I had placed my mattress near a French window, so that I could easily look through it whilst lying on the floor. The day had brought many changes, and only now was I able to reflect on them. The barracks in which we were quartered lay at the very top of Gibraltar, on the south, where the rocks drop straight into the sea. Through the window I saw, deep below me, the wonderfully blue waters of the Straits of Gibraltar; quite far away on the horizon, the coast of Africa, a fine and shining strip of land. Down below was Liberty, ships wended their way to and fro, carrying men, free and unfettered, who could travel where they liked and—who did not appreciate how marvellous and precious it was to be free! But that way madness lay! The thoughts and events of the day raced through my brain, and when I remembered that, with luck, I might have been on one of these boats I nearly burst with rage. And it was my birthday too! Well, I had planned it otherwise. Like a madman I rolled about on my couch. When I thought of how different things might have been, of all I had hoped for, and how I had pictured my future, I gave way to utter despair, and helpless fury brought the tears coursing down my cheeks without my being able to check them. Oh, longing for home—dreadful longing! But during that night I was not the only sufferer. Pale faces with wide-open eyes stared at the ceiling, and suppressed sobbing was smothered in the blankets. The next morning, at four o’clock, we were suddenly awakened. The English non-commissioned officers went through the rooms and yelled out an order that all German prisoners had to get ready to march off in twenty minutes’ time to sail by the next boat to England. To England! But that was impossible! Were we not Swiss? Had we not to see our Consul on that very day? All our efforts broke against the stolid, imperturbable calm of the English. We quickly collected our property and, exactly half an hour later, the civilian prisoners, numbering fifty-six, surrounded by a hundred heavily armed English soldiers, were marched out into the bright morning. But we wanted to prove to the English that our pride was unbroken. With a clear and ringing sound, intensified by the anger that was burning within us, we poured forth “The Watch on the Rhine,” flinging its notes up to the skies. A huge transport, filled to overflowing with English troops, awaited us below. We had to run the gauntlet through a narrow passage that was formed for us in the great crowd of travellers and those who had come to see them off. But I must admit that nobody molested us, and that no word of disparagement reached our ears. Room for us was made in silence, in silence we were allowed to pass, even here and there we encountered a look of commiseration and regret. On board, in the front part of the cargo deck, a space had been partitioned off and sparsely furnished with benches, tables and hammocks.