urgeon; the elder,
Abdullah, conducted the negotiations, and the surgeon acted as
interpreter in French. Now things proceeded in one-two-three order,
and the whole Bedouin band speedily disappeared. From what I learned
later I know definitely that they had been corrupted with bribes by
the English. They knew when and where we would pass, and they had made
all preparations. Now our first act was a rush for water; then we
cleared up our camp, but had to harness our camels ourselves, for the
camel drivers had fled at the very beginning of the skirmish.

"Then, under the safe protection of Turkish troops, we got to Jeddah.
There the authorities and the populace received us very well. From
there we proceeded in nineteen days by sail boat to Elwesh, and under
abundant guard with the Suleiman Pasha, in a five-day caravan
journeyed to El Ula."

"Have I received the Iron Cross?" was the first question Captain Muecke
asked when he got to that place, and old newspapers which he found
there told him that he had. A few days later the party was on train,
riding toward Germany.

CHAPTER XXXII

SUMMARY OF THE FIRST YEAR OF NAVAL WARFARE

The first year of the war came to an end in August, 1915, with the
naval situation much the same as it stood at the end of the first six
months. The navy of practically every belligerent was intact; the
Allies enjoyed the freedom of the seas, but the fact that a German
fleet lay intact in the North Sea, and an Austrian fleet lay intact in
the Adriatic Sea, indicated only the naval supremacy of the Allies,
but not that they had won decisive naval victories.

As there had been no victory there had been no defeat, yet there had
been losses to all concerned. The mine and the submarine had changed
somewhat the methods of naval warfare--the enemies "nibbled" at their
opponents' fleets. Battleships were lost, though the first year of the
Great War had seen no pitched battle between ships of that class.

During the second six months of the war England lost the five old
battleships _Irresistible_, _Ocean_, _Goliath_, _Triumph_, and
_Majestic_; the destroyers _Recruit_ and _Maori_; and the submarine
_E-15_ and another unidentified; and the auxiliary cruisers _Clan
McNaughton_, _Bayano_, and _Princess Irene_. Her ally France had lost,
during the same period, the old battleship _Bouvet_, the cruiser _Leon
Gambetta_, the destroyer _Dague_, and the submarines _Joule_,
_Mariotte_, and one unidentifie