for a cash
consideration, took over all the rest of our prisoners of war. Later
on another neutral ship rejected a similar request and betrayed us to
the Japanese into the bargain. On Sept. 23 we reached Madras and
steered straight for the harbor. We stopped still 3,000 yards before
the city. Then we shot up the oil tanks. Three or four burned up and
illuminated the city. They answered. Several of the papers asserted
that we left with lights out. On the contrary, we showed our lights so
as to seem to indicate that we were going northward; only later did we
put them out, turn around, and steer southward. As we left we could
see the fire burning brightly in the night, and even by daylight,
ninety sea miles away, we could still see the smoke from the burning
oil tanks. Two days later we navigated around Ceylon, and could see
the lights of Colombo. On the same evening we gathered in two more
steamers, the King Lund and Tyweric. The latter was particularly good
to us, for it brought us the very latest evening papers from Colombo,
which it had only left two hours before.

"Everything went well, the only trouble was that our prize, the
Markomannia, didn't have much coal left. We said one evening in the
mess: 'The only thing lacking now is a nice steamer with 500 tons of
nice Cardiff coal.' The next evening we got her, the Burresk,
brand-new, from England on her maiden voyage, bound for Hongkong. Then
followed in order the Riberia, Foyle, Grand Ponrabbel, Benmore,
Troiens, Exfort, Grycefale, Sankt Eckbert, Chilkana. Most of them were
sunk; the coal ships were kept. The Eckbert was let go with a load of
passengers and captured crews. We also sent the Markomannia away
because it hadn't any more coal. She was later captured by the English
together with all the prize papers about their own captured ships. All
this happened before Oct. 20; then we sailed southward, to Deogazia,
southwest of Colombo. South of Lakadiven on Deogazia some Englishmen
came on board, solitary farmers who were in touch with the world only
every three months through schooners. They knew nothing about the war,
took us for an English man-of-war, and asked us to repair their motor
boat for them. We kept still and invited them to dinner in our
officers' mess. Presently they stood still in front of the portrait of
the Kaiser, quite astounded. 'This is a German ship!' We continued to
keep still. 'Why is your ship so dirty?' they asked. We shrugged our
shoulders.