ore, I turn back to land, raise the flag, declare
German laws of war in force, seize all arms, set up my machine guns on
shore in order to guard against a hostile landing. Then I run again in
order to observe the fight. From the splash of the shells it looked as
if the enemy had fifteen-centimeter guns, bigger, therefore, than the
Emden's. He fired rapidly, but poorly. It was the Australian cruiser
Sydney."

"Have you heard?" Muecke suddenly asked in between, "if anything has
happened to the Sydney? At the Dardanelles maybe?" And his hatred of
the Emden's "hangman" is visible for a second in his blue eyes. Then
he continues:

"According to the accounts of the Englishmen who saw the first part of
the engagement from shore, the Emden was cut off rapidly. Her forward
smokestack lay across the ship. She went over to circular fighting and
to torpedo firing, but already burned fiercely aft. Behind the
mainmast several shells struck home; we saw the high flame. Whether
circular fighting or a running fight now followed, I don't know,
because I again had to look to my land defenses. Later I looked on
from the roof of a house. Now the Emden again stood out to sea about
4,000 to 5,000 yards, still burning. As she again turned toward the
enemy, the forward mast was shot away. On the enemy no outward damage
was apparent, but columns of smoke showed where shots had struck home.
Then the Emden took a northerly course, likewise the enemy, and I had
to stand there helpless gritting my teeth and thinking: 'Damn it; the
Emden is burning and you aren't on board!' An Englishman who had also
climbed up to the roof of the house, approached me, greeted me
politely, and asked: 'Captain, would you like to have a game of tennis
with us?'

"The ships, still fighting, disappeared beyond the horizon. I thought
that an unlucky outcome for the Emden was possible, also a landing by
the enemy on Keeling Island, at least for the purpose of landing the
wounded and taking on provisions. As, according to the statements of
the Englishmen, there were other ships in the neighborhood, I saw
myself faced with the certainty of having soon to surrender because of
a lack of ammunition. But for no price did I and my men want to get
into English imprisonment. As I was thinking about all this, the masts
again appear on the horizon, the Emden steaming easterly, but very
much slower. All at once the enemy, at high speed, shoots by,
apparently quite close to the Emde