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THE STRUGGLE FOR
SCUTARI ^

(TURK, SLAV, AND ALBANIAN)

M. EDITH DURHAM

AUTHOR OF
THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS," "HIGH ALBANIA," ETC.

7 -no 8

ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS AND SKETCHES
BY THE AUTHOR

LONDON

EDWARD ARNOLD

1914

MAUD AND HERBERT

PREFACE

None who have not Hvecl through the past few years
on the spot can imagine the fraud, the treachery, the
cold-blooded cruelty and brutality with which the
various rulers of Europe have striven, each against
each, to obtain, by hook or by crook, possession of,
or influence over, that little corner of land in the
Near East which has been lately the seat of war, and
is now the seat of hopeless misery.

To detail the mass of suffering which I myself have
witnessed would take several volumes of monotonous
horror. To unravel the complicated mesh of intrigues
and hes would be impossible. I have tried only to
tell a plain tale of the main facts that came directly
under my notice, and in no w^ay to write a history of
the war.

One short explanation only I would give. Want
of space has forced me to take for granted in my
readers a certain amount of knowledge about the
scene of action — North Albania — which, as I am
aware, is a rash thing to do. Such as desire a detailed
account of the country I must refer to my " High
Albania." To the others I would state only that
Maltsor (sometimes spelt ^lallissor) means merely

viii PREFACE

"a mountain-man": from '' mal," a mountain;
"' malt," mountains — " Maltsor," man of the moun-
tains. Every mountain-man all over Albania, be lie
Moslem or Christian, is a Maltsor. The Maltsors are
divided into very numerous tribes, or clans, of which
the Mirdites form one.

There has been so much misunderstanding on this
subject that at the beginning of the war a well-known
illustrated paper pubhshed a photograph of some
Circassians labelled " Mallissori, the Albanian shep-
herd tribe," whereas in the Scutari vilayet alone
there are some thirty tribes.

So much for the past. The present is unspeakably
miserable. Whole districts have been purposely de-
populated, for the aim of most Balkan States is, so far
as possible, to evict members of an alien race. These,
hunted out from their lands and robbed of all they
possess, are appealing now urgently for help. Each
month has so far brought fresh victims of racial
ferocity.

In conclusion, I would offer most hearty thanks to
the generous donors of money and clothing — many
of them complete strangers to me — who have enabled
me to relieve some of the misery and save a good
many lives. And I would beg all readers never to
forget that there is one thing much more awful than
war, and that is the period which follows it, when such
as have escaped a merciful death by shot and shell
are left to face starvation on the mountain-side.

M. E. DURHAM.

May, 1914.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. PRELIMINARY

II. 1908-1910 -
III.
IV. - . .

V. THE GREAT BETRAYAL

PAET I
BEFORE THE WAR

PAGB

PART II
THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS

VI. THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT (1911-1912)
VII. MUBLEZ 1 MUBLEZ II
VIII. THE REFORM COMMISSION - - . .

IX. PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT - - . .

X. THE LAST SCENE OF THE FOURTH ACT

122
137
148
159

PART III
WAR

XI. - . .

XII.

XIII. THE GLORIES OF WAR

XIV. THE FALL OF SCUTARI
XV, SCUTARI

181

200
227
265
379

X CONTENTS

PART IV
THE HABVEST OF WAR ^^^^

CHAPTBK _ 293

XVI THE HARVEST OF WAR - " ' *

- 311

XVII. LAST WORI>S -

- 317

INDEX

LIST OF PLATES

THE ATTTHOR ON RELIEF WOBK (PHOTO Br MR. B. LOCH) .......X' ""

THE sultan's accession DAY, 1910

MEN OF HOTI COMING TO CELEBRATE THE CONSTITITTION 1908

SOKOL BATZI (PHOTO BY MARUBBI OF SCUTARI)

GROUP OF MALTSLl E JLiDHE MEX

MALTSORS AT TUZI

RETURNED REFUGEES AT BAITZA

INNOCENT YICTIMS

ESSAD PASHA
DED SOKO

CETTIGNE'S FIRST PUBLIC MEETING ..."

MONTENEGRIN FRONTIER BLOCKHOUSE AT DZAMIYA

SERB PEASANTS FROM IPEK NAHIA COME TO FETCH RIFLES AT "
ANDRIYEVITZA . . ^J^*i^£.S AT

DECmCH AND THE BURNT TURKISH BLOCKHOUSE

MONTENEGRINS OCCUPYING THE TURKISH FOR^ESS SHIPCHAN-IK
DDIEDIATELY AFTER ITS STOREXdER . ^^=^^^

THE HOUYHNHNM
T£[E MONTENEGRINS IN TUZI
UBA MESIT

MONTENEGRIN ARMY REITRING OVER BOJANA BRIDGE AS THE
ADMIRALS ROWED BENEATH IT

- ''88

V1CE-AD>nRAL BURNEY LANDING AT SCUTARI TO TAKE POSSESSION ^90
BURNT HOUSE AT GRIZHA

- 296

BURNT-OUT CHILDREN AT SKJERZI

- 296

12
12

34
34
54
80
92
92

116

166

174

176
194

194

198
198
216

PART I

BEFORE THE WAR

VIOLENCE IS THE ENEMY OF RIGHT

THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

CHAPTER I

PRELIMINARY

" The Causes and Motives of Seditions are ; Innovation in
Religion ; Alteration of Lawes and Customes ; Breaking of Privi-
leges ; Generall Oppression ; and Whatsoever by Offending
People, joyneth and knitteth them in a Common Cause." —
Bacon.

*' The Turkish Empire is like a very old house. Leave
it untouched, and it may stand yet a hundred years.
Tiy to repair it — move but one stone — and it will all
fall down on your head.'' Thus said to me, shrewdly,
an old Albanian in 1904; and the outburst of wild
rejoicing which took place when the Turks proclaimed
the Constitution in 1908, filled me with little, if any,
hope; for it sprang from a false conception of the state
of affairs. When, to my amazement, I learnt that the
Powers of Europe had taken the Young Turks at their
own valuation and withdrawn the sole means of
control — the international gendarmerie — from Mace-
donia, I regarded the situation as already lost. That
withdrawal was, in fact, expressly planned by certain
Powers, who wished to precipitate the downfall, on
the principle of " give him enough rope and he will
hang himself," and there were diplomatists who
boasted openly that it would hasten the end.

4 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Never to this day have I been able to understand
those enthusiasts at home and abroad who believed
that the Young Turk could possibly succeed, over-
whelmed the new Government with praise, before
it had had time to display the smallest capacity for
governing, and started its representatives upon their
career, surfeited with the most fulsome flattery and
with their heads more than sufficiently turned.

Be it clearly understood that I speak only of Turkey
in Europe, for of Asiatic Turkey I have no experience.
Consider the situation, and you will see that it was
bound to spell disaster. Turkey in Europe, with the
exception of the neighbourhoods of Constantinople
and Adrianople, contained comparatively few Turks,
save officials and soldiers. The native population con-
sisted of Greeks, Bulgars, Albanians, Serbs, and
Kutzo Vlahs, with a considerable sprinkling of Jews
and Gypsies.

The fierce race hatred felt by each of the four first-
named peoples for each other, first enabled the Turk
to penetrate Europe. The same hatred, continued
from the Early Middle Ages up to the present day,
enabled him to remain.

Having subdued one race after the other, he con-
trived by an ingenious policy of rubbing one against
t'other that they should never unite against him.
He did not succeed in assimilating them. Perhaps
he never tried. Even those who turned Moslem
retained their language and a great deal of their racial
customs and characteristics.

Partly Turkish policy, partly the great unsolved
mystery of race, kept all these peoples separate, as in
water-tight compartments.

BEFORE THE WAR 5

The Turk was never more than a great soldier.
He reached his zenith in the seventeenth century,
and then declined slowly. As the Turkish race de-
generated and lost power, so did the subject peoples
slowly revive. And with them revived their old
ambitions — the hates and aspirations of the Middle
Ages. Partly by their own efforts and partly by the
help of one or other of the Great Powers, Serb, Greek,
and Bulgar each in turn emerged from the Turkish
Empire. It is important to note that they never all
rose together, for the sufficient reason that their am-
bitions were incompatible. On the strength of their
brief medieval empires, each claimed the greater part
of the peninsula.

Turkey disintegrated slowly. After the war of
1876-77, only the fact that all the Great Powers, as
well as all the small Balkan States, desired to inherit
the Turk's remaming European property enabled that
tottering Turkish house to stand at all. It was shored
up with jealousies both within and without. Whether
the short-lived Constitution and Parliament of 1876
would have succeeded better than the ill-fated ones
of 1908 we will not waste time in inquii'ing. Given
the many already irreconcilable elements, it is prob-
able that they could not. Be that as it may, Abdul
Hamid chose to pursue the policy which had been
successful since the Middle Ages. With amazing skill
and entire unscrupulousness, he played Power against
Power, race against race, religion against religion, and
quelled rebellion by massacre.

It was a losing game, and its weak point was the
apparently immutable fact the East is East and West
is West.

6 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

While the Moslem child, if he went to school at all,
squatted in the balcony of the village mosque, and
droned passages from the Koran in a tongue he did
not understand, or, as I have seen more than once,
tried to learn writing by inscribing Arabic letters in
the air with outstretched forefinger — the hodja set-
ting aerial copies to save the expense of pen and
paper — while, in short, the Moslem stood still, Greek,
Bulgar, and Serb vied with each other in the number
and efficiency of the schools they provided in the
Turkish Empire, poured out money lavishly, and
fought and intrigued fiercely over the children.
Serb, Greek, Bulgar, and Montenegrin teachers, sub-
sidized from without, were each so many centres of
national propaganda. Each hated each, and by
fraud, persuasion, and bribe tried to attract his
rival's scholars. Nor was this all. Missionaries
stepped in with religious propaganda. American,
French, Austrian, and Italian schools swept up such
children as escaped the Nationalists.

The teaching of all these rival schools had one thing
in common : all inspii'ed a hatred of Turkish rule. By
the time the Turk realized that he, too', must educate
his people, he was already hopelessly outpaced.

When the Young Turk revolted against Abdul
Hamid's methods, he was the last of all the land to do
so. For the Albanians had abeady struck for national
recognition, had demanded the right to have schools,
and had been crushed; but were working hard in
secret.

By his revolt the Young Turk only hastened his
downfall. He stood between the devil and the deep
sea, and to those on the spot his failure seemed in-

BEFORE THE WAR 7

evitable. Personally I did not expect his European
Empire to last till a second parliamentary election.

For if the Young Turk allowed his subjects the
freedom promised in the paper Constitution, it was
obvious that, freed from all restraint, they would pro-
gress even faster than before along their national lines,
would absorb still more of the Western ideas which
are collectively termed " progress/'

Though we will not stop to inquire whither they
are progressing, we should note that these ideas are
wholly antipathetic to the ideals of the old-school
Moslem. The subject peoples, in
short, were already far advanced ^^
upon a totally different path w^hen .O*"^
the Young Turk started — heavily '^^ ^J^
handicapped. To catch them up was ^■'/
mipossible. His only plan was to
cripple their development; to retard ; |
the growth of the subject peoples,
till he himself had gamed strength.
And this method he deliberatelv ^^baxian moslem

J CHILD.

adopted. A Young Turk officer,
but just emerged from the military college, ex-
plained that he had been there instructed that
" the duty of the Government is to consolidate the
Empire. Under bad rule, the various races of which
the Turkish Empire is compounded were rapidly
breaking apart. There are two ways by which an
Empire may be consolidated. One is the peaceful
way— by means of education. But that takes
time — and we have no tune. There remains
only the second method — the sword. By the sword
we must cut down all foes to the Empii-e. Thus

8 THE STRUGGLE FOK SCUTARI

only can the Empire be saved. The sword of
Islam !"

But this plan was equally bound to fail, for it was
almost certain to unite the subject races in a common
wrath — a thing Abdul Hamid had skilfully avoided
doing — and it was quite certain to alienate the sym-
pathies of Europe.

Nevertheless the Young Turk tried it, and started
upon a career of forcible Ottomanization.

