on a south-westerly course for the next two days, and the usual routine
of the ship went on, but no further gun or other drills took place. Soon
after daybreak on November 10th a sailor came along and locked us all in
our cabins, armed guards patrolled the deck, and a short time after an
officer came to each cabin and informed us there was a steamer on the
starboard side which the _Wolf_ intended to capture. He told us the
_Wolf_ would fire on her to stop, and provided all of us with
cotton-wool to insert in our ears while the guns were being fired! The
Germans had had no scruples about firing on the _Hitachi_, though they
could have seen there were women on board, but on this occasion they
were so considerate as to give us cotton-wool for our ears, that our
nerves might not be shaken--a truly German touch! We waited for the
sound of the guns, but nothing happened, and in about half an hour the
same officer came along and said to us, "Don't be fearful; the other
ship has stopped, and there will be no firing!" Our cabin doors were
unlocked, the men on the upper deck were allowed out, the ladies were
requested not to show themselves on deck, and another officer ran along
the deck saying "We've catched her, we've catched her; a neutral this
time!"

The "catched" vessel had stopped and was lying very near the _Wolf_. The
name on her stern proclaimed her to be the _Igotz Mendi_, of Bilbao, and
she was flying the Spanish flag. In a short time a prize crew, with
Lieutenant Rose in command, left the _Wolf_ in her motor launch, and
proceeded to the other ship. After they had been aboard her a few
minutes, a message came back that the Spanish ship was from Delagoa Bay
to Colombo with a cargo of 5,800 tons of coal for the British Admiralty
authorities in Ceylon. So the Germans would not after all have to intern
the _Wolf_ and her prize in a neutral country--if she could reach
one--at any rate from lack of coal, as we fondly imagined might have