It was not until his apparently casual questions about the time of the _Mongolia's_ sailing and whether she was to be armed became annoying that "I woke up," and looking attentively at this over-curious visitor, I encountered a look of such cold hostility that with a shock I realized I was dealing with a spy, one who was probably armed, and who appeared determined to get the information he sought. In a few seconds of swift thinking I decided the best thing to do was to make him believe that Captain Rice himself did not know whether his ship was going out again, and that no one could tell what course of action the ship owners would take. After forty minutes of probing for information he departed, convinced there was no information to be had from me.
[Sidenote: How signals could be sent by German agents.]
It was ascertained that his New York home was in an apartment house on the highest point of land in Manhattan. In this same house there lived another German, who received many young men, all Teutons, as visitors, some of whom spent much time with him on the roof. The possibility of their signaling out to sea from this elevation is too obvious to be dwelt on, and it is beyond doubt that some of the submarines' most effective work at this time and later was due to the activities of these German agents allowed at large by our too-trustful laws of citizenship. So exact and timely was much of the information these spies secured that the _Mongolia_ on one of her voyages to England picked up a wireless message sent in the _Mongolia's_ own secret code, saying that the _Montana_ was sinking, giving her position, and asking the _Mongolia_ to come to her rescue, but it had happened that when the _Mongolia_ left New York Harbor at the beginning of this very voyage one of her officers had noticed the _Montana_ lying in the harbor.
[Sidenote: _Mongolia_ is armed with three 6-inch guns.]
When the _Mongolia_ returned on March 30, 1917, from this unarmed voyage she was given three six-inch guns, two forward and one aft, and a gun crew from the U. S. S. _Texas_, under Lieutenant Bruce R. Ware, who had already made his mark in gunnery.
The _Mongolia_ left New York on her tenth voyage April 7 with the following officers:
