rdly had we been towed out again after twenty-four hours, on the
evening of the 28th, when a searchlight appeared before us. I think:
'Better interned than prisoner.' I put out all lights and withdrew to
the shelter of the island. But they were Hollanders and didn't do
anything to us. Then for two weeks more we drifted around, lying still
for days. The weather was alternately still, rainy and blowy. At length
a ship comes in sight--a freighter. It sees us and makes a big curve
around us. I make everything hastily 'clear for battle.' Then one of our
officers recognizes her for the _Choising_. She shows the German flag. I
send up light rockets, although it was broad day, and go with all sails
set that were still setable, toward her. The _Choising_ is a coaster,
from Hongkong for Siam. It was at Singapore when the war broke out, then
went to Batavia, was chartered loaded with coal for the _Emden_, and
had put into Padang in need, because the coal in the hold had caught
fire. There we had met her.

[Sidenote: The crew board the _Choising_.]

"Great was our joy now. I had all my men come on deck and line up for
review. The fellows hadn't a rag on. Thus, in Nature's garb, we gave
three cheers for the German flag on the _Choising_. The men on the
_Choising_ told us afterward 'we couldn't make out what that meant,
those stark naked fellows all cheering!' The sea was too high, and we
had to wait two days before we could board the _Choising_ on December
16. We took very little with us; the schooner was taken in tow. In the
afternoon we sunk the _Ayesha_ and we were all very sad. The good old
_Ayesha_ had served us faithfully for six weeks. The log showed that we
had made 1,709 sea miles under sail since leaving Keeling. She wasn't at
all rotten and unseaworthy, as they had told me, but nice and white and
dry inside. I had grown fond of the ship, on which I could practice my
old sailing manoeuvres. The only trouble was that the sails would go to
pieces every now and then because they were so old.

[Sidenote: The _Ayesha_ is sunk.]

"But anyway she went down quite properly, didn't she?" Muecke turned to
the officer. "We had bored a hole in her; she filled slowly and then all
of a sudden plump disappeared! That was the saddest day of the whole
month. We gave her three cheers, and my next yacht at Kiel will be named
_Ayesha_, that's sure.

[Sidenote: Turkey an ally of Germany.]

"To the Captain of the _Choising_ I had said, whe