dressed up as various characters, and we had a regular variety show. Among the offerings were clog dancing, sword dancing, highland fling, the good old cake walk, and the Texas Tommy. The last number was what we called the "Hitachi Rag" and was danced by everybody. It consisted of the regulation "rag" varied by every conceivable step, including high and lofty tumbling. All during the performance the German sailors on the _Hitachi_ were peering in through the portholes and lining the alley ways and steps, enjoying the show almost as much as the rest of us. But this "Hitachi Rag" was more than the disciplined Teutons could stand. First two of them tried it, and in a few minutes all the Germans were dancing. The news spread to the _Wolf_ and there was a general stampede of Teuton guards and sailors, in our direction. For a few minutes we had full charge of the ship, as the Teutons wouldn't stop when their petty officers called them. Shortly afterwards the Chief Officer appeared and made us all stop, saying that it was the Commander's orders, and that we were "stopping the work of the ship"--to say nothing of undermining German discipline. On the _Hitachi_, many of us lost things out of our rooms, such as razors, a camera, combs and various toilet articles and articles of clothing. One day, one of the British chaps caught a Jap steward in his room using his safety razor. As this particular Jap had pimples and sores all over his face, the British ally and owner of the razor was very hostile. I asked him what he was going to do about it. "I shall report the bally rotter to the management," the Briton replied. Not being used to such violent outbursts of emotion I beat it. All the time that we were lying here among the Maldive Islands, 12 days in all, transferring cargo, the flying machine made regular observation trips twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. On three different occasions it reported seeing steamers passing not more than 50 or 60 miles off, and once it reported seeing a fast cruiser, probably British, travelling along at full speed. This island where we were lying was only 50 or 60 miles off the regular trade route and I had hopes that some patrolling vessel would blunder on to us, but no such luck; although one night our hopes were raised to a great height. Just shortly after sunset, my wife imagined that she saw something on the Western horizon. I got my glasses and concealing myself so that I could not be discovered I had a look. I, too, could see something, but at that time could not make it out; although in another ten minutes I had another look and sure enough it was bigger and plainer. Shortly after, it was discovered by the Germans, and an alarm sounded. Everybody was thrown into great excitement, and the lines tying the _Wolf_ and the _Hitachi_ together were let go. All of us prisoners ran to our rooms and got our "emergency kits" ready.