they might otherwise have done. One young man, who had on his passport
his photo taken in military uniform, was, however, detained on the
_Wolf_ as a military prisoner. He was asked by a German officer if he
were going home to fight. He replied that he certainly was, and pluckily
added, "I wish I were fighting now."

On October 1st the married prisoners from the _Wolf_, together with
three Australian civilian prisoners over military age, a Colonel of the
Australian A.M.C., a Major of the same corps, and his wife, with an
Australian stewardess, some young boys, and a few old sea captains and
mates, were sent on board the _Hitachi_. They had all been taken off
earlier prizes captured and sunk by the _Wolf_. The Australians had been
captured on August 6th from the s.s.[2] _Matunga_ from Sydney to what
was formerly German New Guinea, from which latter place they had been
only a few hours distant. An American captain, with his wife and little
girl, had been captured on the barque _Beluga_, from San Francisco to
Newcastle, N.S.W., on July 9th. All the passengers transferred were
given cabins on board the _Hitachi_. We learnt from these passengers
that the _Wolf_ was primarily a mine-layer, and that she had laid mines
at Cape Town, Bombay, Colombo, and off the Australian and New Zealand
coasts. She had sown her last crop of mines, 110 in number, off the
approaches to Singapore before she proceeded to the Indian Ocean to lie
in wait for the _Hitachi_. Altogether she had sown five hundred mines.

During her stay in the Maldives the _Wolf_ sent up her seaplane--or, as
the Germans said, "the bird"--every morning about six, and she returned
about eight. To all appearances the coast was clear, and the _Wolf_
consequently anticipated no interference or unwelcome attention from any
of our cruisers. Two of them, the _Venus_ and the _Doris_, we had seen
at anchor in Colombo harbour during our stay there, but it was