receptacles were placed on
deck and the main sail was spread over the cabin roof to catch the
rain.

"At length as we came in the neighborhood of Padang, on the 26th
of November, 1915, a ship appeared for the first time and looked
for our name. But the name had been painted over, because it was
the former English name. As I thought, 'You're rid of the fellow'
the ship came up again in the evening, and steamed within a hundred
yards of us. I sent all my men below deck, and I promenaded the
deck as the solitary skipper. Through Morse signals the stranger
gave her identity. She proved to be the Hollandish torpedo boat
_Lynx_. I asked by signals, 'Why do you follow me?' No answer.
The next morning I found myself in Hollandish waters, so I raised
pennant and war flag. Now the _Lynx_ came at top speed past us.
As it passed I had my men line up on deck, and gave a greeting.
The greeting was answered. Then, before the harbor at Padang, I
went aboard the _Lynx_ in my well and carefully preserved uniform
and declared my intentions. The commandant opined that I could run
into the harbor, but whether I might come out again was doubtful.

"Three German ships were in the harbor at Padang," continues Captain
Muecke. "The harbor authorities demanded the certification for pennant
and war flag, also papers to prove that I was the commander of
this warship. For that, I answered, I was only responsible to my
superior officer. Now they advised me most insistently to allow
ourselves to be interned peacefully. They said it wasn't at all
pleasant in the neighborhood. We'd fall into the hands of the Japanese
or the English. As a matter of fact, we again had great luck. On
the day before a Japanese warship had been cruising around here.
Naturally, I rejected all the well-meant and kindly advice, and
did this in the presence of my lieutenants. I demanded provisions,
water, sails, tackle, and clothing. They replied we could take on
board everything which we had formerly had on board, but nothing
which would mean an increase in our naval strength.

"First thing, I wanted to improve our wardrobe, for I had only
one sock, a pair of shoes, and one clean shirt, which had become
rather threadbare. My comrades had even less. But the master of the
port declined to let us have, not only charts, but also clothing
and toothbrushes, on the ground that these would be an increase in
armament. Nobody could come aboard, nobody could leave the ship
without pe