e fired that torpedo on
March 6. It did not strike the _Tubantia_ until March 16. So that
it had either been floating about aimlessly and had encountered the
liner, or perhaps the cunning British had corraled it and made use
of it. At any rate, Berlin disclaimed all responsibility for its
acts subsequent to the day it parted company with the German
submarine.

The path of the torpedo, however, had been observed from the bridge
of the Tubantia.

I remarked to one of my well-informed confidants among the Social
Democratic politicians that although it is perfectly true that a
rolling stone gathers no moss, it is equally true that a moving
torpedo leaves no wake.

"Yes," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "our Foreign Office is
well aware of that. Have you not noticed the significance of the
two dates, March 6, when the torpedo is said to have been fired,
and March 16, when it struck? Do you not see that our diplomats
have still one more loop-hole in case they are pressed? Is it not
clear that they could find a way out of their absurd explanation by
shifting the responsibility to the man or the men who jotted down
the date and transferred it? The question in my mind is: Who lost
the 1 from the 16?"

Be that as it may, little Holland, enraged at the wanton
destruction of one of her largest vessels, was not in a position to
enforce her demands. Therefore Germany did not back down--that is,
not publicly.

My description of the return of the Prussian Guard to Potsdam
naturally aroused the wrath of a Government which strives
incessantly, to hide so much from its own people and the outside
world.

Directly the article reached Germany the Government flashed a
wireless to America that no members of the _Potsdam_ Guard returned
to Potsdam from Contalmaison. This is a typical German denial
trick. I never mentioned the _Potsdam_ Guard.

I had referred to the _Prussian_ Guard.

If any reader of this chapter cares to look into the files of
English newspapers at the time of the Contalmaison battle, for such
it was, they will find confirmation of my statements as to the
presence of the Prussian Guard in the English despatches published
in the second week in July.

The Contalmaison article has in whole or in part been circulated in
the United States, and also in the South-American Republics, and
probably in other neutral countries. This has now called forth a
semi-official detailed denial, which I print herewith.