Page:Patriotic pieces from the Great War, Jones, 1918.djvu/177

Rh the stove. He had hardly decided on a course to pursue, however, when one of them opened his eyes.

"Hello," said Al. "How you feelin'?"

The man looked blankly at the cook.

"Oh," continued Al, "you're German; that's right. Well," and he continued in the language of the Fatherland, "so am I. Or at least I was until I went to America. But now I'm an American."

The expression on the face of the German sailor changed.

"American, are you?" he replied. "And you were born in Germany?"

"Yes," answered Al. "Born in Germany and trained in the German army. And I have a brother in the German navy, too."

The other grunted his contempt. Al reached for the pot and poured out a steaming mug of coffee.

"Yes," he continued. "I've been in America six years now, and I've got to where I can see what's wrong with Germany. I used to cheer for the Kaiser, and I thought, just as you do, that he is a sort of superior being. I used to think that the little impudent officers that strutted around were better than I was. I had been trained to think so, and they had been trained to think so, too. So when I