Kaiser & Co.
war with the United States, they can have it right now!"
"After that," Captain Coghlan added, "the Germans didn't breathe more than three times consecutively without asking permission."
Now, of course, this was after-dinner history rather than the sober article; it had a foundation in fact, but it was dressed up to suit the occasion—with the reference to the wholesale price of black, white and red bunting, for example. But it brought that audience to its feet with a wild roar of approval; there were three cheers for Captain Coghlan, and then everybody joined with acclamations in the toast to Admiral Dewey which Captain Coghlan proposed. Then the other officers gave short talks and then somebody at the speakers' table called upon Captain Coghlan to recite "Hoch! der Kaiser."
Again he demurred, saying it might give offense to some of the guests, but when everybody clapped and cheered and yelled for him to go ahead, he rose again and started on the soon-to-be-famous lines:
Der Kaiser auf der Vaterland
Und Gott on high, all dings gommand,
Ve two, ach, don'd you understandt?
Meinself—und Gott.
They were not famous then—very few of Captain Coghlan's audience had ever heard them
35
