boldly upon the back of the coat of each man.  This letter comprises the initial of the German word “zivil,” and means that the wearer is neither a criminal nor a military prisoner.  It will be observed, however, that the Commandant declined to recognise these fishermen as being naval prisoners, which somewhat contradicted his assertion concerning their alleged crime.  At a subsequent date, I might mention, every civilian prisoner was branded with the “Z” in a similar manner.

These fishermen were watched very closely, were hunted and harassed at every turn without mercy, and all things considered, experienced an abnormally hard time.  Up to the day of my release from Ruhleben on December 6, 1915, but one of those old salts had been released, and had been returned to his country.  We were informed at Sennelager that the authorities were determined, at all hazards, to keep these “diabolical fiends” as they were termed, in durance vile, until the termination of the war.  However, one of them fell seriously ill after his transference from Sennelager to Ruhleben.  His condition became so serious as to bring about his hurried exchange, the authorities dreading that he would die while in their charge, and thus adversely affect the low death-rate reputation of a German prison camp!

Our hair was growing long, owing to the absence of cutting facilities.  Mine had almost reached my shoulders, but I was extremely careful to submit it to a thorough wash every morning because I shared the fear of many of my companions that, owing to the congestion of the camp, we should be overrun with vermin.  Undoubtedly Major Bach also anticipated such a state of affairs, because one morning he appeared upon parade with a pair of clippers which he had unearthed from somewhere and curtly commanded every man to submit to a hair-cut.

The position of official barber to the camp was assigned to an Englishman named L——­, who I think might be accurately described as our official humorist.  Armed with this weapon, and although absolutely ignorant of the new calling thrust upon him, delighted to secure some change to the monotonous round of toil, L——­ entered upon his work with commendable zest.  But he construed the duty into a form of amusement, and played sorry tricks with the heads which came into his hands.  Some he shaved so clean as to present the appearance of a billiard ball, but others he evidently considered to be worthy of French poodle treatment.  He took a humorous delight in executing some of the most fantastic and weird designs it is possible to imagine, much to the discomfort and chagrin of his unwilling clients.  Still his quaint expression of craftmanship and artistry contributed somewhat to the restricted hilarity and mirth of the camp.