nish officers took their watch on the bridge, always
with a member of the prize crew in attendance; the Spanish engineers
remained in charge of the engine-room, again with a German always
present; and the Spanish crew remained on duty as before. There was a
prize crew of nine Germans on board; the Captain, Lieutenant Rose, who
had also been in charge of the _Hitachi_ after her capture, and the
First Officer, who had also filled that post on the _Hitachi_, being the
only officers. Lieutenant Rose spoke Spanish in addition to English and
French, and the Spanish Captain also spoke very good English. Some of
the Spanish officers also spoke English, but the knowledge of it was not
so general as it was on the _Wolf_, where every officer we met spoke our
language, and most of the prize crew spoke quite enough to get on with.

The Spanish Captain, a charming gentleman, and in appearance anything
but a seafaring man, was, however, frankly puzzled by some current
English slang. One of the passenger prisoners--the hero of the kerosene
porridge--was known among us as the "hot-air merchant." This was simple
enough, but when we said he also suffered from cold feet, the Spanish
Captain admitted defeat. Such a contradictory combination seemed
inconceivable. "If a man were full of hot air, how could he have cold
feet?" he said. Lieutenant Rose, however, was _au fait_ with the latest
English slang, and always used it correctly.

The _Igotz Mendi_, 4,600 tons, had been completed in 1916, and was a
ship admirably fitted for her purpose, which, however, was not that of
carrying passengers. Ordinarily she was a collier, or carried iron ore.
Her decks were of iron, scorchingly hot in the tropics and icy cold in
northern latitudes. There was no place sheltered from the sun in which
to sit on the small deck space, and the small awnings which were
spasmodically rigged up were quite insufficient for the purpose. There
were now twenty-one "passenger" prisoners on board, including the
Japanese stewardess, and five Asiatics. There were no cabins except
those provided for the officers, who generously gave them up to the
married couples on board, the officers taking quarters much more crowded
and much less desirable. The Germans installed a small electric fan,
taken from the _Hitachi_, in each cabin, and also one in the saloon. The
cabins were quite suitable for one occupant each, but very cramped for
two; the one occupied by my wife and myself being