or; only position, not the course,
being marked after the ship left Colombo. Most of the passengers had, as
usual, either dozed on deck or in their cabins after tiffin, my wife and
I being in deck chairs on the port side. When I woke up at 1.45 I saw
far off on the horizon, on the port bow, smoke from a steamer. I was the
only person awake on the deck at the time, and I believe no other
passenger had seen the smoke, which was so far away that it was
impossible to tell whether we were meeting or overtaking the ship.

Immediately thoughts of a raider sprang to my mind, though I did not
know one was out. But from what one could gather at Colombo, no ship was
due at that port on that track in about two days. The streets of Colombo
were certainly darkened at night, and the lighthouse was not in use when
we were there, but there was no mention of the presence of any
suspicious craft in the adjacent waters.

It is generally understood that instructions to Captains in these times
are to suspect every vessel seen at sea, and to run away from all signs
of smoke (and some of us knew that on a previous occasion, some months
before, a vessel of the same line had seen smoke in this neighbourhood,
and had at once turned tail and made tracks for Colombo, resuming her
voyage when the smoke disappeared). The officer on the bridge with his
glass must have seen the smoke long before I did, so my suspicions of a
raider were gradually disarmed as we did not alter our course a single
point, but proceeded to meet the stranger, whose course towards us
formed a diagonal one with ours. If nothing had happened she would have
crossed our track slightly astern of us.

But something did happen. More passengers were now awake, discussing the
nationality of the ship bearing down on us. Still no alteration was made
in our course, and we and she had made no sign of recognition.

Surely everything was all right and there was nothing to fear. Even the
Japanese commander of the gun crew betrayed no anxiety on the matter,
but stood with the passengers on the deck watching the oncoming
stranger. Five bells had just gone when the vessel, then about seven
hundred yards away from us, took a sudden turn to port and ran up
signals and the German Imperial Navy flag. There was no longer any
doubt--the worst had happened. We had walked blindly into the open arms
of the enemy. The signals were to tell us to stop. We did not stop. The
raider fired two shots across o