"On the next day I again dropped in on the great General Staff and found it not only at home, but very much interested on discovering that I had no pass to come or go or be there at that time. The war-time mind of Prussian militarism is keen and right to the point. It saw not the chance of getting publicity in America, but the certainty that other more dangerous spies could come through the same way. By all the rules of the war game, Prussian militarism would have been thoroughly justified in treating me as a common spy in possession of vital military secrets, but it courteously contented itself in insisting on plucking out the heart of the journalistic mystery. All attempts at evasion and humour were vain—here was the ruthless reality of war. It was the mailed Prussian Eagle against the bluff American bird of the same species, and the unequal contest was soon ended when Major Nikolai, Chief of Division III. of the great General Staff, stood up very straight and dignified and said: "'I am a German officer. What German violated his duty? I ask you as a man of honour how was it possible for you to come here?' "The answer was quite simple: 'The German military machine was so perfect that it covered every contingency except the most obvious and guarded every road except the easiest way. All you have to do is to take a passenger train to Luxemberg, and hang around the platform until the next military train pulls out for Belgium or France, hop aboard, and keep on going. In case of doubt utter the magic phrase, "I am an American," and flash the open sesame, the red seal of the United States of America—to which bearded Landsturm guards pay the tribute of regarding it as equally authoritative as the purple Prussian eagle stamped on a military pass.' "Followed a two-hour dialogue in the private office of the chief of the Kaiser's secret field police, as a result of which future historians will find in the Kaiser's secret archives the following unique document, couched in Berlin legal terminology and signed and subscribed to by the _Times_ correspondent: "'Secret Field Police, Great Headquarters, Dec. 1, 1914. "'There appears the American war correspondent and at the particular request of the authorities, explains: "'On Saturday, Nov. 30, I arrived at Trier on a second-class ticket at about 10.30 P.M. There I bought a third-class ticket and boarded a train leaving Luxemberg at about 12.15 A.M. I did not go into the railroad station, but trusting to my paper, boarded a military train leaving at 12.45 A.M., going over Longwy to Longuyon, where I arrived at 3.30 A.M., Sunday. There an official whose name I do not know took me to a troop train and made a place for me in the brake box. I left the train at X and went on foot to H (the Great Headquarters), where I reported myself to the Chief of Police.