British Secret Service During the Great War

-Confidences on Super-Submarines and Zeppelins-A Country Inn-Preparing Despatches-Forcible Intrusion-Arreste

y spring of 1915, with a companion whom I would have trusted with

on some of the important and secret war material of Germany. If I could meet them on German soil, so much the better; they would then be much more likely to open out and talk more freely than they would do if me

isit, which was jealously guarded, and which the Germans had every intention of occupying at an early date. Wild, speculative talk, perha

ing of 1915, although the fact was never communicated to the English Press, it was said to be situated. A small, exceedingly c

al circulation. Visitors were not welcomed and the local inhabitants were fearful

wn free will, would have appreciated either a business or a pleasure trip to the harbour in question. Yet early one eventful morning, when the weather was at its worst and everyone else had sought shelter, we braved the elements and attempted to lay a course through the maze of marshland roads, dams and banks, which would not have been an easy task to many of the natives. Our struggle to win through these and other unseen difficulties seemed hopeless. But our mi

ion impossible. No cover was available until the great embankment was attained. It guarded some tens of thousands of acres of reclaimed land. What a relief it was to us poor wayfarers to reach this comparative haven of peace, an oasis in the desert of howlin

p, which at the moment in question were full of individuals-refugees from the storm and others. The windows of these houses commanded every road within miles. Was it likely, the sentries undoubtedly argued within themselves, or to be suspected for a moment, that anyone in sane senses would at

life as pleasant as could be, drinking coffee heavily st

his lungs at strangers. On arrival at the harbour, which was concealed from view of the houses by the height of the embankment before mentioned, we quickly and dexterously got to work, free from observation or interruption. My companion kept watch on the main entr

n. Retracing our steps until we were quite convinced there was no chance of trouble from possible prying followers, we paused on the outskir

old Pedersen, the smuggle

then." This was

n of cordiality and pleasure. But how deceptive can be the ways of men time will show. Coffee was at once put on the hob to boil, and a liberal supply of potato-brandy and eatables forthcoming. The glo

him a rich harvest. It appeared he had many relations living and working in Germany. They helped him not a little. Custom officials on that side also knew him well. They winked at most things now which before the

nty of them. Danish, German, Russian, and English. He kne

in, but he had seen English submarines in the Femern Belt. He had spoken them an

seen and heard quite enough about them; but the Russian mines were another proposition. He believed most of the Russian mines were floating ones, either from design or accident. A

ended to disarm any suspicions we might have entertained against him. We, h

drew into deeper reticence and avoided asking questions which might have raised possible suspicions of the deep absorbing interest such

tence to ask his long-lost friend who I

wind, coupled with perhaps the stronger

l right." "Of course," replied the smuggler, "I knew if he was with you he must be all right. But in these times you never know, so you'll have to excuse my asking"; and he continued to describe all he had heard and knew con

erful improvement on all former known airships of their kind. They would be very much larger; have their cars covered in; there would be more of them; their speed would be materially increase

much prodding and shaking, before he could be aroused from his lethargy. When apparently I was only half awake we left the hut, cursing the belligerents generally for upsetting everybody's livel

ught opinion that the liquor had got the b

hood of a small township. We made our way to an inn in the

g is kept in readiness it takes much more time than elsewhere. An hour is the minimum. I sought my bed

ed hieroglyphics which had apparently been made on rough paper, possibly inside my pocket with a pencil stump when perhaps reclining in an awkward position and unable or unwilling to see to guide the fingers which gripped the active stump of lead. B

gh a guilty conscience plagued my peace of mind. Quick as lightning I removed and concealed certain precious belongings, doubled up the sheet of paper upon which I was work

y. Take all things quietly and all things will be well." But the impatient visitor would not and did not wait.

e quickly forward, and I

o we are?" h

regret to say that I have no

who, without sign of interest in the preliminary conversation, proceeded to prop up the broken door to s

clenched my hands in a way which d

nationality in the wide, wide world, except that one. I am not in any way related to the barbarians, nor wi

you are under ar

at I am in a private apartment. If the door is guarded, the window is not;

w you are German. Search his belongings, sergeant, and search thoroughly." Saying whic

be of use to any belligerent power; whilst the only literature which had recently found favour in the eyes of the reading public seemed to relate to spies and espionage, whether in fact or in fiction. Hence every local junior or senior police or other officer seemed to imagine himself a born Sherlock Holmes. In vain I i

I remarked somewhat sarcastically, but the su

f a big black cigar and hunted round for matches. Blindly ignoring a box on the table, I eventually extracted some f

ced the floor smoking. Then, seeing the glove lying there, I picked it up and sarcastically off

nterview. When the officer had advanced to read the postcards I had taken care to be there first. I had carelessly picked up the aforesaid paper and played with it; twisting it rou

reached and picked it up just a second before him and proceeded to twist it with even g

ry confinement for a period of many years. As the officer unrolled the twisted paper I had handed over it proved to be utterly devoid of interest or utility; it was, in fact, a piece of blank paper, in size about the thickness of a man's thumb. By way of explanation to the r

rrogation the two officers engaged in whisp

an who appeared to carry much weight and influence in local affairs. He was the equivalent t

I, the prisoner, helped by turning out my pockets and opening

I must not leave the inn without a permit. Meanwhile my travelling compani

crumpled paper within its folds; whilst my glove was sought and relieved of its twisted draft despatch. But what amused me most of all was a book entitled King Alcohol, a discourse on the curse of drink. I had called special attention to this book, a Danish edition of Jack London, and it had been indignantly cast upon the table both by the magistrate and the officers.[9] It had lain there

sturbed belongings was necessary, and then I wondered how my companion was faring at the hands of the authorities, whose exasperati

matter over in my mind the more puzzled I became. Could the old smuggler have communicated possible suspicions? Could we have been seen at work on the harbour? Was my companion everything I believed him to be?

eceived with ridicule until an argument convinced the magistrate that I knew far more about that sport than he did; whilst addresses of certain local

harbour had been visited; whilst they had searched diligently and

e authority and the wisdom of carrying any further so delicate a matter as interference with our personal liberty when there was no evidence whatever for him to go upon. My criticisms were pleasantly and playfully worded, but they were also concise and crushing in their logic; bes

t adjourned until the morrow, and our lon

ortable prospects; that although the suspicions which had been aroused had been checkmated for the moment, there seemed every probability that further trouble was likely to develop.

*

that southernmost Danish township and disappeared in the surrounding gloom; travellers once more amidst the flotsam and jetsam of life's high

TNO

riously hard drinkers resent any l