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Notwithstanding the elaborate precautions which had been brought into operation to ensure that this relief should get only into deserving hands, the fact remains that up to the day of my departure it was being paid directly into the pockets of some of our enemies.  The scheme had been brought into operation some little while, when one morning, upon parade, the authorities requested all those who sympathised with the German cause to step out.  Many, doubtless thinking that here was the opportunity to secure preferential treatment or the golden chance to obtain release from the Prison Camp of Abandoned Hope, answered the call.  The numbers were appreciable, but as they advanced from the lines they were assailed by vicious hooting, groaning and hissing from the others who were resolved to maintain their patriotism at all hazards.  Still it was an excellent move upon the part of the Germans.  It eliminated dangerous enemies from our midst.

But if the pro-Germans, now chuckling merrily and rubbing their hands with childish delight, considered their release to be imminent they received a very rude awakening.  The German authorities are not readily gulled.  To them a pro-German is every whit as dangerous as an avowed enemy.  They merely marched these traitors to another part of the camp where they were forced to re-establish themselves in their own isolated barrack quarters.  They received no improvement in treatment or food.  The only difference between the two divisions of what is now described as the “split camp” is that whereas the true Britishers are free to sing “Rule, Britannia,” “God Save the King,” and other patriotic songs, the traitors have to while away their time singing “Die Wacht am Rhein,” “Deutschland Uber Alles,” and other German jingo melodies.

The position of the traitors became aggravated a little later, when they learned that the German authorities were quite ready to release them upon one simple condition—­that they joined the German Army!  I am ashamed to say that some of them even took advantage of this infamous avenue of escape.  But the majority, after their dropped jaws and long faces resumed their normal positions, thought they might just as well change their national coat once more.

Some of these scoundrels, after openly enlisting under the German banner, did not disavow their pension but coolly continued to draw the five shillings per week.  Moreover, in one instance at least, one of these scapegoats after declaring his pro-German proclivities was enabled to return to England as an exchanged prisoner.  I could reveal unpalatable truths concerning the laxity of our authorities in dealing with the exchange of prisoners, but the moment is not opportune.

One day one of these renegades came to my booth to have some engraving carried out.  He asked me a price and I quoted half a crown.  To my surprise he urged me to make it five shillings.  Somewhat astonished I suggested that the work was not worth five shillings and that my estimate was perfectly fair.