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Everything is to be mixed and then heated. The boat rolls firmly, farther. The cook has the big pot between his knees and stirs. Gumpoldsberger stands next to him and watches. A heavy sea comes, lifts the bow and with it also the cook . . . he bends far over and thank God everything lands outside the far side of the pot. Gumpoldsberger spurs him on: “Cogo, hurry up, or you’ll puke into the pot!”3 The sweet smell of the goulash rises in the cook’s nose so much that he retches, again it comes but this time so quickly that half of it goes into the soup. “You pig!” Gumpoldsberger chokes out. In his mind he can picture the threatened thrashing. He looks around discreetly. His comrades are lying in their bunks sound asleep. No one has seen anything, so he turns back to the wholly contrite cook: “Keep on stirring, you pig!” Later at lunch, officers and crew praise him for the delicious Leipzig stew. Thirty-Seven.Intermezzo U-14 is getting a new battery and travels via the Dalmatian islands toward Pola. Then a motorboat comes toward her and brings the order to moor at Olive Island near the docks. At 8:00 in the morning Emperor William will come on board!1 One hour is still enough time to straighten up the boat, to wipe away the traces of the Mediterranean trip, and to dress up for the reception. A wide gangway is placed on board, and on land, gathered expectantly in front of the boat, stand those ordered to the reception. The Emperor appears punctually, briefly greets those present, motions away every attendant, and comes on board alone, where I give him my report. His first movement is toward the cannon, and he asks some questions about it and about the successes of U-14. Then he inspects the crew, which is lined up aft starboard. 166 INTERMEZZO “Which nationalities do you have on board?” “Your Majesty, nearly all that there are in the monarchy: Germans , Hungarians, Italians, Romanians, Slavs, Poles . . . but on U-boats everyone must be able to speak German.” “Do you see how important the German service language would be in Austria!” I am at a loss for an answer. Thirty-Eight.In the East In Romania a small Russian U-boat is captured on the Danube and I receive an order to evaluate whether it could be used in the Adriatic. I am to travel to Bucharest to inspect it. They know nothing there. I am sent on. I should get information in Braila near the Danube monitors. So I travel the twelve hours to Braila. There I discover that the boat has been brought to the shipyard at Turn-Severin; I should go there. I find a steamer that brings me back on the Danube through all of Romania in two days, and finally find the U-boat. It is much too small and quite neglected. It could not be used in the Adriatic; at best it could give tours on one of the Upper Austrian lakes. It was supposed to have operated in the Danube against her monitors; after the Russian armistice, it was hidden by her crew between steamers and tugboats and then abandoned.1 In Romania the position of the monarchy is judged pessimistically . Here, in proximity to Hungary, Russia, and the south Slav lands, you hear many things that you dare not think about in Vienna and near the Adriatic. The possible abdication of the monarchy is spoken of openly, also of “Emperor Karl, the last.” These questions are not considered problems, no, only as something unavoidable. I am indignant. Such discussion among officers! I want to snap in reply, to refuse to tolerate that kind of talk. INTHE EAST 167 ...

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