IN all we were about three weeks at the camp, and we spent some very happy days there; but the end came rather unexpectedly one evening, when we suddenly received an order from the ship to pack all our gear and get on board by 9 the following morning. We were a little sorry, and yet in a sense relieved, for after all we were out to fight, not to picnic—and we had hardly seen a shot fired since we left home waters. We telephoned to the port officer to have a car ready to take us and our effects down to Kilindini Harbour by 8 a.m., and that night we were busy packing up all our cooking utensils, our range-finder, clothes, etc. Next morning we were up early, packed our bedding, had a good look round to see that nothing had been forgotten, dismissed our native servant, and then awaited the car we had ordered. But time went on, and there was no sign of any car, so at 8.15 I was sent off on the same old bike to commandeer the first taxi I came across. Fortunately I managed to get one just inside the town, and went back with it as quickly as possible. We loaded up in a frantic hurry, and got down to the pier just in time, and so on board our ship. By noon we were clear of the harbour, and steaming at full speed southwards. Now we learned that we were under orders to destroy all the shipping in the harbour of Dar-es-Salaam, the capital of German East Africa, which lies about twenty miles south of Zanzibar. It appeared that the Huns in that port had been surreptitiously supplying food, etc. to the crew of the _Koenigsberg_, that German raider which had been safely bottled up in the Rufigi river some weeks previously, and it was designed to cut their claws by disabling such merchant shipping as they possessed. That evening we dropped anchor in Zanzibar, and started coaling by native labour. Here we saw the masts of _H.M.S. Pegasus_ sticking up forlornly out of the water half-a-mile on our port bow. They were very much battered and smashed, for she had been sunk by the _Koenigsberg_ in September. Early next morning we weighed anchor, and proceeded out of the harbour in company with _H.M.S. “——.”_ At 8 a.m. we sighted Dar-es-Salaam, and all hands went to general quarters. Half-an-hour later we dropped anchor in the roads outside Dar-es-Salaam, and when all the guns were cleared away, and ready for instant action, we were allowed to go on deck for a few minutes. The town, with the Governor’s house, a handsome building, standing out prominently on the foreshore, looked very peaceful and harmless in the brilliant tropical sunshine. It was rather an awful thought that we might have to shatter and destroy those quiet-looking houses in which lived women, and worst of all—children. War _is_ a ghastly thing, and it seems so wantonly _stupid_. A large white flag was hoisted at our fore-mast. _We_ meant to play a square game anyway, and give them a fair chance. Then we signalled to the Governor of the town to come on board and receive our ultimatum.