nd night lately.' Presently the _Emden_ signaled to us: 'Hurry up.'
I pack up, but simultaneously wails the _Emden's_ siren. I hurry up to
the bridge, see the flag 'Anna' go up. That means 'Weigh anchor.' We ran
like mad into our boat, but already the _Emden's_ pennant goes up, the
battle flag is raised, they fire from starboard.

[Sidenote: The _Sydney_ traps the _Emden_.]

"The enemy is concealed by the island and therefore not to be seen, but
I see the shells strike the water. To follow and catch the _Emden_ is
out of the question; she's going twenty knots, I only four with my steam
pinnace. Therefore, I turn back to land, raise the flag, declare German
laws of war in force, seize all arms, set up my machine guns on shore in
order to guard against a hostile landing. Then I run again in order to
observe the fight. From the splash of the shells it looked as if the
enemy had fifteen-centimeter guns, bigger, therefore, than the
_Emden's_. He fired rapidly, but poorly. It was the Australian cruiser
_Sydney_."

"Have you heard?" Muecke suddenly asked in between, "if anything has
happened to the _Sydney_? At the Dardanelles maybe?" And his hatred of
the _Emden's_ "hangman" is visible for a second in his blue eyes. Then
he continues:

[Sidenote: The _Emden_ on fire.]

"According to the accounts of the Englishmen who saw the first part of
the engagement from shore, the _Emden_ was cut off rapidly. Her forward
smokestack lay across the ship. She went over to circular fighting and
to torpedo firing, but already burned fiercely aft. Behind the mainmast
several shells struck home; we saw the high flame. Whether circular
fighting or a running fight now followed, I don't know, because I again
had to look to my land defenses. Later I looked on from the roof of a
house. Now the _Emden_ again stood out to sea about 4,000 to 5,000
yards, still burning. As she again turned toward the enemy, the forward
mast was shot away. On the enemy no outward damage was apparent, but
columns of smoke showed where shots had struck home. Then the _Emden_
took a northerly course, likewise the enemy, and I had to stand there
helpless gritting my teeth and thinking: 'Damn it; the _Emden_ is
burning and you aren't on board!' An Englishman who had also climbed up
to the roof of the house, approached me, greeted me politely, and asked:
'Captain, would you like to have a game of tennis with us?'

[Sidenote: The fighting ships disappear.]

"The ships,