"Were you washed overboard from the craft of which you are commanding
officer?" pressed the German.

"Again I must decline to answer."

"Oh, very good," said the ober-lieutenant, carelessly. "I shall find that
out presently."

Then, as he scanned the information he had written down, the German
asked:

"Darrin? Darrin? Where have I heard that name before?"

Picking up another book from the table, the ober-lieutenant turned
rapidly through some indexed pages. Suddenly a gleam came into his eyes.

"Ah, here I have it. Darrin, David. Responsible for the capture and
recognition of Ober-Lieutenant von Bechtold. Witness against von
Bechtold, who was executed in England as a spy. Ha! So you are the
Darrin, eh?"

"I may be," half-assented Dave, feeling the other's burning gaze.

"Then I am glad to have you here, Lieutenant-Commander Darrin!" cried the
German officer, "but I am afraid things will go badly indeed with you
when you arrive in Germany!"

CHAPTER X

LIKE THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH

"INDEED?" asked Dave, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"You cannot expect that the people of the Fatherland will feel any great
kindness toward you," pursued the ober-lieutenant.

"Why should they dislike me?"

"Because you brought about the death of von Bechtold, and he was an
officer most valuable to our government."

"If you caught an American spy in Germany would you arrest him?"

"Assuredly," admitted the German officer.

"And do your best to prove your charge against him and have him
executed."

"Again, assuredly."

"That was what I did, in the case of von Bechtold."

"Bah, you are like the French and English!" snapped the ober-lieutenant.
"You can never get it through your heads that a German is more important
than one of your kinds of people."

"No," Dave agreed, "I am afraid that we cannot appreciate that fact, or
even admit it to be a fact."

"And now, before you leave me," broke in the German officer, quickly,
"tell me the name of your destroyer and the station on which you last
served."

Dave smiled, but did not answer in words. The ober-lieutenant regarded
him frowningly.

"Oh, very good," said the German, at last. "There are those in Germany
who know how and possess the means to make you talk. Your record shall be
completed there. And now--!"

Going to the wardroom door the ober-lieutenant called:

"Lieutenant von Schellen!"

The same younger officer came to the door.

"Be good enoug