Evening star., 1921-07-31

0S
on board several vessels of the Amer.
lean line before quitting the sea ana
entering an importing house in the
city. Indeed, he was exceptionally
frank in speaking of his early hfe.
dor. or whether it was that his bear,
ing belied his words (for he carried
himself with an erectness and pre-
cision of movement rarely to be found
in a sailor and suggesting a military
rather than a naval education), which
aroused my distrust. ! cannot say,
but I could not escape the feeling
| that he was playing a part and was
not really what he purported to be.
Whatever the reason or the instinct.
I could not bring myself to fraternize
cordially with him, as did my ship
though our relations were always
J pleasant enough. In brief. ! was not
drawn to him, popular as he was with
the others. All during this time
had scrupulously observed my father s
injpnctions, so that not q soul on
of my familiarity with rthe German
language. 1t was due 10 this reti-
cence on my part that I was able,
subsequently,. to be of some service
to my country.
y ksf
|WHEN Congress declared that a
state of war existed between the
United States and the German En-
pire, practically all OF us of the Gran
ite State volunteered for duty afioat.
enlisted at once. soon was rated a
quartermaster. second class. and as
signed to a battleship. Here I was
fortunate enough to win the appro-
baton of my officers! who procured
for me admission to the intensive
course of instruction at Annapolis,
whence l emerged as an ensign in the
Naval Reserve.
pigments l come to the day in the
spring Of 1916 when | received orders to
the fuel and Store ship Ponticus. On re-
porting l found that her commanding
officer was the same Charles Johnson
whom l had met previously on board
the Granite State. He was now a lieu
tenant commander and l only a lieu
tenant. He received me with over
flowing expressions of welcome. so
that i felt justifed-in looking forward
to a very agreeable association. My
position was that OF executive and Sc
nior watch officer. The latter duty
was shared by two.fipe feIlows-one
man.
The ship. which; already had on
board quantity of .TET and vana-
dium ore, the. latter metal an i'm
nortant ingredient in high speed tool
Steel and worth. almost its weight In
gold, was ordered to q gulf port to
fill up with oil and then to proceed to
Queenstown, the base Of our oil-burn-
ing destroyers. some twenty in num-
Der. 4 S:F !
The first few weeks of the voyage
were devoid of interest But on odr
way north after leaving the gulf. we
encountered off Cape Hatteras thick
Coming up on. deck one evening after
dark, l went to the wather side to
have a look about. hoping for signs
Of improved conditions. None could
be noticed. In fact. the night was
SO black that nothing could be seen. 1
ing onto the hand rail at the side of
the deckhouse. to which / clung to
steady myself against the deep roll
ing Of the ship, 1 worked aft to the
end of the house. where 1 turned and
followed it almost all the way across.
At this point, to my utter aston
ishment. my ears. which are excep-
tionally keen. caught the sound of
fluent German in an undertone and I
recognized the voice of our captain in
conversation with a man. whom later
! identified as quartermaster. named
Smith. They were to leeward Of the
deckhouse and just around the corner
from meas quiet place as could be
found on board under the circum-
stances, and one where, in the dark
ness they would never have been seen.
The noise Of the wind whfstling
through the rigging and upper works
Of the Ponticus had SO drowned the
fall of my footsteps that my ap-
proach was not perceived by them.
aroused to the fullest. and I had no
hesitation in .eavesdropping. AL
though l listened intently. could
make out but a word here. land there;
still 1 did catch the expression made
famous by Won Papen "diese blod-
Amerfcans), also allusi6ns to q
U-boat, which they seemed to ex-
pect to meet, and some nhr@ses as to
fixing" the cOmpasses. K,
THIS was enough to convince me
L that johnson was a German ennis
sary, doubtless bent on mischief.
Once the fact became clear to me.
slipped back unnoticed to map out a
plan of campaign. Quickly summon
ing my colleagues, Baker and Sted-
man, / held with them a conference
on the bridge of the ship, At which
it was agreed to keep our eyes and
ears wide open, but to o nothing
until something should OCCUR to call
for prompt action or untA the cap
tain had committed himself beyond
recall by an oyert-act. AteE much