The food on the Wolf was better cooked than it had been on the Hitachi, but there was of course no fresh food of any kind.  Two or three horses had been taken from the S.S. Matunga—­these had been shot and eaten long before.  Even the potatoes we had were dried, and had to be soaked many hours before they were cooked, and even then they did not much resemble the original article; the same remark applies to the other vegetables we had.  Occasionally our meals satisfied us as far as quantity went, but in the main we left the table feeling we could with ease dispose of a great deal more.  This was especially the case after breakfast, which consisted of bread and jam only; and once at tiffin all we had to eat was boiled rice with cinnamon and sugar.  Each cabin had a German orderly to look after and wait on its occupants, two German stewards waited on us at meals, and a Japanese steward had two or three cabins to look after and clean.  The water allowance, both for drinking and washing, was very small.  We had only one bottle of the former and one can of the latter between two of us; so it was impossible to wash any of our clothes.

The deck—­we were only allowed the port side—­was only about six feet wide, and part of this was occupied by spare spars.  There were no awnings, and the sun and rain streamed right across the narrow space.  Sailors and officers, and prisoners to fetch their food, were passing along this deck incessantly all day, so it can be easily imagined there was not much room for sitting about on deck chairs.  On this deck, too, was the prisoners’ cell, usually called the “calaboose,” very rarely without an occupant, with an armed sentry on guard outside.  It was not a cheerful abode, being very small and dark; and the prisoner, if his sentence were a long one, served it in instalments of a few days at a time.

We were allowed to go down to the well deck to see our friends and sit on the hatch with them during the daytime.  They had their meals in the ’tween decks at different times from us, but the food provided was usually just the same.  The evenings were the deadliest times of all on the Wolf.  At dusk the order “Schiff Abblenden” resounded all through the ship, sailors came round to put tin plates over all the portholes, and from thence onward throughout the night complete darkness prevailed on deck, not a glint of light showing anywhere on the ship.  It was very nasty and uncanny.

When the Wolf considered herself in dangerous waters, and when laying mines, even smoking was forbidden on deck.  All the cabins had a device by which directly the door was open the light went out, only to be relit directly the door closed.  So it was impossible for any one to leave his cabin with the door open and the light on.  There was nothing to do in the evenings after the last meal, which was over before eight o’clock.  We groped our way in darkness along the deck when we left the little