All were engaged in a wild race to reach and mount the Tennessee's ladder.

I scrambled up with the rest, and when, on the deck, an officer demanded my passport, I put on a bold front and asked him to tell Captain Decker that Mr.Aaronsohn wished to see him.
Ten minutes later I stood in the captain's cabin.

There I unfolded my story, and wound up by asking him if, under the circumstances, my "first papers" might not entitle me to protection.

As I spoke I could see the struggle that was going on within him.

When he answered it was to explain, with the utmost kindness, that if he took me aboard his ship it would be to forfeit his word of honor to the Turkish Government, his pledge to take only citizens of neutral countries; that he could not consider me an American on the strength of my first papers; and that any such evasion might lead to serious complications for him and for his Government.