More and more satisfactory tidings came from on board our capture. The ship was laden with a precious cargo, which would compensate us amply for the risk we had run in attacking a vessel provided with wireless. Specially welcome was the news that the _Appam_ was carrying a million marks in gold. Without losing a minute we transported this treasure to the hold of the _Moewe_. It was comparatively light booty--eighteen cases in all; sixteen cases of them contained fourteen bars of gold apiece, and two gold-dust. So far everything had gone splendidly. What, however, was to be done with the four English officers, twenty sailors and marines, and the hundred and sixty passengers on board the _Appam_? To transfer them to the _Moewe_ was out of the question, every available corner being occupied. After some deliberation, I dispatched Reserve Officer Berg, with a prize-crew of twenty men, to the _Appam_. The released Germans were told to consider him as the master of the ship and on every occasion to back him up. That being settled, we hurriedly departed, for the _Moewe_ still feared the possible consequences of that interrupted wireless message of the _Appam_. Our next act was to ascertain what provisions the _Appam_ had on board, for my intention was to send our captive into some port only after a considerable time, for with our parting from her the secret of our existence would naturally come to light. At nightfall we stopped the ship, and I summoned the captain, officers, and crew of the _Appam_, also the four officers and sailors belonging to the British Navy. By all laws and rights they were prisoners of war, and had to join their friends below. VII--STORY OF THE COLONIAL PRISONERS The passengers of the _Appam_, our officers told me, were literally trembling for their lives. I decided, therefore, to have an interview with the two most representative passengers, the Governors of the English colonies of Sierra Leone and Nigeria--Sir Edward Merewether and Mr. James. These two gentlemen, on being conducted to my cabin, had the situation fully explained to them. Fortunately for them, the German Colonials on board the _Appam_ had already informed me that both these men, in striking contrast to the usual English official, were not rabid German-haters, and had in the prosecution of their official duties treated Germans comparatively well.