An enthusiast explained to me at the begmning of
the new order of thmgs: "All is now simplified. The
Greek, the Bulgar, the Serb, the Albanian questions
no longer exist. We have passed a law, and all are
Osmanli.''

" You can pass a law, if you like,"' said I, " that all
cats are dogs; but they will remain cats."

But the Young Turk was very young, and imagined
fondly that human nature can be changed by Acts of
Parliament. He tried to pitchfork Nature out, and
she came back again with a repeating rifle.

As for the Great Powers, they squatted on the edge
like so many Canutes, and forbade the tide to rise.

To trace the unfolding of events as Tsaw them is the
purpose of this book.

CHAPTER II

1908-1910
" Coming events cast their shadows before." — Campbell.

In December, 1908, the fateful year of the Constitu-
tion, I left Scutari-Albania and returned to London,
filled with the gloomiest forebodings. The future
was dark. I intended to return to Albania in the
spring of 1909 to watch events on the spot. But an
accident and consequent illness disabled me com-
pletely. I lay helpless, maddened by the thought
that the last act of the tragedy of the Near East was
about to be played, and I should not be there to see.

Letters stated that the situation was fast becoming
intolerable, and that the Chauvinism of the Young
Turk would shortly bring about revolution.

My informant was correct. In another fortnight
the counter-revolution, as it was called, broke out,
raged fiercely for a while, and was suppressed with
much bloodshed.

I deeply regretted its failure, for I believed that its
success would mevitably cause the landing of inter-
national troops to keep order and protect foreign
subjects in Constantinople, and that some form of
European control woukl be the best solution of the
Turkish problems. But the Young Turk triumphed.

Then came a strongly dramatic touch. Abdul

10 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Hamid was made the scapegoat. Every crime and
error of the late Government — and they were many
— were laid to his account. The Young Turk ordered
him to abdicate.

Of the three men to whom, upon April 27, fell the
task of announcing his fate to " Red Hamid " — who
had once made all Europe dance to his piping — one
was the now notorious Essad Pasha.

Essad is the head of the great Toptani family,
the rich and powerful Beys of Tirana, in North
Albania.

Already, twenty years ago, when Albania showed
strong symptoms of national ambitions, Abdul sus-
pected the Toptani of auning too high, and of aspiring
even to the throne of Albania. He therefore sum-
moned Essad' s elder brother, Gani Bey, to Constanti-
nople, and made him his aide-de-camp. Shortly
afterwards Gani was murdered by the son of the then
Grand Vizier. All Albania believed it was by Abdul's
orders.

Essad swore ultunate vengeance. Gjujo i Fais,
Gani's devoted servant, wasted no time. He com-
mended his wife and children to the care of his fellow-
tribesmen, bought two revolvers, and hurried to Con-
stantinople. And upon the Galata bridge he shot
Gani's murderer dead. Throwing his spare revolver
into the water, he cried in triumph that he had
achieved his object, and awaited arrest calmly.

Essad waited many years, but in the end tasted
a vengeance sweeter than he had dared hope. He
assisted at the final and abject humiliation of his foe.
It was he who spoke the fatal words : " The nation hath
pronounced thee deposed."

BEFORE THE WAR 11

Abdul abdicated.

The Young Turk party was now free to work its
will.

And in April, 1910, one year after this event, better,
but far from well, I returned to Scutari,

It was the same old Scutari. The road from
Medua, begun thirty years ago, and paid for many
tunes in taxes, was not yet finished. The Custom-
house ofl&cials still took bakshish and passed my
luggage through.

None of the promised works had as yet been begun.
Only a new zigzag horse-track showed raw on the
side of Tarabosh. It had been constructed by forced
labour. Marko, my faithful old dragoman, pointed it
out resentfully, for he had been one of the workers.
The Turks, he said, wanted to make a fortress there,
but Montenegro had protested. It was all labour
in vain. We neither of us then had any idea of
the mighty part Tarabosh was to play in the near
future.

April 27 brought the Sultan's xA.ccession day. The
celebrations were very military. An archway decor-
ated with revolvers, rifles, and bayonets was erected
at the entrance of the Serai. Scutari looked on,
sullen and resentful.

The arch was held to be symbolic. " We must
pass under their guns and swords.'' The garrison
marched by, new uniformed, the officers ablaze with
gold braid, and upon fine horses.

" Look at them, the devils !" said an Albanian to
me. " That is where our money goes. There used
to be one big thief; now there are a lot of little
ones."

12 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

I wondered idly if this were a good definition of
democratic government.

The last ceremony I had witnessed at that Serai
was the Proclamation of the Constitution, in August,
1908, when the populace flocked in in a frenzy of joy,
and believed that " Konstitutzioon '' meant freedom
from the Turk.

To-day the Turk was more in evidence than ever.
Moslem and Christian alike muttered discontent.
They would pay taxes willingly, they said, to make
roads, to regulate rivers. But to fatten ofiicers, and
buy gold braid for them, and " guns to kill us with " —
never !

The usual tales of blackmail and false imprisonment,
and of imprisonment without trial, were rife. " Jus-
tice '' was, if possible, worse than ever.

It was rumoured that the Moslems would rise but
for the fear of provoking an Austro-Italian interven-
tion.

The Catholics, on the other hand, relied upon
Austria with an amazing faith. If a Turkish army
dared approach the Christian mountains, there were
folk who believed that the Emperor Franz Josef
hunself , upon a warhorse, would ride at the head of his
troops to their rescue.

The Moslems of Kosovo vilayet were already in
fierce revolt. They would not pay tax till assured
that it would be expended on their own districts.
The Turkish assertion that they objected to any form
of education was untrue.

" I am going to establish schools," said Djavid
Pasha, when interviewed by a journalist. And he
went — with many battalions. But at the tune that

Tin: CONTKAST

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("nNSTITITIoN. I90^^

BEFORE THE WAR 13

this educational General was teaching the people
with artillery, some forty of the children of the in-
surgents were in the newly opened Albanian Normal
School at Elbasan. The Turks proposed starting
Turkish schools only. It was to Ottomanization,
not to education, that there was objection.

Rumours, wild and vague, of huge Albanian vic-
tories poured in, and were officially contradicted.
Nevertheless, it was certain that the insurgents were
makmg a plucky stand, and acting well; for they
released all the prisoners they took unharmed, and
there were no charges of atrocities brought against
them by the Turks.

Meantime the Young Turk officers in Scutari
swaggered about in new uniforms, got drunk, and
talked big of the reconquest of all the Turk's lost
provinces — Servia, Greece, Bulgaria — and of the
speedy expulsion of the English from Egypt, and the
French from Algeria; of the triumph of Islam, and the
reconstruction of the Great Ottoman Empire — to be
crowned by the capture of Vienna.

They saw visions and dreamed dreams, and mean-
while did nothing whatever either to amend or con-
solidate such fragments of Empire as still remained
to them.

Albania might have been the Turk's stronghold in
Europe. For, unlike the rest of the subject peoples,
the Albanians had no free brethren without, with
whom to desire union.

But the Young Turks, with blind folly, sent their
worst officials there, and recklessly stirred up feud
and hatred.

The comet appeared, and the minds of all the popu-

14 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

lation were filled with the direst portents. For a
comet means war and disaster. Anxious eyes stared
with awe at its short, smudgy tail.

Sure enough, news followed that Djavid Pasha had
wreaked fierce vengeance on the insurgents, had
forced his way through Kosovo vilayet, and that
Prenk Pasha, the chief of the Mirdites (who for
political reasons had been made a member of the Com-
mittee of Union and Progress by the Young Turks),
had promised to give Djavid and eight battalions safe
conduct through to Scutari.

The other Catholic tribes were in wild dismay.
They had discussed frequently the desirability of
rising in support of the Kosovo men, but had no
reserve at all of ammunition. Each man had
merely his belt of forty cartridges — some not even
that.

They ran hither and thither for advice. One that
I know applied thirteen times to the Austrian Consu-
late, and received no answer.

I was by this time again stricken down by severe
illness, and lay in the Austrian Hospital quite help-
less between bouts of agony and morphine. And as
I lay and writhed, the Albanians came and wept
over me, and implored me to get up — to write to
the British Government; to the papers; to advise
them; to help them to buy arms; to save them from
the Turks.

I was dragged into a sitting posture, propped with
pillows, and with great difiiculty wrote more than
one article detailing the state of things and making
appeals. But the agony entailed was vain. At that
tune it was completely impossible to break through

BEFORE THE WAR 15

the journalistic ring which allowed no criticism of
Young Turk policy to be published.

And to the inquiries of, " Is it printed yet ? Do
the people in England know V I could only answer
" No/' and counsel that resistance would be madness.
The priests, too, worked to keep the people quiet;
and the Catholics still believed in Austria's inten-
tion ultimately to save them, and order Djavid back.
Only the Shala tribe prepared to resist, and blocked
their passes with felled trees, thereby causing Djavid
to take another route.

One Sunday in July the guns of the citadel boomed
out a salute, and the astonished populace heard that
Djavid had arrived. Though no resistance of any
kind was offered, and no order had been given that
the populace should disarm, the Turkish soldiers at
once fell on all who wore a revolver openly, and tore
it away. In their ignorance, they even disarmed
officials who had every right to carry a weapon.
Scutari was stunned, but could do nothing, and the
whole of the town and country population yielded
up their arms without protest, with the exception
of part of Shala, which refused, and of the Klimenti
men, w^ho were allowed to retain theirs in order to act
as frontier guards.

Some folk, indeed, rejoiced that all — both Moslem
and Christian — were disarmed, saying, " Now w^e are
all equal," and hoping that blood feuds would con-
sequently come to an end.

Had the Turks now " let well alone,'' things might
have turned out very differently, for the populace
had so far shown remarkable obedience and good-
will. But the Young Turk rushed on his doom.

16 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Regardless of the fact that by surrendering his
rifle the peasant in many cases gave up his most
valuable possession without any compensation, the
Government at once sent troops to the mountains to
make a list of names for compulsory military service,
and to collect taxes from rich and poor alike. In
the town a retrospective tax to pay for the Macedonian
revolt of 1903 was even demanded.

The soldiers who went to the mountains were re-
ported to have insulted the women. The tribesmen
were infuriated. " We trusted them and gave up our
arms. So soon as we are helpless, this is the result.''
Most foolishly of all, the Turks instituted public
flogging as a punishment, and more than one well-
known Scutarene was flogged in front of the Serai,
to the tune of a military band,
for disobedience to military
orders. A '* state of siege " had
been proclaimed.

A blow, by Albanian custom,
can be avenged only by blood.
All Scutari was furious.

Forcible Ottonianizing began
everywhere. The Normal School
at Elbasan, which had started

HODJAS. _ '

with such enthusiasm, was for-
cibly closed. So were all other Albanian schools. The
newly started Albanian papers were suppressed one
after the other, and the editors as often as not im-
prisoned without trial. The Scutari paper existed only
because its political articles dealt with nothmg more
recent than the Franco-Prussian War, and finally
expired because it was not sufficiently up-to-date.

BEFORE THE WAR 17

It was forbidden to meution iii print either Albania
or the Albanians. All were now Osmanli.

Meanwhile there were great doings over the border.
Prince Nikola of Montenegro had asked for and ob-
tained of the Powers, leave to style himself King. It
was currently reported that, when so domg, he ob-
tained leave also to construct a kingdom. " How,"
asked bazar rumour, " can you be a King without a
kingdom V

And when, in August, the proclamation of kingship
took place at Cettigne, rumour, with very certain
voice, declared that this step had been taken in agree-
ment with King Ferdinand. He, in the approaching
construction of kingdoms, would have Macedonia for
his share, and Nikola would reign over Great Servia.
King Peter's career would terminate abruptly. This
report more than ever excited the Albanians, who
were convinced that, if they meant to strike for
European recognition and independence, it must be
soon.

All was confusion. None knew where to turn for
help. Scutari swarmed with spies as never before —
Young Turk spies.

Christian and Moslem alike muttered that, had they
known what it meant, they would never have laid
down their arms. All cursed Prenk Pasha for letting
Djavid through. But as the Mii'dites, too, had no
reserve of ammunition, they could not in any case
have done much.

