e asked, not unkindly.

"No." I answered feebly, my heart heavy within me. As a matter of fact I
was so overwrought with anxiety that I failed to feel the pangs of
hunger.

"Well," he went on, "you can have what you like."

Thump went my heart again. The verdict had certainly gone against me.
For what other reason had I been offered what I liked to eat? It sounded
ominous. It recalled our practice in Britain where a condemned man is
given his choice of viands on the morning of his execution. Most
assuredly I was going to be shot on the following morning, and daybreak
was not far distant.

"I should certainly have something to eat if I were you," suggested the
officer.

"Oh, very well," I replied resignedly, "I'll have a roll, butter, and a
black coffee."

Directly the officer had gone I rang the emergency bell. M----, the
under-gaoler, answered it. With a tremendous effort I pulled myself
together.

"So I'm going to be shot in the morning," I ventured, in the hope of
drawing some comment.

"Ach! What? Lie down and keep quiet!" was his stolid retort.

"Look here! I want to write to my wife. Can you get me a pencil and a
sheet of paper?"

"Impossible!"

"But I must write. She does not know where I am, and she will not know
what has become of me!"

[*large gap]

German military prisons hold their secrets tightly.

But the time crept on and no guard appeared as I had been dreading. My
drooping spirits revived because the hour of the day when prisoners were
customarily shot had passed. When I went out into the yard on the
Tuesday morning I chanced to meet the two Hindoos who had been arrested
with me. Then I realised that they were two out of the three remaining
spies. I was the third. They were in high spirits. When the guard was
not looking they told me they had been acquitted of the espionage
charge, and expected soon to be taken as far as the frontier to be
released.

I was the only one left, and I had not been told the result of my trial.
Yet these two Hindoo students who also had been before the Court on the
Wednesday had learned the verdict in their cases. But I had been denied
all communication. I regained my cell in a kind of stupor. To me it
seemed that all was lost, and I fell into the depths of despair. When
the friendly M---- came with my breakfast I pestered him with
questions.

"Has the court been sitting?"

"Yes, all day Monday and all last night."

"Have you heard the result of my