Dozens of newspaper reporters and photographers swarmed over the deck, filled the saloons, and even invaded the cabins. The fellows had already got on my scent. They surrounded one on all sides; cameras clicked everywhere—it was simply revolting. At last I took refuge in the only expedient that is of any use. I became rude and shouted: “I have nothing to say, and if you molest me any further I shall fetch the police.” My war correspondent from Kiao-Chow had taught me beforehand to treat his colleagues in this manner. Only a tiny yellow Japanese crept up to me like a cat, made a deep obeisance, hissed through his teeth and said, with a false smile, that he came from the Japanese Consulate (of all places!) to greet me and to wish me happiness on my leaving Kiao-Chow with such luck. He assured me I had nothing to fear, as I was on American soil; but that he would be only too charmed to send a short account to his paper in Tokio, to delight his Japanese brethren. I ordered my Chinese steward to throw the yellow Jap out. San Francisco! CHAPTER X CAUGHT! SAN FRANCISCO! Oh, huge, marvellous city! What I enjoyed most was my freedom from arrest. Officialdom did not take the slightest notice of my presence, and I remained there for several days, in spite of the frantic anxiety of the German Consulate, which expected me to be led into captivity at any moment. I have rarely in my life enjoyed a madder, more delirious New Year’s Eve than in San Francisco! Nothing that I had heard about it approached reality. It was a pleasure to look at the people—thoroughbred, every one of them. The men tall and strong, the women captivatingly beautiful in their blonde fairness. My friends invited me to one of their biggest and most beautiful night clubs. Exorbitant prices and the smartest society of San Francisco. During that night everything seemed permissible. The music and the dancing carried one away with their beauty and wildness. It was the night of San Francisco. On the 2nd of January 1915 I took my departure, and by chance I met in the same railway carriage one of my comrades, and also several Germans with whom I had previously travelled by boat. We had a most enjoyable journey, the more so as the papers brought good news from Germany. As several of the elderly ladies and gentlemen were bound for home, we two officers also firmly believed that we were not far from attaining our object. We stopped at the Great Cañon of Arizona to admire the mighty wonders of Nature, which enfolded themselves in their glorious beauty. On the following days our train sped through the prairie, recalling to our minds boyish recollections of Fenimore Cooper and the Mohicans. At Chicago we separated, and I travelled thence to Virginia on a visit to dear friends of mine, and in the hope of finding out how I best could reach Europe. After two or three days I sped to New York to try my luck there.