The Catholics were specially bitter. They had
relied on Austria, and she had failed them.

Then the unexpected happened. It always does in
the Balkan Peninsula. Two or thiee families of the

18 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Hoti and Gruda tribes, who had relatives over the
border, suddenly emigrated into Montenegro, saying
they would never serve in the Turkish army. The
Turkish authorities, far from trying to conciliate them,
first ordered them to return at once, and then, as they
did not obey, made matters worse by burning their
houses and confiscating their goods.

Such was the situation when I left Scutari in Octo-
ber, to winter in Egypt and endeavour to pick up

strength.

The soothsayers were reading blood and war in the

bones of sheep and fowls, and the women were wishing

that the terrible " hylli m'bisht " (star with a tail)

had never blighted Albania.
News followed me that tribesmen from Maltsia e

madhe were shifting wholesale into Montenegro, and
that neither Turk nor Austrian knew what to make of
the situation.

Neither did I until, on January 23 of the new year
(1911), I received a letter from Cettigne, from a young
Albanian I knew well: " The Government here is pay-
ing us four kronen a day. I have spoken with some
of the Ministers. In the sprmg I' hope to receive
weapons from the Government, and go into Albania
as a Komit.'' Komit, it should be noted, is the
Albanian for the Komitadgee of other Balkan lands.
I replied at once that, unless all Albania were armed
and rose together, insmTection was madness, and
begged for patience. The reply came that all the
Maltsors of Scutari vilayet— that is, the Maltsia e
madhe, the Dukagini, the Pulati, and the Mirditi—
had sworn " besa '' ; and that not only had Montenegro
promised plenty of arms, but that General Riciotti

BEFORE THE WAB 19

Garibaldi had done so also, and would send volunteers
from Italy as well. In proof of this was given a fly-
leaf circulated by Garibaldi, giving particulars about
his " Red Shirts/' Albania was either to be freed
or, at least, to gain autonomy.

Advice and remonstrance were all in vain. On
February 11 came news: "All is prepared in Mon-
tenegro for a great war. In the spring a great war
will certainly break out.'' And on March 4, from
Scutari: " Two Turkish warships are coming to Medua
full of artillery and arms. I think they are for the
Montenegrin frontier." Further news — that in Cet-
tigne the Albanian rising was fixed for the middle of
April.

I left Egypt for Constantinople in March, and found
on arriving that the revolt had broken out prema-
turely among the Maltsors of Maltsia e madhe only,
and that they were carrying all before them — had
chased away the scanty Turkish garrison and taken
Tuzi. This sudden commencement before due prepa-
ration was a fatal error, engineered possibly by folk
who meant the revolt to fail. It had been intended
that Moslems and Christians should rise together.
But the Christians having begun, Bedri Pasha, then
Vali of Scutari, being very short of troops (there were
barely 1,000 men in the Scutari garrison), proclaimed
a Holy War, and called on the Moslems of Scutari
and the environs to rise and protect the Faith. It
is a cry that perhaps never fails. The Moslems
flocked to receive arms, and started out.

It was the undoing of Albania. The Catholics
received them peaceably, and begged them to remem-
ber their promises, and that they, too, were Albanian.

20 THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

The Moslems, however, excited by their hodjas, chose
to fight — and were soundly beaten. On their retreat
to Scutari they revenged themselves by burning all
Catholic houses on their path. Bedri, having armed
them, could not disarm them; and by his fatal policy
of setting Albanian against Albanian hastened the
downfall of the Turkish Empire. All this I learnt
from letters awaiting me at Constantinople. I then
saw Ismail Kemal Bey and Dervish Bey of Elbasan.
Both were very hopeful that the rising would lead
to better treatment of Albania, but they knew few
details, for they were not in touch with the north.
The British Consulate appeared to know none, and,
moreover, in no way realized the gravity of the situa-
tion. Popovitch, the Montenegrin Minister, on the
contrary, was extremely anxious, which confirmed
me in the belief that Montenegro was " deeply
dipped.'*

He complained that his Government " gave him no
instructions,'' and left him " to explain things " to
the Turkish Government. If " things " did not go
right, he would then be blamed.

Ismail Kemal and Dervish Bey wanted me to start
for Elbasan. Popovitch urged me to go to Podgoritza,
for he knew the true centre of affairs, and told me to
start by the next boat.

Strange how the Fates toss one ! I had not in-
tended agam to travel or spend tune in Montenegro;
had vowed especially not to go again to that hotbed
of poHtical intrigue, Cettigne, for I had seen too
much behind the scenes of the " bomb affair," and
been entirely disgusted. The best men I knew were
in prison. Everyone suspected everyone else. Each

BEFOEE THE AYAE 21

told me not to trust the other, and all told tales of
treachery.

Complaints were widespread of King Nikola's in-
justice and tyranny, and I believed that war, if war
it was to be, would be a desperate attempt on his part
to regain lost power and popularity.

I did not wish to be mixed up in Montenegro's
sordid internal politics. But in the Near East they
say: " You cannot escape what is written for you.''
Bad weather upset my plan of landing at Antivari,
and sent me via Cattaro to Cettigne. Cettigne was
all agog. To my astonishment, I found I was ex-
pected. To my still greater surprise, I was plunged
into an audience with almost all of the Eoyal Family
at once.

That they were all expecting war cheerfully, was
pretty obvious. And they expressed delight at my
avowed intention of helping my friends, the insurgent
Maltsors.

There was much chaff and laughter. H.E.H.
Danilo was especially keen on war, and all seemed
very pleased with the way things were shapmg. It
would be best, they said, for me to go straight to
Podgoritza. There I should find the Queen's cousin,
General Yanko Vukotitch, and be in the centre of
everything. The King took a Jubilee medal off
Prince Petar and oif ered it me. I did not want to
take it, and in my confusion let it drop on the floor;
but one of the Princesses picked it up and pinned it
on me.

Princes Danilo and Mii'ko both set on me for details
about Albania and the Albanians, about which they
appeared to know nothing at all.

22 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

I left wondering what they would have done had
I told them I knew that Montenegro was supplying
the arms, and with last year's bazar rumour run-
ning in my head: "A King must have a
kingdom '/'

six^h.

LEWING SCUTARI.

CHAPTER III

" In all the world there are no human beings more greatly to
be pitied than those with whom Kings and Emperors bait their
hooks when they angle for territory."

The Nationalist Albanians, refugees from Scutari
and elsewhere, seized on me at once. They were
going into Europe to obtain political support.
Autonomy for Albania was their object. They
lamented bitterly that the revolt had broken out
prematurely. But as it had done so, we agreed that
it was urgently necessary to make it a success, and to
gain European recognition of Albania and her rights.
We argued late into the night, and next day some
other guests at the hotel complained to me that it
was very noisy.

There had been but a garrison of 1,000 men in
Scutari when the revolt broke out. Had the insur-
gents waited till all the mountains were armed, they
could, no doubt, have captured the town, and all its
arms and munition. And all the townsfolk, except
the Turks, would have been with them. But now
reinforcements were hurrying up. So were events.

24 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Tourgoud Sliefket Pasha, who was in command,
called a five days' armistice, telling the insurgents that
if they laid down their arms they would be pardoned,
except certain chiefs who were named, and who
would be condemned to death. The insurgents called
a meeting to discuss these terms, and in so doing
withdrew from the strategical points they were
occupying.

Then came an unexpected blow. News came up
hurriedly from Podgoritza that, though two days of
the armistice were as yet unexpired, the Turks were
attacking Dechich, the big mountain which is the key
to a large part of the tribelands. So fierce was the
fight that the firing could be seen and heard from the
height near Cettigne.

The battle raged all Sunday, May 14. I hurried
down next day to Podgoritza, only to learn that
Dechich was lost. The Turkish flag floated on its great
bare summit, which towers above the tiny town of
Tuzi.

Podgoritza was wild. General Yanko Vukotitch,
the Queen's cousin, who was directing operations —
a tall man and broad out of all proportion — bulged in
his khaki, and ran hither and thither, red with rage.
The loss of Dechich upset all his calculations. Al-
banian and Turk each swore that the other had
broken faith. The insurgents stated that at four in
the morning, two days before the expiration of the
armistice, Tourgoud Pasha had suddenly advanced his
men upon Dechich; that the very small force left there,
together with some that hurried to the spot, fought
till their ammunition was exhausted, and then had to
retire under cover of night, as reinforcements could

BEFORE THE WAR 25

not get up in time. Tourgoud replied that his troops
were situated near bad water; that he had therefore
shifted them towards better, which happened to be
near Dechich; that while on the march they were
fired on, which justified him in rushing the position.
To the objection that troops may not be shifted to
better positions during armistice, he retorted that the
tribesmen were insurgents, not belligerents.

" Dechich must be retaken at any cost," was the
order given out at Podgoritza. All insurgents found
resting after the first fight were ordered to the front
by the Montenegrhi Kapetan, and for three days
there was sharp fighting. From a blockhouse on the
very frontier I saw, in the distance, my first battle,
and heard for the first time the swish of bullets that
are aimed at live bodies. The long line of khaki-
clad Nizams showed most distinctly on the light grey
rocks. It occurred to me it was odd that they should
be di-essed to match the Transvaal.

The insurgents were invisible on the other side of
the hill.

The Montenegrin frontier guard growled, like
leashed tigers, whenever the artillery boomed. One
man flung down his rifle with a curse, and said he'd
go home if he might not use it. And the military
telegraph ticked feverish messages to Cettigne. But
it was the beginning of the end. Men armed only with
rifles cannot take a height which is defended by
machine-guns and mountain artillery. The insurgents
charged repeatedly, and three times rushed the lower
slopes, but were finally beaten off.

Rain fell in torrents. When it cleared, we saw,
one after another, the houses scattered on the flanks

26 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

of Dechich flame up. The Turks burnt all as they
advanced. I watched the burning from the plain
outside Podgoritza in company with a little party of
refugee children. The boys talked big about shooting
Turks and the exploits of their grandfathers. But the
little girl told gravely the name of the owner of each
house as it flared in turn, and added: " Ours is burnt.
But, thank God ! we saved the cow.''

All Podgoritza talked of speedy war, and I learnt,
to my surprise, that the Montenegrin guns had already
been to the frontier — and come back again. Some
said they had been ordered back by Russia. Many
deplored it. " To have withdrawn when the Turks
had only 1,000 troops at hand, and we were all ready V

They talked war. The little girl with the cow
already knew what it meant. So did many others.

I went to every village on the plain with the
Kapetan. Every shed, outhouse, and stable was full
of refugees — women, children, and aged only. Any
man found was at once ordered to the front. I
realized that Montenegro was indeed directing affairs.

Those families which had migrated in the winter had
brought all their household gear and- flocks with them.
But those who had just fled from the burning houses
were destitute. There were nearly 5,000 on the plain,
and the Triepshi Mountains were reported to be
sheltering several thousand more.

By May 21 Tourgoud's army had penetrated Hoti,
and was advancing slowly, burning all houses on his
route, and desecrating the churches. This maddened
the Maltsors, for they prided themselves on not having
touched a mosque; but they raged impotent, for, so
far, Montenegro, in spite of her promise to arm them

BEFORE THE WAR 27

all, had only given some 1,500 rifles. They were of a
pattern discarded by the Montenegrin army in order
that tlie pretence might be kept up that the peasants
sold them surreptitiously to the tribesmen.

In reality they were given out by the Serdar (to
give him his native title), Yanko Vukotitch, the
Queen's cousin. The tribesmen — whose faith in
Montenegro's promises never to desert them till
Europe had guaranteed their rights was still unshaken
— came nightly to his quarters in the hotel, begging
for arms and advice. My room being opposite his,
I occupied a fine strategical position.

They were very anxious. Only the " Five Great
Tribes" (Kastrati, Sk-reli, Hoti, Gruda, and Kli-
menti) were armed in any quantity, and, though they
kept up guerilla warfare with great pluck, and con-
tinually captured Turkish rifles and cartridge-belts,
it was obvious they could not stand long against the
overwlielming forces that were pouring in.

