The Secrets of the German War OfficeGraves, Armgaard Karl
History
The Secrets of the German War Office
Graves, Armgaard Karl
Germany -- Foreign relations -- 1871-1918
In one of the clubs, I found a clue. A young Rajah, one of the
numerous coterie of petty princes--fair play compels me to withhold
his name--had got himself into some trouble and the paternal
government had promptly suspended his income. Here was my chance. I
soon ascertained young Rajah's haunts and made it my business to
frequent them. One day I found him on the veranda of the Marine Hotel
and asked him for a match, making a return compliment of a cigarette.
This was a procedure against established British social usage in the
East, where it is considered _infra dig_ to meet a native on a social
footing. Herein lies a grave danger to English colonial policy. Your
semi-European educated native, having partly absorbed European
manners, resents this subordination and ostracism. So, with this
high-spirited, rather clever young rajah. I accepted his invitation
to whiskey "pegs" and subsequent dinner at his bungalow. One visit
led to another and we were soon rather intimate. The young Rajah,
having the usual native taste for luxury well developed and his income
stopped, I became of some monetary assistance to him. Also,
judiciously fostering his discontent against the government, I soon
had him in a desired frame of mind. Through his influence on the
native clerks, I was able to gain all the plans, data and photographs
of England's new naval base in the Straits Settlement.
By this time my close association with this notorious young Rajah was
marked and I found it advisable to pull up stakes, which I did in
short order, arranging passage on the N. D. L. liner _Sachsen_,
homeward bound. Having a week to spare and finding that by leaving
the _Sachsen_ at Colombo, I could catch the _Prinz Regent Leopold_ of
the same line, coming up from Australia en route for Europe, I had my
ticket transferred. This would give me a ten-day vacation in Ceylon,
where I had a number of acquaintances, having hunted there during my
early travels. Accordingly, at Colombo I put up at the Galle Face
Hotel, and the first man I met was Allan MacGregor, one of Lipton's
tea estate managers, in Kandy and Newara Elya. MacGregor and I were
old pals, having done much hunting and bridge playing in days gone by.
I planned to spend a week with him and go after some leopards. By the
by, I'd like to see the MacGregor's face when he learns that his
quondam friend and boon companion was an international spy!
"Dinna get sair, Mac. You're no the only chiel what'll tak a wee
surprise."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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