True Stories of the Great War, Volume 3 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
History
True Stories of the Great War, Volume 3 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
The true prizes, the genuine booty, you recognize by sure
symptoms--Germanic faces, Teutonic accents, harsh or honeyed answers,
stammered explanations. In vain do they disguise their names and hand
us forged writings, their Germanic race leaks through all their pores.
They are hurrying to foment rebellion in Egypt or Tripoli; they are
on their way to the Balkans to do their work; to burrow underground
in India or China. Invariably they have Swiss or Dutch passports, but
their certificate of nationality, brand new, is fresh from the printing
press, and reminds you of false coins, too new and shiny. Suspects!
The officer goes down to their cabins. Under the mattress, behind the
washstand, in the folds of a counterpane, lie the incriminating papers.
Enemies!
From this point, one must go on decisively, gracefully, in the French
fashion. The officer halts in front of the German, addresses him by
name, lays a light finger on his sleeve or shoulder, and says, without
raising his voice:
"I arrest you. Follow my sailor, who will take your baggage and put you
into the boat."
Cries, explosions of anger, insults must not disturb him. He must add
nothing. What has been said has been said.
V--STORY OF THE WIRELESS AT SEA--THE SECRET LANGUAGE
We have on board an ear that never sleeps; it is the wireless
telegraph. The apparatus is buried in the depths of the hold; a padded
cabin isolates the operators from the noise of the machinery and the
cross-currents of discord. From watch to watch the telegraphers pass
over the receiver to each other, and the finest murmurs never escape
their vigilance.
The air vibrates in an uninterrupted concert. Coming from stations
near or far, from ships wandering on the Atlantic or close at hand,
calls, conversations seek out their way; the ether transmits them
instantaneously. The powerful antennae of the Eiffel Tower, of Ireland,
of Germany, of Italy, or of Constantinople dominate with their noisy
throats the feeble whispers. With their full force, to any distance,
they launch the official news of the great ordeal. If some one talks
too loudly, 500 or 1,000 kilometers away, (300 to 600 miles,) they
raise their tones, throw more strength into their voices, until the
interrupters become silent.
A tacit agreement alternates their messages. The German does not
obstruct the Frenchman, the Turk waits until Malta has finished.
Madrid, talking to Berlin, rests while London speaks. For these great
stations, controlled by their Governments, send out only announcements
of the first importance, such as the whole world should know, and they
wish neither to confuse nor to be confused. Reports from the front,
happenings at sea, diplomatic or financial transactions, plans or
insults, circulate in all languages, and you can be certain that the
newspapers will not publish them. If by chance the reader of newspapers
finds them in his daily sheet, it will be a week or a fortnight later,
in a garbled, unrecognizable form.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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