The large group of Dukagin Maltsors was almost
weaponless. The Shala-Shoshi men, who had blocked
Djavid's passage the year before, especially prayed
and clamoured for arms.

Yanko dealt them out now in driblets only, and,
so he declared to me, at great risk to himself, as, were
it proved by the Turks against him, the Montenegrin
Government would make him scapegoat.

He lamented loudly the unexpected speed at which
the Turks were bringing up reinforcements. He was
further angered by reports from the Serb districts of
Berani, over the border, that the Young Turks had
closed the Montenegrin school there and flogged and
imprisoned the priest.

28 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Turkish activity had, it appeared, quite upset his
plans. On the other hand, the Turks were losing
many more men than the insurgents. Letters from
Scutari reported all available hospital space full. At
first all wounded were kept concealed in a field hospital
at Kopliku; but it overflowed, and Tourgoud tele-
graphed to Scutari. The telegram was badly muddled
in transmission. The Vali read it: " 300 prisoners.
What shall I do ?" and replied: " Send them here at
once."' The Moslems of the town, still sore with the
beating they had received, hurried to the quay to
jeer at the Maltsor prisoners, and met, instead, three
londras filled with wounded Nizams.

Montenegro grinned at the tale; but Montenegro,
it was fairly clear, had " bitten off a larger chunk
than she could chew.'"

The Maltsors, quite innocent of Montenegro's plans,
were fighting only for their own autonomy; nor would
they follow the orders of the Montenegrin officers sent
to advise them.

Each man's object was to take as many of the
enemies' rifles and cartridges as possible. " I had a
splendid day. I went to battle with only fourteen
cartridges and I came home with a belt full \" was
the Maltsor's idea of a victory.

An ex-Minister (Montenegro swarms with ex-Min-
isters) explained to me that, when a general subscrip-
tion had been collected during the winter for the
purpose of raising this insurrection, and especially
to pay for the families of the insurgents (for it was
only when the safety of their families was guaranteed
that the tribesmen started on their wild struggle for
freedom), he had throughout combated this wild-cat

BEFORE THE WAR

scheme and refused to subscribe. The tribesmen,
he said, had upset all plans by beginning and attract-
ing the eyes of Europe before Montenegro was ready,
and now Montenegro must get out of the mess as best
she could.

That Montenegro had not calculated on the torrent
of refugees was evident. Montenegrin protests against
the barbarity of burning villages were loud. The
Montenegrin paper, Vjestmk, said sarcastically:
" Blessed is the nation that
lives in a land where such civili-
zation is carried out. This is
the work of an army led by a
civilized Young Turk leader !"

None protested louder than
big-voiced Yanko, who got red
in the face with indignation.
And in little more than a year
Yanko himself was to out-Turk
the Turks ! But of that later.

Then the pressing question
for me was to relieve some of
the miserable victims. A crowd
of ragged, poor creatures, their
faces already yellow and sunken, ppA
poured in daily in hopes of the cosron^c. MaUsio. t -n^aj.Uc
little ration of maize that was to

REFrr.EE WiiMAN.

keep body and soul together.

Women who, as well-to-do peasants, had housed and fed
me but three years ago, came, destitute and exhausted
— sometimes an eight hours' tramp — only to find that
the supply had run out. The work was very badly
organized. The children starved in the mountains,

30 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

while the mothers wandered about the town and
begged or starved for two days before the next ration
of raw maize was given; and then, so destitute were
they, they were often forced to sell it at a loss to buy
bread, for they had neither pot nor bake-iron with
which to cook it. Where and how to find money I
had no idea. Ten pounds of my own were all I had
to begin with. I meant to give all I collected to
Stanko Markovitch, Governor of Podgoritza, who
was in charge of the maize distribution. Scarcely
had I given him a pound or two, however, when one
after another Albanians, Montenegrins, and foreign
correspondents came and begged a few minutes'
private conversation, and besought me not to trust
Stanko with a penny.

Tall, dark, and sinister Stanko, in a glory of white
coat, silk sash, and gold braid, peacocked about Pod-
goritza— quite the most decorative thing in the place
— the centre of a little band of intimates, and avoided
by everyone else. His well-cut features were quite
expressionless, and his eyes^never looked one straight
in the face.

" Beware of the serpent, lest he brte," said Podgo-
ritza, and sketched for him a truly Balkan biography.
That he was at present engaged in embezzling the
maize was the mildest of their charges. He knew no
foreign language, and had been raised from the post
of elementary schoolmaster to that of Governor of
the largest town in Montenegro, because — said popu-
lar voice — he had successfully arranged the sudden
death of someone obnoxious to the Government.
Two of his brothers had been imprisoned for embez-
zling public funds, it was said, and part of the missing

BEFOKE THE WAR 31

money found in the family house. It was not a tale
to inspire confidence. All friends of the insurgents
begged me to keep the money myself, and give it
straight to the needy. The foreign correspondents
undertook to collect money through their respective
papers, on this understanding. It dribbled in slowly
from all over Europe, had to be acknowledged in
various languages, and the postal orders were cashed
by the Podgoritza post-office in the gold of any country
that it happened to possess; Russian, Bulgarian, and
Austrian gold pieces were mixed with sovereigns,
twenty-franc pieces, and big American five- and ten-
dollar pieces. There were diflerent rates of exchange
for all, and the keeping of the account was a nightmare
to me. Nor should I have known how to manage the
work had not Fortune sent me a young Scutarene,
Kol Martinaj, Professor of Albanian in a college in
South Italy.

He gave up most of his time to helping me, investi-
gated cases, and advised where and what to buy.
Together we tramped the slums of the town, and
scrambled down the cliffs and into the caves along the
river banks.

We worked solely for the refugee families; for the
wounded were provided for in one barrack of the Voyni
Stan. An Austrian surgeon, in Montenegrin employ,
was in charge. As the Maltsors ahnost always fought
from cover, the number of wounded was not great;
I think fifty was the most we ever had at a tune. I
had little time save for an occasional \isit, to see how
they were getting on. There were some most in-
terestmg cases though, which showed the strong
vitality of the race, and the surgeon used to remark

32 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

jokingly that he had no idea before that he could do
such wonderful cures.

I recall particularly one man, who had had a part
of one parietal bone shot of!, and had been left for
dead on the mountain-side two days, with his brain
exposed. Luckily for him, it was not pecked by the
carrion crows. The women rolled him in a blanket
and dragged him down some ten hours to Podgoritza.
The doctor duly covered the brain and dressed the
wound ; the man recovered consciousness, but was at
first badly paralyzed on one side. In a few weeks,
however, he completely recovered, and I saw hhn walk
out of the hospital. A slight tendency to drag one
foot was the only sign of his serious wound.

Even more surprising was a man who was shot
clean through the head. The bullet went in by the
root of the nose, just missing the corner of the eye,
and passed out through the occipital, having therefore
raked the base of the brain. His wife brought him
in unconscious, with a raging temperature. " Menin-
gitis,'' said the doctor. " He won t last the day."
But he did. He lay for three days. His wife de-
clared he understood, because when anything was
put in his hand he raised it at once to his mouth.
She gave hun water from time to time. On the third
day his temperature began to fall; and shortly after-
wards the doctor arrived one day to find that the
wife had propped him up in bed, and that he had
eaten over a pound of bread— a present from some of
his friends. He proceeded to get well without further
trouble. His memory was good, and his mind quite
clear; but he could walk only with great difficulty,
and one arm remained quite paralyzed.

BEFORE THE WAR 33

In all I believe only fourteen died in hospital. One
of these was a boy of fifteen; another was a man
who went out cured and came back mortally wounded
in a fight only two days afterwards.

My only contribution to the help of the wounded
was that, later on, I paid for all the drugs and dress-
ings that had been used for them. The Montenegrin
authorities, when they heard of my intentions, con-
ceived the brilliant idea of asking double, for they
had not forgiven me for keeping the funds in my own
hands. I was warned in tune, however, and the
doctor, who was an honest man, thwarted this by
gomg through his prescriptions for me and checking
the amount.

But this was later. Now, in mid-May, life was
crowded with incidents. Correspondents swarmed in.
Most of them rushed to me for information, and then
rushed away again; only the Italians were permanent.
I was corresponding for two papers myself. The
weather grew hotter and hotter, the white dust
thicker and thicker, and each day more exhausting
than the last.

Podgoritza was haunted by picturesque figures.
Chief among these was old Sokol Batzi, for whom,
though he is now blamed alike by Montenegrin and
Albanian, I have both esteem and respect. He acted
as best he knew, according to his dim lights, and be-
lieved that he was acting for the good of his country.

A burly figure, in full Albanian dress, and with
great white mustachios like walrus tusks, he was
King Nikola's right-hand man throughout the insur-
rection. Chief of the Gruda tribe, in his young days
he was one of Abdul Hamid's famous Albanian guard,

34 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

but he left it owing to the way the Turks maltreated
his country, and fell, therefore, upon evil times. After
the war of 1876-77 he sided with the party which
wished for free Albania, and in consequence was
forced to flee for his life. Hunted like wild beasts,
he and his wife took refuge with his wife's tribe,
Triepshi, which was then annexed by Montenegro as
part of the spoils of war, and passed a terrible nine
months, searched for by both Montenegrins and
Turks. Finally, King Nikola, recognizing his value
as an influential chieftain, gave him a house and land
and employed him largely for Albanian affairs. Sokol
served him with doglike fidelity and touching faith,
but never forgot his ancestral home across the border.
When the Young Turk regime started, he hoped to
return to it, but a short visit showed him that was
impossible, and he returned to Podgoritza, to play
an important part in the drama of the next few years.
Poor Sokol ! he was used as a cat's-paw. But I
believe that he acted in perfect good faith.

Then there was old Mirash Lutzi of the Kastrati,
wiry as a mountain cat and wily as a fox, addicted,
too, to gold braid and silk sashes — Mirash, indomit-
able, incorrigible, ready to make the best of the most
impossible circumstances, with a jest for ever on his
tongue and a laugh always ready. I met him first
ten years ago on the piazza of San Marko, Venice.
*' When I first saw you, you were giving maize to the
pigeons," says Mirash. " I never thought, then, I
should see you give maize to my own people V Four
times have his house and all his possessions been
burnt to the ground, but, phcenix-like, he has always
risen from the ashes.

BEFOEE THE WAR 35

Just a month before the outbreak of the insurrec-
tion, he and his family group had established them-
selves in his third house, a very fine one, with stable
and outbuildings; Tourgoud's army had left it a
blackened ruin. " Mo matter," said Mirash serenely;
" I borrowed money on it from a Turk. The loss
is his."

War with the Turks, the liberation of Albania from
the Turks, has been the mainspring of Mii'ash's exis-
tence. With this end in view, he has entered, with
enthusiasm, into the plots of any and every Power
and individual who had designs against his enemy.

Quite illiterate and sprung from a family of no
importance, his quick wits and native shrewdness
have raised hun to a position of considerable influence.
His son Nikola, a true patriot and a gallant fighter,
we seldom saw, except when he came down to get a
wound or two dressed, only to return to the front as
soon as possible.

Mehmet Shpend (Mehmet the Eaven), a Catholic,
in spite of his Moslem name, one of the most influen-
tial of the Shala headmen, was another notable. A
strange, wild creature, dark-eyed, lithe in spite of
his years, decked with silver chains, and the silver
and crimson waistcoat, which is characteristic of his
district, he played a great part in the insurrection.
Of Mehmet it is told that once, when crossing a pass
that was deep in snow, he and his wife found a perish-
ing lamb. Mehmet at once gave it to his wife to suckle,
and they took it safely home.

Shala had blocked the passes with hewn trees last
year, and Mehmet and a small following had subse-
quently refused to yield up their arms. They took

36 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

to the heights, and the Turks burnt their houses as
punishment.

To Mehniet, Shala was the centre of the world. He
could grasp no external politics. That a great Power
should come to Shala's rescue was all his desire;
and if only Shala could get a sufficiency of arms, it
would be invincible. The whole of Shala-Shoshi was
ready, said Mehmet, but Montenegro had not given
the promised weapons. He prayed me to ask help
of England. Nor could he, nor any of them, under-
stand that England would only give help where she
expected gain, for they always declared themselves
ready to serve the King of England loyally.

