But before going to England it was necessary that I take every possible precaution against exposure there. My passport might be sufficient identification, but I knew that since the arrest of Carl Lody and other German spies in England, the British authorities were examining passports with a great deal more care than they had formerly exercised. Accordingly, one morning, Mr. Bridgman Taylor presented himself at the American Embassy for financial aid with which to leave Germany. There was good reason for this. To ask a consulate or embassy to visé a passport when that is not necessary, may easily seem suspicious. But the applicant for aid, receives not only additional identification in the form of a record of his movements, but also secures an advantage in that his passport bears an indorsement of his appeal for assistance, in my case signed with the name of the Ambassador. At The Hague I again applied for help from the United States Relief Commission. I amused myself on this occasion by making two drafts; one for fifteen dollars on Mr. John F. Ryan of Buffalo, N. Y., and one for thirty dollars on “Mr. Papen” of New York City. I was fairly secure, then, I thought. If suspicion did fall upon me, it would be simple to prove that I had submitted my passport to a number of American officials, and had consequently satisfied them of my good faith as well as that the passport had not been issued to some one other than myself, as in the case of Lody. As a final step I took care to divide my personal papers into two groups: those which were perfectly harmless, such as my Mexican commission and leave of absence, and those which would tend to establish my identity as a German agent. These I deposited in two separate safe-deposit vaults in Rotterdam, taking care to remember in which each group was placed—and that done, with a feeling of personal security, and even a certain amount of zest for the adventure, I boarded a channel steamer for England. I was absolutely safe, I felt. In my confidence, I went about very freely, ignoring the fact that England was at the moment in the throes of a spy-scare, and even so well-recommended a German-American as Mr. Bridgman Taylor, was not likely to escape scrutiny. And yet, I believe that I should not have been caught at all, if I had not stopped one day in front of the Horse Guards and joined the crowd that was watching guard mount. Why I did it, it is impossible for me to say. There was no military advantage to be gained; that is certain. And I had seen guard mount often enough to find no element of novelty in it. Whim, I suppose, drew me there; and as luck would have it, it drew into a particularly congested portion of the crowd. And then chance played another card, by causing a small boy to step on my foot. I lost my temper and abused the lad roundly for his carelessness—so roundly in fact that a man standing in front of me turned around and looked into my face.