There were some good features to the plan—its value as a means of terrorizing Canadians, for instance—but it was doubtful whether at that time we could carry it out successfully. Then, too, we could not be sure whether it was not merely a trap for us. Papen had been making inquiries about Schumacher and was not entirely satisfied as to his good faith. There were a number of other schemes which we considered at this time. One was to equip reservists of the German Army, then in the United States, and co-operating with German warships then in the Pacific Ocean to invade Canada from the State of Washington. This plan was abandoned because of the impossibility of securing enough artillery for our purposes. Another plan that we considered more carefully, involved an expedition against Jamaica. This was a much more feasible scheme than any that had been proposed thus far, and we spent many days over it. Jamaica was none too well defended, and it seemed fairly probable that with an army of ragamuffins which I could easily recruit in Mexico and Central America, we could make a success of it. Arms were easy to secure; in fact, we had a very well equipped arsenal in New York; and filibustering had become so common since the outbreak of the Mexican revolution, that it would be easy to obtain what additional material we needed without disclosing our purpose. On the whole the idea looked promising, and matters had gone so far that von Papen secured my appointment as captain, so that in the event of my being captured on British soil with arms in my hand, I should be treated as a prisoner of war. Then just when we were making final preparations for my departure from New York, von Papen came to me in great excitement and said he had come upon a plan that would serve our purposes to perfection. Canada was, after all, our principal objective; we could strike a telling blow against it, and at the same time create consternation throughout America by blowing up the canals which connected the Great Lakes! “It is comparatively simple,” said von Papen. “If we blow up the locks of these canals, the main railway lines of Canada and the principal grain elevators will be crippled. Immediately we shall destroy one of England’s chief sources of food supply as well as hamper the transportation of war materials. Canada will be thrown into a panic and public opinion will _demand_ that her troops be held for home defense. But best of all, it will make the Canadians believe that the thousands of German reservists and the millions of German-Americans in the United States are planning active military operations against the Dominion.” I looked at him in surprise. Where had he got such a plan? Papen enlightened me with his next words.