Then, traveling incognito,
the dignitaries be,,an to drift in. First came the Austrian, General
Moritz Ritter von Auffenberg. A distinguished, quiet, unassuming
gentleman, he is known to be high in the confidence of Francis Joseph.
I found the War Minister very fond of salmon fishing, and got quite
into his good graces by enthusiastic tales of fly fishing in New
Zealand.
Admiral von Tirpitz and General von Heeringen came next. The Admiral
is typical of the German sailor, a big man, six feet, wide of
shoulder, blue-eyed, and full bearded. His manner I found genial and
courteous. His exact opposite was von Heeringen, thin, almost crooked
of body, stoop shouldered, unusually taciturn, and possessing
deep-sunken, smoldering black eyes. He struck me as an animated mummy
of the Rameses dynasty--come to think of it, he much resembles Rameses
II.
The exact date of the meeting, as I recall it, was October 12, and the
place a shooting lodge, named Ehrenkrug. On the morning of the
twelfth I hired a vehicle and, loading provisions, wine, and other
necessaries aboard, drove to the lodge, sixteen miles into the forest.
No farmhouse or other human habitation was within a radius of several
miles. It was a large stone and brick building, somewhat similar to
your colonial style. It had five or six guest rooms, a large general
meeting hall, and a morning room.
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