In a conversation with the Lieutenant in charge of the prisoners—­who, by the way, had a Scottish mother—­I remarked that it was very hard on our relations and friends not knowing what had become of us.  He agreed that it was, but added it was no worse for my relations than it was for his!  They did not know where he was either!  “No,” I replied, “but you are out doing your duty and serving your country, and when you left home your people knew they would have no news of you for many months.  It is quite different with us.  We are not out to be ingloriously taken prisoner, we were simply travelling on business, being compelled to do so.  We are not serving our country by being caught and kept in this way, and our relatives did not expect us to disappear and send them no news of ourselves for a long time.”  However, he affected not to see the difference between our case and his; just as the sailors often told the prisoners aft that in case of the Wolf going into action it would be no worse for the prisoners than it was for the fighting crew!

We were forbidden to talk to the crew, but under cover of the darkness some of them, a great number of whom spoke English, were only too glad to speak to us.  We learnt from them that the Wolf had been out a year; they were all very “fed up” with it all, tired of the life, tired of the sea, tired of the food, longing to get home, and longing for the war to end.  They had, too, no doubts as to how it would end, and were certain that the Wolf would get back to Germany whenever she wished to do so.  Of course we assured them that they were utterly mistaken, and that it would be absolutely impossible for the Wolf ever to get through the British blockade or see Germany again.

They were certain three things would bring them victory:  their submarines, the defection of Russia, who would soon be made to conclude peace with Germany, and the fact that in their opinion America had entered the war too late.  The submarines, too, would not allow a single transport to reach European waters!

While on the Wolf we heard of the great reverse to the Italian arms.  We were told that half a million prisoners and thousands of guns were taken, and that there was no longer an Italian army!  Germany had strafed one more country and knocked her out of the war.  This made their early victory still more certain!  Their spirits may be imagined when this news of Italy’s disaster was received.

The interests of the Wolf were now, to a certain extent, identical with our own—­that we should not meet an Allied cruiser.  A notice was posted in some of our cabins saying that in that event the women with their husbands, and some other prisoners, would be put into boats with a white flag, “if weather and other conditions permitted.”  We often wondered whether they would permit!  The other prisoners, however, viz. those under the poop and on the ’tween decks, would have