CHAPTER II
THE STRANGE ENGLAND
DURING several hours we suffered the examination before the alien officers. With a progressive severity the European ports have made the entrance of neutrals difficult. One by one we faced the little group at a table in the dining-room while the doors of exit were carefully guarded. Some of us were questioned for only a moment or two. Others were grilled uncomfortably while the next on the list waxed impatient. What were you going to do? Where had you come from? What parts of the kingdom did you wish to visit? What was your ultimate destination? Your past was ransacked.
As you stood by the little table, facing the unsmiling men, you felt yourself suspected. You questioned how a person, trying to enter with criminal intent, could stare back without an escape of fear, could answer the searching questions without a revealing tremor. There are spies beyond doubt who survive such ordeals jauntily. It became obvious to us, however, that very few of them these days have an opportunity of attempting
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