he _Wolf_ to be taken to Germany, leaving our wives on the _Igotz
Mendi_. This, so we had been told, had been the intention of the
_Wolf's_ Commander when the prisoners were first put on the Spanish
boat. He had ordered that only women, and prisoners above sixty and
under sixteen should be put on the _Igotz Mendi_, but the German doctor,
a humane and kindly man, would have nothing to do with this plan and
declared he would not be responsible for the health of the women if this
were done. So that we owe it to him that wives were not separated from
their husbands during this anxious time, as the Commander of the _Wolf_
had inhumanly suggested.

CHAPTER IX

EN ROUTE FOR RUHLEBEN--VIA ICELAND

A last effort was made to persuade the Captain to ask the _Wolf's_
Commander to release the Spanish ship here, take all the prize crew off,
and send us back to Cape Town (which would have suited the plans of
every one of us), for a suspicion began to grow in our minds that
Germany, and nowhere else, was the destination intended for us. But our
Captain would not listen to this suggestion, and said he was sure the
Spanish Captain would not go back to Cape Town even if he promised to do
so.

On the next day, January 24th, relief seemed nearer than it had done
since our capture four months before. I was sitting on the starboard
deck, when suddenly, about 3.30 p.m., I saw coming up out of the mist,
close to our starboard bow, what looked like a cruiser with four
funnels. The Spanish officer on the bridge had apparently not seen it,
or did not want to! Neither, apparently, had the German sailor, if,
indeed, he was even on the bridge at that moment. I rushed to inform the
American sailing ship Captain of my discovery, and he confirmed my
opinion that it was a four-funnelled warship. The Germans were by this
time fully alarmed, and the ship slowed down a little; the Captain,
evidently also thinking that the vessel was a cruiser, went to his cabin
to dispose of the ship's papers, the crew got into their best uniform to
surrender, and it looked as if help were at hand at last. We got our
precious packages together, put them in our pockets, and got everything
ready to leave the ship. We were all out on deck, delighted beyond words
(our elation can be imagined), and saw the ship--it must be remembered
that it was a very misty day--resolve itself into two two-funnelled
ships, apparently transports, one seemingly in distress and very mu