"Sami Bey's wife, it developed, had in the course of the first negotiations, dispatched an Arab boy to Jeddah. From that place the governor had telegraphed to the emir. The latter at once sent camel troops with his two sons and his personal surgeon; the elder, Abdullah, conducted the negotiations, and the surgeon acted as interpreter in French. Now things proceeded in one-two-three order, and the whole Bedouin band speedily disappeared. From what I learned later I know definitely that they had been corrupted with bribes by the English. They knew when and where we would pass, and they had made all preparations. Now our first act was a rush for water; then we cleared up our camp, but had to harness our camels ourselves, for the camel drivers had fled at the very beginning of the skirmish. "Then, under the safe protection of Turkish troops, we got to Jeddah. There the authorities and the populace received us very well. From there we proceeded in nineteen days by sail boat to Elwesh, and under abundant guard with the Suleiman Pasha, in a five-day caravan journeyed to El Ula." "Have I received the Iron Cross?" was the first question Captain Muecke asked when he got to that place, and old newspapers which he found there told him that he had. A few days later the party was on train, riding toward Germany. * * * * * CHAPTER XX SUMMARY OF THE FIRST YEAR OF NAVAL WARFARE The first year of the war came to an end in August, 1915, with the naval situation much the same as it stood at the end of the first six months. The navy of practically every belligerent was intact; the Allies enjoyed the freedom of the seas, but the fact that a German fleet lay intact in the North Sea, and an Austrian fleet lay intact in the Adriatic Sea, indicated only the naval supremacy of the Allies, but not that they had won decisive naval victories. As there had been no victory there had been no defeat, yet there had been losses to all concerned. The mine and the submarine had changed somewhat the methods of naval warfare--the enemies "nibbled" at their opponents' fleets. Battleships were lost, though the first year of the Great War had seen no pitched battle between ships of that class. During the second six months of the war England lost the five old battleships _Irresistible, Ocean, Goliath, Triumph_, and _Majestic_; the destroyers _Recruit_ and _Maori_; and the submarine _E-15_ and another unidentified; and the auxiliary cruisers _Clan McNaughton, Bayano_, and _Princess Irene_. Her ally France had lost, during the same period, the old battleship _Bouvet_, the cruiser _Leon Gambetta_, the destroyer _Dague_, and the submarines _Joule, Mariotte_, and one unidentified.