
Preceded and followed by his guards, Tressidar was led along a number of stone corridors, separated by metal doors. The cryptic writings on several massive doors opening out of the passages left little doubt in the sub.'s mind as to the uses to which the building was devoted. With typical Teutonic cunning the Germans were using the same roof to shelter explosives and prisoners, regarding the presence of the latter as a shield to guard their warlike stores from the unwelcome attentions of British airmen.
Presently the sub. found himself confronted by a double-locked door provided with a grille. Without stood an armed sentry, while—sinister fact—a couple of machine guns were trained through the lattice upon the occupants of the room. Ponderously the sentry unlocked and threw open the door, and Tressidar found himself urged forward by the effective expedient of having the butt of the rifle jammed into the small of his back.
Then the door clanged-to between himself and his guards. He was in the common room of the Sylt prison for captured British officers.
There were between twenty to thirty grotesquely attired men in the room, all engaged in the difficult task of killing time. Some were talking, others reading the carefully selected and approved literature provided by their captors. Two were playing chess, with knots of critical onlookers crowding round the little table.
At Tressidar's entrance the occupants came forward to greet their latest comrade in misfortune. The reticence generally attributed to Britons both at home and abroad seemed to have vanished.