Five Months on a German Raider

What a sudden, what a dramatic change in our fortunes! One that easily might have been, might even yet be, tragic. At half-past one, less than two hours before, we were comfortably on board a fine ship, absolutely unsuspicious of the least danger. If any of us had thought of the matter at all, we probably imagined we were in the safest part of the ocean. But, at three o'clock, here we were, having undergone the trying ordeal of shell-fire in the interval, drifting helplessly in lifeboats in mid-ocean, all our personal belongings left behind in what we imagined to be a sinking ship, not knowing what fate was in store for us, but naturally, remembering what we had heard of German sea outrages, dreading the very worst.

[Illustration: HITACHI PASSENGERS AND CREW IN LIFEBOATS AFTER THEIR SHIP HAD BEEN SHELLED.

From an enlargement of photo taken on the Wolf by a German officer.]

CHAPTER II

PRISONERS ON THE "WOLF"

Escape in any way w