Mehmet, like the rest of the Maltsors, was wholly
ignorant of the science of war, but an adept m the
art of stalking and sniping small Turkish outposts,
and the capture of their rifles and cartridge belts
filled his soul with joy.

Most picturesque of all, perhaps, was Gelosh Djoko
of Kastrati, whose majestic figure caused even the
most hardened war-correspondents to gasp with ad-
miration. Some six foot four in height and splen-
didly built, his manners were as fine' as his propor-
tions— an engaging blend of childish simplicity and
natural politeness.

I remember keenly how a loud knocking waked me
once at midnight. " A Maltsor must see you at once."
It was just at the tune of the hardest fighting. I
expected news, slipped on a skirt and a greatcoat,
and went down barefoot. There stood Gelosh, who
had come down from the mountains to say good-bye
to his wife and his beloved little son before starting
on a wild enterprise.

BEFORE THE WAR 37

He came now to commend them to my care, and
to ask me to drink a glass to luck with him. We drank
solemnly a glass of rakia apiece. " Tu nghiat tjeter "
(Long life to you !). He kissed my hand with
great style, and disappeared into the night. He
and many another mountain man remain pictured
in my memory, pathetically medieval beings, who
had given up their all in a blind struggle for freedom,
and were quite unable to understand that the great
engine of Europe rolled pitilessly on, heedless of their
fate, ready, in fact, to pass right over them if they
stood in the way.

Most of them were old acquaintances of mine,
whose hospitality I had received in past years. Now
they came, with the most painful faith in my powers,
and besought my help. The mere fact that I could
read and write, and so communicate with the outer
world, was a mars-el. I protested vainly that I had
no political influence; that a little help for their wives
and children was all I could promise. They treated
me with extraordinary respect and regard, and gave
me the title " Kralitza Maltsorvet " (Queen of the
mountain men), a title which subsequently gave
offence to both the Turkish and the Montenegrin
authorities.

On May 24 Podgoritza was startled. General
Yanko Vukotitch was suddenly summoned by the
King to Cettigne. Did it mean war ?

On the 26th he was replaced by Brigadier Blazho
Boshkovitch, owing, it was said, to a protest made
by the Turkish Government against Yanko's warlike
preparations on the frontier.

Blazho, a heavy, good-natured man of no apparent

38 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

intellectual capacity, was, however, a mere figurehead.
Yanko went backwards and forwards, and Montene-
gro worked as it had not worked for many a long year.
For thirty-five years Montenegro had sat and smoked
and boozed and complained of poverty, while its plains
and forests, especially the fat coast-lands of Antivari,
remained unworked and undeveloped. Now gangs
of men toiled day and night. Artillery tracks to
Rumia (whence to attack Tarabosh), to Fundina, and
Triepshi, were soon begun, and the long-delayed
carriage-road to Andriyevitza hurried towards comple-
tion. Had all this energy but been expended in past
years, upon cultivation and irrigation, Montenegro
might by now have been comparatively well off.

On May 27 we heard that Russia had protested to
Turkey on Montenegro's behalf — " that Montenegro
was being put to great expense by the quantities of
Turkish troops massed on her border." Turkey re-
plied thatthe troops were not threatening Montenegro,
and Montenegro had better mind her own business.

By this time Montenegro had two whole battalions
on the frontier near Podgoritza. Pack-horses carried
cartridges nightly to the yet roadless outposts, and
the guns stood all ready at the Voyni Stan awaiting
the completion of the artillery tracks.

My diary of 28th notes: "Rifles are being dis-
tributed to all over eighteen, and everyone is agog.
We are on complete war-footing. Every man has
orders to hold himself in readiness, with five days'
provisions and two pairs of opanke (raw-hide sandals),
to start at any moment. The Chetas are being raised
from 100 to 150 men. Eight to ten Chetas make a
battalion. All work is at a standstill. Extraor-

BEFOKE THE WAR 39

dinar}" state of nervous tension. Place crammed with
staff officers."

That same day the Turkish Consul sold his horse.
This at once raised expectation to fever heat. It was
a sure sign, said everyone, of his unmediate with-
drawal and the declaration of war. At night we sat
under the nuilberry-trees in front of the Hotel Europa,
a crowd of olHcers, officials, patriots, correspondents,
and scalliwags, all in a patch of brilliant light from
the glaring, spluttermg acetylene lamp. Out of the

MONTEXEOKIN OX-CART.

darkness creaked and groaned the ungreased wheels
of the ox-carts; they filed slowly past, stacked liigh
with ammunition, and disappeared into the night, to
crawl secretly up to Kolashin and other border posts.
The crowd roared applause. The officers drank to
speedy war and boasted endlessly of theii' valour.
And long after dark the hooded crows which swarm
in Podgoiitza, came flapping heavily home, and
settled, with hoarse cries, on the branches overhead.
" They have come from the battlefield," said folk;
" they are crammed with Turkish carrion."

40 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Grey dawn brought ill news of another fight and
ten more wounded for the hospital. The little band
of insurgents was fighting hopeless odds. The Turks
were now attacking from the Gusinje side as well.
Only a small stretch of mountain-land separated the
two armies — the natural fortress of the situation,
Kapa Brojs. If this height and the pass were lost,
Shala and all the Dukagins would be cut off from the
five great tribes, and the position, hopeless.

Friends of Albania were cheered by news that Ri-
ciotti Garibaldi had armed the Mirdites and South
Albania and that they would rise at once; but this
soon proved quite false. Only speedy help could
save the insurgents. They harried the Turks by
ceaseless sniping; but could not hold Traboina against
machine-guns, and lost the position and many men.
The Turks lost more — but they could afford to.

The tribesmen grew bitter and sore. Bitter with
Austria, who first had not protected them from the
Young Turks' attempts at forcible Ottomanization,
and now, though Protector of the Catholic Faith,
allowed their churches to be pillaged and desecrated;
bitter intensely with Montenegro, who had promised
arms to all and now withheld them; and bitter that
Garibaldi's promised help had not arrived. Some
dozen young volunteers who had come independently
were all that appeared of the hoped-for and promised
Italian reinforcements.

CHAPTER IV

" How the Summer wore away and Hope with it."

On May 30 poor little Padre Ludwig, of Thethi-Shala,
came knocking at my door before 8 a.m. Haggard
and quite exhausted, he had tramped for four days
— crossing three snow passes, and dodging between
the Turkish lines. Almost weeping, he threw himself
down, saying: " Durami, Durami, in God's name, tell
me what to do \" Shala, he said, possessed only
some 500 old rifles (those which had not been sur-
rendered last year), so was practically defenceless.
A short time ago the Thethi men had gone as usual
to buy maize in Gusinje, and were refused by the
Turkish Kaimmakam. " We have no maize for
Cluistians. Go and ask your papa in Montenegro !"

** So those who do not rise must starve,'' said the
poor Franciscan; " and if they do rise, they'll be
massacred." Montenegro had promised arms, and
not given them. He was specially anxious, too, to
save his little church from desecration.

Wearily he rose and trudged off in search of Blazho
Boshkovitch, and came back desperate. Blazho was
not empowered to give arms.

His only chance was to go to Cettigne and entreat
the King and Yanko. But he was too exhausted to
manage the eight hours' tramp. I fed him, and sent
him up in the motor in the afternoon. Cettigne

42 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

listened to his plea, and he came back happy with the
promise of a thousand rifles for Shala, a considerable
number of which were successfully passed up.

It looked as though Montenegro really meant action,
for that same night 300 horseloads of small ammuni-
tion went up to the frontier.

On June 1 the Brigadier was extraordinarily cheery
and hopeful. All Montenegro seemed bent on fight-
ing Turks.

StroUmg along the Ribnitza, I saw a party of
little boys bathing, and was pleased with the unusual
sight; for the Montenegrins are no great lovers of
cleanliness. A long howl, like a pack of wolves, made
me turn, and I saw a score of big Montenegrin boys
dashing down on the naked and defenceless little
bathers. The situation was at once obvious. The
bathers were Moslems, and the Christians were going
to impress the merits of the Orthodox Church upon
them with the sticks they brandished in their
hands.

The terrified little Moslems dashed out of the
water, seized their clothes, and fled. The bigger ones
got away. The little ones saw me, and rushed,
tumbling and struggling half in and half out of their
breeches, to me for protection. It was a close race.
I dashed between the two parties, and by great luck
grabbed the leading Montenegrin by the collar as he
passed. This checked the whole lot. They were
indeed paralyzed with amazement. " You cuckoo V
said I. " Twenty of you to attack little boys V
Now, " cuckoo " in Montenegrin is extremely rude.

Before anyone had recovered from surprise, a
Moslem man came to the help of the little boys, who

BEFOEE THE WAR 43

were hastily dressing behind me, and escorted them
away in safety.

Two very gorgeous Montenegrins by then arrived
on the scene. When I released the collared boy, and
explained, they were much surprised at my point of
view. " We do not understand these English ideas,"
they said. " We always like to take our enemies at a
disadvantage." I heard later that my action had
astonished Podgoritza; but the Moslems w^ere very
grateful, for their children had doubtless been saved
an awful thrashing.

On June 5 came great news. The Mirdites had
attacked Alessio, and were said, quite erroneously,
to have captured guns and ammunition. And Mir-
dita, under the leadership of an Italian Albanian,
Tochi, had declared independence.

General Yanko turned up again. He and Blazho
both believed the tale. He reported that the Turks
had made no progress for five days, and that the in-
surgents were holding Kapa Brojs splendidly. But the
reports of the state of the refugees was worse and worse.

I dreaded going up to the mountains, as, owing to
illness, I had not ridden for three years. But on
June 10, in answer to an urgent appeal, I decided to
start for Triepshi. Sokol Batzi's son undertook to
find me a horse, and under the white mulberry-trees
I saw a tall grey stallion, Sokol's own horse, awaiting
me — a beautiful beast, he said ; far too beautiful,
thought I, for a middle-aged female who is com-
pletely out of practice. I clambered with great diffi-
culty on top of it; it waltzed playfully round, and
began to sidle up the street. At that very moment
came a telegram from old Sokol to say he was arriving.

44 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

and the stallion was to be ready for hini. His son
was overwhelmed with shame and apologies. An Al-
banian's promise is a promise. I dismounted joyfully,
however, and went off happy on a less valuable animal.

The Triepshi tribe is Catholic Albanian, and was
annexed by Montenegro after the war of 1877. But
no road had as yet been made into the territory. We
rode up the mountain- side, and struck a rough mule-
track. It was to be adapted for mountain-guns as
fast as possible. Wretched sheep and goats were
hobbling on swollen hoofs, and rolling over, gasping
and dying, on either side the way. The flocks saved
by the refugees from the Turks were smitten with
foot-and-mouth disease.

Suddenly round a rocky corner came the heavy
reek of stale blood and carbolic, and four wounded,
swaying painfully in their saddles, passed on their
way to Podgoritza. A man with them shouted there
was bad news. Almost immediately a party of tribes-
men and HilMossi (an Albanian patriot and journalist)
came in sight. The tribesmen were going for the
bread ration. Hil Mossi was escorting two little
Italians who had run away from their home in Genoa
to help the insurgents, and had arrived penniless and
weaponless. Their fond parents traced them, and
demanded their immediate return of the Montenegrin
Government. But the boys were so disappointed
that they were taken to the front, and allowed to fire
a few shots from a safe place before returning. They
were now happy. Not so Hil. He brought the news
that Kapa Brojs was lost. The two Turkish armies
had met. The Dukagin tribes were now cut off from
all possible food or arms supply. All was lost — the

BEFORE THE WAR 45

situation desperate. Thus Hil, greatly moved. It
was all their own bad management, he admitted. He
himself had been fighting there for days. They had
been starving, and had retired to get food, believing
themselves unseen. When they returned, the sum-
mit was occupied by the Turks. They tried in vain
to retake it — had fought all night.

Hil, lean and brown from much fighting, with a
white Albanian cap stuck at the back of a shag of
coal-black hair, was a picturesque figure enough.
He was, too, the poet of the war, and scribbled verse
in his pocket-book even under fixe.

