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forgiveness--or at least I could have, had I not been Anglo-Saxon. As it was, I
could only remove my soggy cap and bow and mumble my appreciation. She
made no reply--only turned and walked very rapidly toward her room. Could I
have heard aright? Was it really a sob that came floating back to me through the
narrow aisle of the U-33?
Benson died that night. He remained defiant almost to the last; but just before
he went out, he motioned to me, and I leaned over to catch the faintly whispered
words.
"I did it alone," he said. "I did it because I hate you--I hate all your kind. I was
kicked out of your shipyard at Santa Monica. I was locked out of California. I am
an I. W. W. I became a German agent--not because I love them, for I hate them
too--but because I wanted to injure Americans, whom I hated more. I threw the
wireless apparatus overboard. I destroyed the chronometer and the sextant. I
devised a scheme for varying the compass to suit my wishes. I told Wilson that I
had seen the girl talking with von Schoenvorts, and I made the poor egg think he
had seen her doing the same thing. I am sorry--sorry that my plans failed. I hate
you."
He didn't die for a half-hour after that; nor did he speak again--aloud; but just a
few seconds before he went to meet his Maker, his lips moved in a faint whisper;
and as I leaned closer to catch his words, what do you suppose I heard? "Now--I-
-lay me--down--to--sleep" That was all; Benson was dead. We threw his body
overboard.
The wind of that night brought on some pretty rough weather with a lot of black
clouds which persisted for several days. We didn't know what course we had
been holding, and there was no way of finding out, as we could no longer trust
the compass, not knowing what Benson had done to it. The long and the short of
it was that we cruised about aimlessly until the sun came out again. I'll never
forget that day or its surprises. We reckoned, or rather guessed, that we were
somewhere off the coast of Peru. The wind, which had been blowing fitfully from
the east, suddenly veered around into the south, and presently we felt a sudden
chill.
"Peru!" snorted Olson. "When were yez after smellin' iceber-rgs off Peru?"
Icebergs! "Icebergs, nothin'!" exclaimed one of the Englishmen. "Why, man, they
don't come north of fourteen here in these waters."
"
Then," replied Olson, "ye're sout' of fourteen, me b'y."
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