affair I had delivered up six marks. I would have cheerfully paid six
hundred to disown it now.

"What explanation is there for his possession of that paper?"
asked the General sternly.

De Leval pleaded cleverly, dilating upon the natural inquisitiveness
and roaming disposition of the American race.

"I know what the Wanderlust is," said the General, "but I fail to
understand the peculiar desire of this man to travel only in
dangerous and forbidden war zones."

"In the second place," the General continued, "there is no doubt
that he has made some remark to the effect that in the long run
Germany cannot win. That was overheard by an officer in a cafe
and is undeniable. The other charges we will for the time waive,"
said the General, drawing himself up with a fine hauteur. "But his
identifying evidence is very flimsy. Can you produce any better?"

Suddenly I bethought me of the gold watch in my pocket. It was a
presentation from some two hundred people of small means in an
industrial district in Boston. Three of the aides successively and
successfully damaged their thumbnails in their eagerness to pry
open the back cover. That is a source of considerable satisfaction
to me now; but it was embarrassing in that delicate situation when
my fate hung almost by a thread, and a trifle could delay my
release for days. If the General damaged his own thumb on it, I
feel sure that I would have been remanded back to prison. But,
luckily, the cover sprang open and revealed to the eyes the words: