234 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



were sunk or not, since the insurance money was 

 always forthcoming, and in most instances (until 

 1917) the German U-boats treated the crews with 

 humanity, and generally helped or allowed them to 

 escape. When, however, the insurance companies 

 refused further insurance, and nearly all the pas- 

 senger steamers, as well as other ships, were sunk 

 and the crews maltreated, the Government at last 

 took steps to clear out the nests of spies that made 

 Bergen and other ports a byword. 



When Captain Bennett and I arrived at Christi- 

 ania by the steamship Bessheim, in August 1915, 

 we were met by two German spies. These gentle- 

 men kindly shadowed us to the railway station and 

 handed us over to two others, who doubtless wired 

 our departure to Trondhjem, where two more 

 " stage- villains " met us and conducted us to the 

 ship leaving for the north. In the Lofodens we 

 thought we had shaken them off, but inquiries 

 elicited the fact that " a Russian " had on the 

 previous day arrived at Lango, and was domiciled 

 on a farm close at hand. I need not state all the 

 methods we took to get rid of this gentleman, but 

 having discovered that he was a German (without 

 passports), his ejection by the local " lendsman " 

 was only a matter of hours. 



Our subsequent experience with German spies 

 may be of interest to the reader, as it was to us. 

 Having successfully completed our work in the 

 Lofodens, we left in October for the mainland, and 

 caught the coasting steamer at Solvaer. I sat in 

 the saloon carefully surveying our fellow-passengers, 

 who for the most part were young Norwegian officers 

 returning from manoeuvres on the high-fjelds. 