We went our ways. The Turks now held the key
of the whole situation. Did it mean war ? I saw the
Montenegrin military telegraphist putting up a tele-
phone wire along the frontier.

At Triepshi reigned black despair. The fatal weak-
ness of the tribal system was once more shown. The
Hoti tribesmen had flocked to the defence of Seltze
when they were forced back from their tribe-land.
But Seltze rudely declared itself capable of defending
its own territories, and bade Hoti mind their own
business. Nor would they even give Hoti bread.

The Hoti men, hungry and as cross as a bear with a
sore ear, had clambered up the steep side of the valley,
and had come to Triepshi for food. One of their num-
ber had been drowned crossing the swift Tsem River.
The death wails added to the tragedy of the situation.

At night the Turkish watch-fires glowed red on
Kapa Brojs, and next day rain fell in torrents. "It
always rains after a battle," said the faithful Albanian
who accompanied me. ** God washes away the blood."

All the houses of Vukli and Boga were reported

46 THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

burnt and looted. A Montenegrin, one of several
who had taken part in the fight, had been killed.
Albanians and Montenegrins alike were hopeless.

Sokol Batzi arrived from Podgoritza on his grey
stalHon, and summoned a meeting of headmen in the
schoolroom. Sokol took the chair, and two or three
Italian volunteers were present. The Montenegrin
frontier commandant addressed the roomful of hag-
gard, war-worn men. It was easy to begin a thing,
he said, but hard to carry it through. They had
lost all they possessed except their honour. They
were famed as heroes. The eyes of Europe were on
them. They must act up to their reputation. Nor
were they without friends. He pointed to the
Italians and to me, and enlarged on the power of our
respective pens and rifles. The world would hear of
them by my pen, he said. I denied it vainly, and sat
sick with misery that such false hopes should be
raised. From a military point of view, I felt certain
the game was up, and that no more lives should be
vainly sacrificed.

The Montenegrin Commandant and Sokol, however,
called on them to concentrate in the still untaken
valley of Seltze, and hold that, and to continue the
struggle for another month. So it was decided. The
poor wretches still hoped for European intervention.
Nothing could make them believe that Europe would
let them sacrifice their all, in vain.

At night I dined with the Commandant and a lot
of the insurgents in the Commandant's quarters, which
were also the ammunition depot — a great barn of a
place, with a yawning roof of smoke-blacked rafters,
from which the cobwebs hung in sheets. A fire on

BEFORE THE WAR 47

the ground gave a flickering ruddy light, and a dim
lamp showed the military telegraph, which ticked
incessantly. In the gloom at the end stacks and
stacks of ammunition boxes reached from floor to
roof. Rifles were piled about. It was the main
distribution centre for cartridges. The insurgents
came every night for supplies.

We sat on empty ammunition boxes round the fire.
A great many insurgents trailed in. Some, deadly
tired, threw themselves on the ground, barefoot,
soaked with rain and half naked, and slept like dogs.
A few squatted around and nursed brand-new Turkish
rifles they had captured in fight.

HaK a sheep was stewmg in the caldron over the
fire. We sat round silently, pokmg sHvers of am-
munition boxes under it to keep up the blaze. The
door was shut and barred ; there was no ventilation save
the row of loopholes for rifles. The air was stifling.

A Maltsor, stripped to the waist, leaned over the
pot to stir it. The firelight played on his muscles,
and the sweat glittered on his hairy breast.

Someone tore the shoulder ofi the remains of the
sheep's carcass, spitted it on the cleaning-rod of a
rifle, and set it to roast. We watched it quite ab-
sorbed. Miserable and hopeless, we gave all our
attention to trivialities in a vain attempt to forget
the loss of Kapa Brojs.

The Montenegrin Commandant kept up a forced
joviality, to which no one responded.

Suddenly Sokol Batzi swaggered in, brave in gold
waistcoat and colours; let in a draught of cold fresh
air, which woke the men up. Hustled up to me, and
slapped most of us on the back. Extraordinarily

48 THE STKUGGLE FOR SCUTAEI

confident, he inspired confidence. He directed the
cookery. A Maltsor tipped the soup into the only
wash-hand basin, beat some eggs into it, and set it
on the " sofra." " Dark asht gadi " (Supper is
ready). Someone dealt out wooden ladles. We
fell to. The men felt better when they had something
inside them. Many had tasted nothing but dry bread
for weeks — fought on that and water alone.

They sat round and worried lumps of seethed mut-
ton with their white teeth, tore off gobbets from the
roasting shoulder, and flung them to me.

As they were satiated they lay down and slept.
I went out into the night and a fine drizzle. It was
pitch dark, wet, and steamy. Sokol guided me over
a wet rough track to the school-house. Unless he
knew that Montenegro meant sending strong rein-
forcements, his confidence was inexplicable.

A woman from the house opposite came crying for
bread, one of a crowd of half-starved, half-naked
refugees. A child had recently died of hunger.

There were then 2,140 such miserable beings
in the immediate neighbourhood.

Our horses, stable-fed beasts, cropped thin grass
miserably in the rain. Every shed and stall, and
every grain of corn, was needed for human beings.

I visited the refugees next day with Father Sebas-
tian of Hoti, and my faithful guide. The misery was
overpowering. Starving mothers were cooking nettles
and asphodel leaves for their children, and mixing
in a little maize-meal if they could get it.

Owing to the bad organization at Podgoritza, many
had tramped thither more than once in vain, and
returned empty-handed. I dealt out money to as

BEFORE THE WAR 49

many as I could, that they might not go fruitlessly
next time.

Numbers of the poor things recognized me, and,
weeping, said that I was their only hope. It was
inexpressibly painful. Further on at^Korito I was
told there were five hundred families out on the bare
mountam-side, and that more were flocking in.

Unable to cope with the situation, I returned to
Podgoritza and reported it to Stanko Markovitch,
who was furious, and denied that any misery existed.
As I persisted, however, someone went up to investi-
gate, and some improvement was made in the maize
arrangements. The luckless Albanian schoolmaster,
though, who had given me first information of the
state of things, was censured.

It was not till much later that it became apparent
that land-grabbing was all that Stanko was intent
upon, and that the fate of the people was a matter
of entire indifference to him.

Cattapani, an energetic Italian, who played a great
part in subsequent events, arrived, ready to fight as
volunteer, and acting at the same time as correspon-
dent to the Mattino of Naples. He offered to co-
operate with me to the best of his ability, and went
straight up to the front.

The inrush of refugees from Khmenti was the last
straw. They were completely burnt out for the
most part. My fund was all too small for the first
lot; how to help these was an insoluble problem. I
was in something like despair. The caves all along
the Ribnitza River were cranmied with people. Many
were widows and children. Almost all were without
the barest necessities. The majority had not a change

50 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTAKI

of clothing. The weather grew hotter and hotter;
the stench was almost intolerable. The children were
sickening on a diet of badly cooked maize. The days
were roasting. The heavy blue sky closed down like
a lid, and the land was white with dust. The
nights were sweltering. My room and all the hotel
swarmed with blackbeetles, which ran over one at
night and drank the sweat, and laid eggs in my
clothes. The corridor stank of orderlies. The night
air streamed hot through the open windows; myriads
of stars stared in like pitiless eyes from the cloudless
night sky, and I hated them.

Just as the dawn paled. Nature heaved a sort of a
sigh, and a breath of air came over the mountains
with the grey light. But by five the women came
knocking at the door, " Kralitza, kralitza \" imploring,
praying. Sleep was impossible.

In the baking hours of midday, under a wet towel,
I was drowsing heavily one day from sheer exhaustion,
when the usual hammering began on my door. '' A
man wants to see you." " Tell him to go away.'*
A short pause, then bang, bang, bang ! '* He is an
Englishman. He says he wants to see you at once.'*
" Tell him he can't." I supposed he was a journalist,
and I was sick of them. Bang, bang, bang ! again.
" The gentleman's card, and he cannot wait." Sleep
was hopeless. I crawled miserably downstairs, and,
under the white mulberries, found a tall man, who
apologized very much for disturbing me. He was
Mr. Charles Crane, of Chicago.

He said he wanted to see the condition of the
refugees, and had been recommended, when in Con-
stantinople, to apply to me. He wished to leave

BEFOEE THE WAK 51

early next morning. It had to be now or never. I
cursed my luck, but could not afford to lose a chance,
however small, so put on my opanke and clambered
with him from cave to cave along the river-bank.
He was quite imperturbable. I asked if he had seen
enough. He said he had. We returned, I miserable
at an exhausting afternoon for nothing.

It is darkest before the dawn, however. I had
despaired too soon. When I was seeing Mr. Crane off
next day, he said he was sorry he had not more to
give me, and put a little bag into my hand. I did not
open it till I was back in my room, and then found, to
my amazement, it contained nearly eighty pounds in
gold. It was a miracle. A quantity of people could
now be helped; and as if in response to the influx
of wealth, came an urgent message next morning
early, from Cattapani at Triepshi, reporting that the
misery was worse than ever, and begging me to come
at once with various necessities. I at once bought
200 kilos of bread, and as soon as it was loaded on
two pack-horses, started to ride up with about forty
pounds in small coin in my pocket. Arriving late,
there was time only to deal out bread to the nearest
houses and turn in.

At midnight came a violent knocking on the school-
house door. I was awakened suddenly by cries that
a telegram had come by military wire, and jumped
out of bed in alarm. It was from Mr. Crane, to say
that he had paid 10,000 kronen into the Bank of
Podgoritza for me.

It seemed too good to be true. I should not have
been more surprised had the skies opened and rained
down gold. Nor was it the end of Mr. Crane's kind-

52 THE STRUGGLE FOB SCUTARI

ness. From that day onward he sent most generous
aid, and many are the people who have to thank hun
for roof, food, and clothing.

With Cattapani I went early round the refugees,
dealing out bread and money. The irregular way in
which the maize was given out still caused much
suffering. The Triepshi people, on whom they were
quartered, suffered, too, greatly, for two extra
famihes were often crowded into a one-roomed hut.
And the Triepshi folk, bemg Albanian, and in many
cases related by marriage to the refugees, gave, too,
liberally of their small means to the destitute.

Cattapani and the priest of Triepshi described
the state of the refugees at Korito as even worse.
I planned to go there next day. Meanwhile, we
walked to the frontier and a little over, and looked
down into the majestic valley of the Tsem, which
gleamed far below us. Opposite us, on the moun-
tain-side, was a burning house. Some insurgents
clambered up to us and said the Turks had overlooked
this one when burning the rest of the valley, and had
now returned to it. Turkish tenjbs were visible on
the high points. A bullet sang as it passed us, and
then a second. I remembered a scarlet blouse was
unsuitable when reconnoitring the enemy, and we
took cover. An insurgent fired a reply from below.

Another telegram — this time from Mr. Bourchier,
of TJie Times — suimiioned me to Podgoritza at once.
I borrowed the church horse, and arrived there late
in the evening, very vexed at having to give up going
to Korito with Cattapani. Looking back, my life
then seems like one long fatigue, spurred up and
hunted about by telegrams and journalists.

BEFORE THE WAE 53

Mr. Bourchier informed me that the Turkish
Government had denied the burning of houses.
Tourgoud Pasha, on the other hand, had recently
boasted to Zoli, the correspondent of the Secolo, that
it was being done by his orders. I, having noted in
my diary several days when I had seen the burning,
wrote a statement to this effect for The Times. It
afforded the Montenegrins the greatest satisfaction.

UBA TAMARA ON THE TSEM.

They were never tired of denouncing Turkish bar-
barism. And in little over a year they were com-
mitting worse, and my communications then had a
very different effect upon them. But of this later.

All Podgoritza was excited at the news of Mr.
Crane's gift. Both the bank and the telegraph-office
had made the fact public. I was at once the centre
of a whirlpool of intrigue.

Mysterious warnings were brought me at night.

