His Majesty gave the signal, and I was led out into the courtyard, where I found six men under the command of an officer, drawn up in line. I was placed in front of them, and as I looked down the rifle-barrels already pointed at my heart I felt really nervous for a moment. The scene was illuminated by a solitary lamp fixed over the gateway, and its rays broke against the row of steel tubes which held death. ‘Now,’ said the Kaiser, stepping close to my side, ‘tell me the truth--the real truth, mind--and I will spare your life.’ I tried to think of something which Wilhelm II. would be likely to believe. In the meantime, I congratulated myself on not having disclosed my identity, as in that case, of course, it would not have occurred to his Majesty that I could be induced to betray my employer. He saw that I was hesitating, and fortunately mistook the reason. ‘I will not only spare your life, but I will send you across the frontier under an escort, and let you go free,’ his Majesty declared. I affected to yield reluctantly. ‘My mission is not, strictly speaking, an official one. I am the agent of an individual, who wishes to render a service to his countrymen, without his action being publicly known. Your Majesty’s recent alliance with Great Britain to blockade Venezuela has aroused the fears of thoughtful American statesmen. It is suspected that you may have other projects in which the interests of the United States are concerned, and I have been instructed----’ ‘By Theodore Roosevelt!’ the Kaiser exclaimed, falling back a pace or two. I nodded. ‘Your Majesty has guessed the truth. The project which I have discovered among your papers does not concern the United States, and I am therefore willing to undertake that it shall not be revealed to the President.’ ‘Enough,’ Wilhelm II. said in subdued tones. ‘I have passed my word.’ He turned to the officer. ‘Take this man in irons to Hamburg, and place him on board a British vessel.’ If I felt some compunction at the liberty I had taken with the name of the United States President, I consoled myself with the assurance that he would pardon me in view of the fact that I was acting in the interest of the mother-country. My escort placed me on board a steamer bound for Hull, with an intimation to the captain that my irons were not to be struck off till the ship was out of the Elbe. The captain was naturally curious to learn who I was. I allowed him to suppose that I was a Pole banished for sedition. Fortunately, I had ample funds about me to defray my first-class passage, and I have generally found in dealing with Englishmen that a Bank of England note inspires more confidence than a testimonial from an Archbishop. As soon as the boat reached Hull I made the best of my way to Balmoral, where Lord Bedale was staying in attendance on King Edward.