During one of these visits the prisoners of Barrack 6 defied authority.  They had petitioned the officials incessantly to improve their quarters but to no purpose.  The cause for the greatest discontent was the absolute lack of light.  The loft was nothing more nor less than a “Black Hole.”  On this occasion the tenants had been sent to barracks with the strict injunction that they were not to come out again until the ambassadorial inspection had been completed.  But the prisoners were not disposed to permit this deliberate hoodwinking of our protector to continue indefinitely.  The representative had been taken to a typical [sic] barrack to observe the appointments and to satisfy himself concerning the German efforts which had been made to render the tenants comfortable.  As usual he found no apparent justification for the complaints which had been made.

He was being escorted to inspect some new latrines which had recently been completed.  To reach the latter point he had to pass Barrack 6, in which the boys were on the alert to seize the opportunity for which they had been waiting quietly.  When the representative was but a few yards distant up went the shout in unison, “Come and see our barrack!  Come and see our barrack!”

The guards endeavoured to smother the hail, but for once they were too slow.  The representative heard the cry, stopped, and doubtless impressed by the vehemence of the invitation, expressed his intention to make an investigation.  I mention this incident to emphasise the point that the Embassy was always ready to deal fairly with the prisoners, and to prove that a great deal more would have been done on our behalf had the visitors been given a freer hand.

The chagrin of the German entourage escorting the ambassadorial deputy was amusing to observe.  Behind his back they frowned, glowered, and glared fiercely, shook their fists, and muttered stifled incoherent curses, but when he turned to them they assumed a meekness and pleasantry which quite disarmed suspicion.  Still, their anger, as they followed him into the building, was so intense as to defy being masked and afforded us, who were witnessing the episode, the most complete satisfaction and ill-disguised delight.

The expected happened.  The representative entered Barrack 6.  He climbed the rickety staircase leading to the loft with difficulty to dive into the “Black Hole.”  He condemned it in unmeasured terms.  Apparently he realised how neatly he had been hoodwinked, he became furious, and in tones which brooked no argument or discussion, ordered the instant removal of the prisoners to more congenial surroundings.  The officials were beside themselves with rage at the turn which events had taken, but they hesitated to give offence.  They were profuse in lame excuses and pleaded that the accommodation in this loft was only temporary.  The German interpretation of the word “temporary” may be gathered from the fact that this particular loft had been occupied for nearly six months.  But the representative gained the day.  The loft was forthwith vacated and subsequently, when certain improvements had been carried out, was used only as a schoolroom.