54 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

On no account was Stanko Markovitch to touch it.
Ismail Kemal, who, with his secretary, Mr. Gura-
kuchi, was recently arrived at Cettigne, wished to
have it for revolutionary purposes. I was told there
were plots to terrify me into giving it up, and so
forth; and to all and everyone I replied that it had
been given me for the refugee women and children,
and that only to them would I give it. If the Pod-
goritzan and other authorities were not satisfied,
they could say so, and I would send it all back whence
it came. The Maltsors were always on my side, and
on this point I had no further trouble.

But, alas ! some foolish mdividual unknown, to
whom to this day I owe a grudge, gave out in the
European Press that I had received 500,000 kronen,
and had founded a hospital. This brought down a
pack of letters from doctors, nurses, and all manner
of people wanting employment, and, moreover, cut
ofi all further subscriptions. I had to send costly
telegrams to papers of various countries to stop the
lie from circulating.

Meanwhile the Albanian leaders were becoming
more and more anxious as to Montenegrin intentions.
Some members of the Albanian Committee came and
asked me if I thought it would be a good thing to
appeal in the name of the Albanian people to the
British nation as a lover of justice and freedom. I
had not so much faith as they in British unselfishness,
but said at any rate it could do no harm. A well-
known foreign correspondent therefore drew up a
letter for them in French, which was so well expressed
and moderate that, when it was submitted to me, I
would make no alteration, and agreed that it should

BEFORE THE WAR 55

be sent not only to Sir Edward Grey, but to all
the chief Continental newspapers, which was done.
Briefly, it ran as follows:

RESUME OF THE LeTTER SENT BY THE IXSURGEXTS

OF Maltsia e madhe to Sir Edward Grey and

THE Leading Xewspapers of Europe in June,

1911.

Causes of Complahit.

1. The unjust manner m which the elections are
carried out, so that the great majority in the Chamber
favours the Osmanli element.

2. The attempt to suppress our national language.

3. The attempt of the Government to impose
identical taxes on the poorest and richest districts.
" We have seen the Christians more highly taxed
than the Moslems, and the taxes enforced without
fixed rule, according to the judgment of often corrupt
officials.

** 4. We do not consider disarmament in itself un-
just. But the soldiers charged with it tried to beat
us, and we have received no compensation for the
arms taken from us.

" 5. None of the promises made to us and none of
the hopes we formed have been fulfilled. Not even the
most rudimentary public works have been begun, and
instead of opening new schools, the Government has
closed our school at Elbasan, under the pretence it
was against religion.

" How, then, are we to make our voices heard ? We
have no representative in Parliament. We have every-
where been submitted to the rule of the sword, for our
discontent has been reckoned rebellion; nor could we

56 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

restrain our mountaineers, exasperated by ill-treat-
ment. Insurrection has broken out in our unhappy
land. Favoured at first by Fortune, we showed the
world that we acted humanely. We released all the
prisoners, we took unharmed, merely disarming them.
Later, when the Turks gained the upper hand, we
have looked on shuddering and helpless at horrors
which we know not how to describe, but which the
world can verify. Our houses have been burnt, our
churches bombarded, our lands laid waste, all we
possessed sacked and pillaged by the soldiers.
Women and wounded have been burnt to death in
the houses. We attempted conciliation, and on the
occasion of the Imperial Jubilee we addressed a
letter to H.I.M. the Sultan, asking for pity and jus-
tice, and declaring ourselves his devoted subjects;
but we received no reply.* We then continued to
fight, not with the hope of defeating the powerful
Turkish army, but with the hope of drawing attention
to our national cause. We have resisted for three
months troops twenty times superior to ourselves.
Our brothers in other districts, disarmed and ex-
hausted by recent oppression, camiot-aid us. We are
now pressed against the Montenegrin frontier, where
our miserable families are refuged, camped often in
holes in the rocks. Exhausted by the terrible cam-
paign, we address ourselves to the Western Powers,
in the name of our children, our families, and our
brethren of Albania, and beg for intervention on

* This is a fact. For some reason best known to themselves
the officials at Constantinople considered this quite genuine
letter to be a practical joke, and never even investigated it. It
was one of the many blunders which ruined the Turkish Empire.

BEFORE THE WAR 57

behalf of our rights as men and citizens. We beg
for a large autonomy, which will permit us to be an
active and fertile unity."

Such was the message to Europe. We anxiously
awaited results. Existence became more and more
intolerable, and time seemed to stand still. A cer-
tain grim humour was the only enlivenment. I was
prayed to attend a funeral, that of a headman — to
please his relatives — and consented reluctantly, for
a funeral means too much rakia and heartrending
death wails. But at the last moment the relatives
sent a hundred apologies for disappointing me. The
man was much better. There would be no funeral,
after all !

The Hotel Europa was crammed with officers, and
orderlies slept in heaps in the corridors. The night
air reeked of their sweaty uniforms. At dinner I was
almost always the only woman in a crowd of officials,
officers, a varied assortment of correspondents of all
nations, spies, and Balkan adventurers. As the
weather grew hotter and hotter, their tempers grew
shorter and shorter, and blackbeetles more and more
numerous. Sometimes we verged on war at the
dinner-table. Mr. Bourchier, of The Times, left to
inspect burnt villages.

" He is gone,'' said a civilian on my right next day.
" By God ! that man has more power than a whole
Montenegrin battalion \"

" What \" howled a young officer on my left —
" what ! a foreign man with a pen worth more than
one of our battalions I You have insulted the
army. . . ." There followed incoherent torrents.

58 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

He leapt up and went white with rage. Everyone
yelled and shouted, some defending one and some the
other statement.

I sat tight between the two and grinned, believing
that they were less likely to exchange shots if it had
to be done across me, and if it were obvious that I
thought them asses. Some elder men then inter-
vened, and mgeniously pomted out that I, being Mr.
Bourchier's compatriot, was the insulted party. I
therefore declared honour to be satisfied by an
apology finally offered by the officer for the somewhat
hasty adjectives he had strewn about, and the end
was peace.

He had intended, he said, no offence either to the
British Empire or to Mr. Bourchier. His intention
was merely to enforce the fact that no civilian could
be likened to the invincible and incomparable
Montenegrin army.

Heat, and waiting for war, upset most people; but
we escaped a duel, though an Albanian patriot
smacked an Italian who called him an Austrian spy,
and an inhabitant of Podgoritza broke the head of
an Austrian with a packing-case, or some such trifle,
for strictly non-political reasons.

While we swayed thus between peace and war, the
Turks on June 20 made a fresh move. They offered
amnesty for all insurgents who would return and lay
down their arms within ten days. These should all
be pardoned, and £T10,000 would be allotted as
compensation for the burnt houses. If, on the con-
trary, the insurgents persisted, they should be " pur-
sued and punished.'' Such was the French version
issued to the Legations and newspapers. The Al-

BEFORE THE WAR 59

banian version, as posted on the walls of Podgoritza,
said, " pursued and annihilated/'

The Legations were somewhat disturbed by this
discrepancy. The insurgents made short work of
the notice. It was posted at noon and torn down
within half an hour. Again the Montenegrins ex-
pressed horror at the idea of annihilating Albanians,
and posed as models of humanitarianism, though they
were in a short time to do what the Turks merely
threatened.

On the 24th Saddreddin Bey, the Turkish Min-
ister, arrived from Cettigne to negotiate with the
Maltsors. Sokol Batzi was the mouthpiece of most
of the heads, and was for no surrender. Saddreddin
made various verbal offers — promised to extend the
armistice, increase the compensation money, and so
forth — to all of which the Maltsors, led by Sokol,
replied: " Where is the European guarantee V
That same evening we heard artillery; the armistice
did not count for much.

Saddreddm left to convey the answer to Tourgoud,
and the Maltsor heads went up to Cettigne for instruc-
tions as to the next steps to be taken.

Next day the Turks sent another emissary, Imail
Hakki Bey (who had come as adviser of the Young
Turks Committee at Scutari), a hooky-nosed, tawny-
skinned man, with dark, unclean eyes and a smug
manner. W^ith him came Kapetan Mark Ghioni, of
the Mirdites, sent by his cousin, Prenk Pasha, the
hereditary chief of the Mirdites. The Mirdites were
very angry with Prenk for not assisting them to rise,
and Prenk was reported to be in a state of terror.
On the one side were the Young Turks, prepared to

60 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

punish him if he revolted, and, on the other, the
Mirdites, threatening to kill him if he did not.
Austria was said to have reduced his pay by half,
and he was all for peace. Ibram Effendi, the Mayor
of Scutari, also arrived on a peace errand. They called
on the Maltsors not to imperil their fatherland, the
Turkish Empire. Ibram said he had been horrified
by articles in foreign papers speaking of its speedy
downfall. But to all this the Maltsors refused to
listen, and continued to demand a European guar-
antee of theii' rights.

Beppi Shantoya, the son of my old dragoman in
Scutari, arrived quite worn out. He had been all
the time in Mirdita, had assisted at the futile attack
on Alessio, and had now come by night over the
Shala Mountains, dodging between the Turkish lines.
Soon after came Tochi, who had pluckily organized
the Mirdites, but who had failed for lack of weapons.
He and some others told a piteous tale of how day and
night they had kept watch for the arrival of Riciotti
Garibaldi's promised weapons and reinforcements till
they were sick with despair. Had they not relied
on this help, they would not have' risen. If they
could but have armed all the Dukagins, success
would have been certain. On the contrary, by
publishing in the papers that a revolution was being
planned. Garibaldi, said the Maltsors, had spoilt
their chances. So angry were they that they execrated
his very name. Weapons more weapons, was their

cry.

General Martinovitch and Brigadier Boshkovitch
and two Russian officers appeared suddenly one day,
and went off to reconnoitre the frontier. So did an

BEFORE THE WAR 61

Austrian journalist, who, on his return, reported that
in case of war the Montenegrins would not have a
chance, as the Turks had occupied every position of
importance along the frontier, and were extremely
well placed. Together with the force of Ehtem Pasha,
they must be about 50,000 strong.

Thus the Austrian. What the Russians thought
I never knew, but I always fancied that it was in
consequence of what they saw that Russia gave
Montenegro no encouragement to make war. Mean-
while, our " English letter " had been favourably
noticed by several papers, and it was not till then
that the Montenegrin Government knew of the step
which had been taken. The King was annoyed, for,
as then became evident, he did not wish the Maltsors
to be anything but pawns in his own game. He
telegraphed for the two leading Albanian committee-
men, and demanded the full text of the letter. As
luck would have it, the original was in my hands.

A messenger came to my room at midnight and
banged and hammered on the door. As I was
always being knocked up at midnight by silly tele-
grams from newspapers, I flatly refused to get out of
bed or pay any attention to the explanation that it
was urgent Government business, and the clamouring
messenger withdrew; nor was it till next morning
that I learnt what was the matter, and sent off the
letter in a huny. I was told later that the King
believed that I had instigated the appeal to the British
Government; but he was mistaken.

Events followed fast. On July 4 no less a person
than Monseigneur Sereggi, Archbishop of Scutari,
appeared, with his secretaiy, Doni Luigi Bunci (now

THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

Bishop of Kalmeti), and most of the mountain Fran-
ciscans and priests. Tourgoud Pasha had sent for
him to the camp at Kopliku, and had there asked
him to go straight to Podgoritza, and, as head of the
Catholics, persuade the tribesmen to make peace.

" I replied,'' said the Archbishop, telling the tale,
*' that the Maltsors had already given their reply;

A FRANCISCAN OF THE MOTTNTAINS.

that it was a question between them and the Turkish
Government, and that three Turkish envoys having
failed, it was not likely I should succeed. All the while
I was speaking the military band was playing. When
it stopped, I heard the ' bom, bom ' of artillery.
'What is that?' I asked. 'A little gun practice,'
said Tourgoud. And he started the band playing
with renewed vigour, to hide the fact that, though

BEFORE THE WAR 63

there is supposed to be an armistice, a fight was
going on not far off. He would not accept my ex-
cuses, said I was a Turkish subject, and must do as
I was ordered, so here I am/'

" Then you have no hope of success, Monseigneur V

" Who am I to succeed when so many have failed V
said the Archbishop modestly. " My duties are
purely spiritual, not political."

