The next morning we were still alongside the Wolf, and remained there till the morning of the 17th, our heavy baggage being transhipped in the interval.  There had also been transferred the Colonel of the A.A.M.C. already mentioned, and three other men—­including the second mate of one ship previously captured—­who were in ill-health.  One of the Hitachi prisoners, a man over military age, who had come on board at Colombo straight from hospital, and was going for a health voyage to South Africa, had been told in the morning that he was to be transferred to the Spanish ship.  But later on, much to the regret of every one, it was found that the Germans would not release him.  A German officer came up to him and said in my hearing, “Were you not told this morning that you were to go on the Igotz Mendi?” “Yes,” he replied.  “Well,” said the officer, “you’re not to.”  Comment on the brutal manner of this remark is unnecessary.

The message the seaplane had brought back had evidently been a reassuring one, and we heard a long time afterwards that the Wolf had picked up a wireless from a Japanese cruiser, presumably looking for the Hitachi, only thirty miles away.  Hence the alarm!  Unfortunately for us, if this report were true, the cruiser did not turn aside to look in the most obvious place where a ship like the Wolf would hide, so once more the Wolf was safe.

If only there had been a couple of cruisers disguised, like the Wolf, as tramps, each one carrying a seaplane or two, in each ocean free from submarine attentions, the Wolf could have been seen and her career brought to an end long before.  The same end would probably have been attained on this occasion if a wireless message had been sent from Delagoa Bay to Colombo saying that the Igotz Mendi had left the former port for the latter with 5,000 tons of coal on board.  The strong wireless installation on the Wolf, which picked up every message within a large radius, but of course never sent any, would have picked up this message, and the Wolf would probably have risen to the bait, with the result that she could have been caught by an armed vessel sent in search of her on that track.  For it must have been known that a raider was out in those waters, as the disappearance of the Hitachi could only have been due to the presence of one.

Coaling proceeded without cessation till the morning of the 17th, when the Wolf moved off a short distance.  Passengers on mail-boats familiar with the process of coaling ship at Port Said, Colombo, or any other port, can imagine the condition of these ships, after three or four days’ incessant coaling day and night.  The appearance of the Igotz Mendi was meanwhile undergoing another change.  When captured she was painted white and had a buff funnel with her company’s distinguishing mark.  She was now painted the Allied grey colour, and when her sides and funnel had been transformed the two ships sailed away, and on the evening of the 17th, after final orders and instructions had been given, parted company.  For some days after this, painting was the order of the day on the Spanish ship, which was now grey on every part visible.