And as I knew the Archbishop to be a patriotic
Albanian, and not easily shaken or frightened, peace
seemed no nearer. He proceeded to Cettigne and
dined there with the King, the Turkish Minister, and
other guests. His Majesty, according to one of these
others, was in the highest spirits, and chaffed the
Turk unmercifully about his wives, whereat the Turk
looked black, and His Majesty Nikola gayer than
ever. From this we deduced that His Majesty
Nikola must have " somethmg up his sleeve," and
that the European guarantee must be in sight.

Back came the Archbishop to Podgoritza, and day
after day received deputations of tribesmen. The
rank and file were so anxious that no terms should
be accepted without European guarantee that they
declared that if the heads made terms they would
not submit to them. They became very democratic,
and swore that, as they had shared all the suffering,
their opinions, too, must be taken. All insisted on
being heard, and the proceedings draggled along from
day to day.

Saddreddin Bey, the Turkish Minister, smooth,
plausible, and Oriental, came down from Cettigne to
receive the reply. A very noisy meeting ensued.

The Maltsors demanded loudly, " Our rights, and

64 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

a European guarantee/' Saddreddin declared that
the Turkish Government promised all they asked,
and that the Archbishop would stand as guarantee;
whereupon the Maltsors, wildly excited, shouted:
" We accept the Archbishop as head of our Church.
We have the highest respect for him as such; but we
cannot take him as a guarantee of our political rights,
nor the head of any Church — not even the Pope him-
self and the Sultan together/' Saddreddin vainly
tried to read the terms; they shouted him down.
" We want the Powers ! We want the Powers !"

Saddreddin, angry, cried: " You do not understand
what you are talking about/'

They cried: " We understand very well. We are
not children."

He was laughed down, and returned to Cettigne,
leaving the tribesmen hopeful and exultant. The
Turks' evident anxiety that they should make peace,
and King Nikola's even greater anxiety that they
should not, inspired them, poor things ! with the
highest hopes that their sorrow and sacrifice had not
been vain, and that speedy protection was coming
from the Powers.

The rakia flowed freely ; the noise was deafening.
Two plucky young leaders came and swore to me,
their eyes blazing, that they would offer up them-
selves to buy liberty for Albania. They would creep
right into the Turkish camp at Kopliku, and kill
Tourgoud in his tent. They would themselves be
killed, and Europe would understand, and free
Albania. Nor could I persuade them that this step
would in no way help matters.

" Well," said I to the Archbishop, " you have tried

BEFORE THE WAR 65

every means — even rakia — with the Maltsors, and
have failed."

" Even with rakia I did not expect to succeed,"
said he; and he twinkled. But he added seriously:
" How can I recommend these, my people, to again
trust the Turk without guarantee ? He has been
trusted too often." He gave a sad account of the
want and misery which already existed as a result
of the insurrection through all the mountains.
Unless help came, the future was veiy black.

The Maltsors started sniping the Turkish army
with renewed energy, generally stalking the small
outposts at night, and picking off men by the camp-
fires. Mehmet Shpend, with his men, crawled one
night between two outposts, fired at first one and
then the other, and started them firing at each other,
each thinking the other was the enemy. Back came
Mehmet, chuckling, to ask for more cartridges. War
seemed inevitable. The armistice had but a few more
days to run.

Tourgoud declared to an interviewer that he could
no longer hold his men, in the heat and drought, with
nothing to do, and nervous with incessant snipmg.
It must be settled one way or the other.

On July 8 I received a copy of the Morning Post,
containing an intenuew with Prince Danilo, who had
gone to London for the Coronation, and (to quote a
letter I wrote at the time), ** thougli I read it all
alone in my room, I shouted with laughter over
it. I did not know he possessed such inventive
power."

" We Montenegrins," said His Royal Highness,
" who most sincerely desire peace speedily re-estalj-

66 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

listed and lastingly assured, do all we can by giving
both sides friendly advice ... to arrive at conclusions
satisfactory to both parties. My father is most
anxious ... to prove to the Turks the sincerity of his
desire to live with them in true friendship.'' On the
attention of the Crown Prince being drawn to state-
ments current in the Turkish Press, to the effect that
" Montenegro is organizmg and sustaining revolt by
providing the Maltsors with arms and ammunition,
and by granting permission to her subjects to join
the insurgents,'' His Royal Highness said: "I can
assure you positively that these stories have no foun-
dation of fact. There is, however, some sort of justi-
fication. . . . About 100 Montenegrin Maltsors joined
their brethren across the border. . . . The Monte-
negrin Government immediately ordered their sub-
jects to return at once under menace of severe punish-
ment. ... It is, indeed, quite possible that some
Maltsors have bought arms and cartridges from
private Montenegrins, but the Government had
nothing at all to do with it." " Is it true that your
country is actively preparing for war ?" ''I can
assure you that no active preparations are going on."
He added: " It grieves my heart to see these brave,
uncultured mountaineers suffer and die for the liberty
of having their own schools for their own children."
These remarks, when his stout cousin, Yanko, was
actively engaged in supplying arms, keeping up the
revolt, and preparing war, and when a Montenegrin
ofiicer and several men had been wounded, were so
unpudent as to border on the sublime. His tender
grief on the subject of Albanian schools, when coupled
with the fact that such schools were also prohibited

BEFORE THE WAR 67

in Montenegro, was beneath contempt. The inter-
view is only one more example of the folly of the
interviewing system. At its best it panders to vulgar
curiosity; at its worst it is a wholesale disseminator
of lies.

On July 11 Cousin Yanko came to me and stated
triumphantly that everything was in readiness. The
artillery track to Suha finished, and the guns going
up that night; the road to Rumia also finished, and
the big guns going there; ammunition sent to all the
frontier posts. He took war for granted, and asked
me if I would stay in the town, or come into the
camp with him as a correspondent. He added,
laughing, he could take Scutari in ten days. The
camp was under cover of the hills close by, and
artillery drill had been going on there regularly for
some time.

The armistice was to expire that night. Next
morning the Turkish army might be over the border.
It was but two miles from the frontier, and about
30,000 strong. I withdrew most of my relief fund
from the bank in case of sudden emergency, and sat
and waited through what seemed an endless after-
noon, with the Italian and Austrian correspondents
ready to fly to the telegraph-office and wire our re-
spective papers that war was declared. All Pod-
goritza palpitated with excitement, and the minutes
dragged slowly by. At last came official news from
the Turkish Consulate : twenty days' further armis-
tice. The Austrian said " Damn \" All his war-kit
was wasted. The Montenegrins said the Tuiks dared
not fight, as they knew that, so soon as the first shot
was fired, the whole of the Balkans would blaze.

68 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Bulgaria would begin at once and support Monte-
negro. There was general disappointment.

Next day all was flat and the Montenegrins as
cross as bears. The sudden relaxation of the strain
of expectancy had let everyone down with a whump.
The insurgents still clung to hope, as news of risings
in Djakova and in the South cheered them, and they
caught at any straw. The Albanian Committee in
America telegraphed to me, and I replied that, unless
immediate help came, the cause was lost. A hodja,
a plucky and patriotic Moslem from South Albania,
arrived at Podgoritza, and started on foot, through
the Turkish lines, to Kosovo, to beg the tribesmen
there to rise before it was too late. We saw him off
on his perilous journey one night.

America sent money to pay the insurgents' bread-
bill. They had fought for four months on bread and
water only, with the rarest exceptions. The fighting-
men's bread was not paid for by Montenegro, though
made by a Podgoritza baker, from whom men from
each tribe fetched it every few days.

The hot days throbbed by, and no news came,
either from the South or from Kosovo. We grew sick
with deferred hope. The leaders of both districts,
more especially Ismail Kemal, failed to realize that
this was a supreme moment for Albania, and that
now or never must her boundaries and rights be
defined. They intended to plan a larger revolution
later on. I cabled in vain to leaders in America.

The insurgents were furious with Ismail Kemal.
Until he came to Cettigne he was quite unknown to
them. He gave them no help at all, but was now
said to be posing, in the European Press, as a leader.

BEFORE THE WAR 69

Then came news of a lising at Djakova. The
hodja's journey was succeeding. Ehtem Pasha was
wounded, and the Turkish Kainimakani killed. This
spurred the flagging hopes of the insurgents. They
made a sudden successful raid, and cut off the water-
supply of Tuzi.

Though the insurgents had still fight left in them,
the state of their families was worse and worse.
Quite half had not had a change of shirt for two
months. AVater was short, soap an impossible
luxury, and the stench sickenmg. I went from cave
to cave and shed to shed, tramping with Martina]
through all the neighbourhood, dealing out shirting
cut into lengths, needles, and balls of thi-ead. In
the heat of midday I tore and folded hundreds of
metres of stuff, packed it and sent it to the moun-
tains. Money for relief w^ork was coming in fairly
well. The toil of administering it, however, was very
severe, for it was not large enough to permit of
hiruig assistants or of taking a special room.

An Italian doctor. Dr. Negri, arrived as a volun-
teer worker, and at my request went up to Triepshi
and did admii-able work among the refugees, who
were sickening in quantities from bad food and ex-
posure. He sent the worst cases to me for special
help, and I supplied him with all the drugs he wanted.
For lack of other accommodation, the wretched,
filthy people swarmed into my bedroom daily.
Though I removed the only rug and drenched the floor
with carbolic, it was all of a hop with fleas; and at
night the rank stink of the bale of raw hide for
sandals half choked me.

So passed Juh . I lemember it as a nightmare in

THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

an inferno. Peace seemed no nearer. The Arch-
bishop left on the 22nd, and was seen off by General
Martinovitch and his officers. A speech, made by a
Scutarene, thanked the Archbishop for his work, and
stated that no peace would be accepted without good
terms guaranteed by Europe. The Archbishop
thanked all for his kind reception; he had failed in
his errand, and left the future in the hands of God.
The Podgoritzans cried, " Zhivio Kralj Nikola !"
(Long live King Nikola !), and the Archbishop and
his attendants drove off in one of Podgoritza's
ramshackle flies.

It was significant that none of the heads of the
Maltsors took part in this demonstration.

MIRDITE OUTPOSTS.

CHAPTER V

THE GREAT BETRAYAL

*' Put not your trust in Princes."

That Yanko and Martinovitch and all their staff were
delighted with the way that the Archbishop had con-
ducted the affair, was obvious. They did not wish,
nor did they intend, to have peace. Yanko boasted
he would be in Scutari in ten days, and Tourgoud
retorted that he would take Cettigne in a week.
The armistice was to expire on August 1 (1911), and
we counted the hours and minutes. Military prepara-
tions were pushed on actively, and the weary in-
surgents were urged to fresh efforts. In spite of
Prince Danilo's assertions, Montenegrin soldiers were
sent to reinforce them, and took active part in the
sniping.

In the very last days of July some more riffes were
dealt out, and a band, led by the man who had sworn
to kill Tourgoud, was fitted out and started, with
that object, on the last night of the armistice.

Nothing indicated that the insurrection would
shortly end. To our amazement, on August 2, Mr.
Butler, of The Times, and several other correspondents
arrived early, and announced that all was over, and
a crisis at hand.

At noon a royal motor rushed into the town bear-

72 THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

ing Saddreddin Bey (the Turkish Minister), Gjukaii-
ovitch (then Minister of the Interior), Dushan Greg-
ovitch (Marshal of the Court), Mitar Martinovitch
(of the Artillery), and last, but by no means least,
big Yanko.

The car buzzed in a cloud of dust to the Turkish
Consulate, and the stunning report spread that peace
was to be made at once — not only peace, but that the
Turk's terms were to be accepted without guarantee.
Had a Turkish shell landed suddenly in the town, it
could not have caused such astonishment, for it was
a possibility which we had discussed often enough.

Only last night weapons had been given out, and
now — peace, without a guarantee. It was in-
credible, impossible. The chiefs were summoned at
once. They met and squatted, each tribe apart, in
rings on the ground near the schoolhouse, to discuss
what to do. The news was a knock-out blow. They
were stunned. Week after week they had obeyed
King Nikola's orders; seen their homes and goods
plundered and burnt; starved, fought, and suffered;
and now, in spite of all solemn promises, they were
thrown over.

The Gruda men, with old Sokol Batzi as President,
sat on the school steps. They all rose as I ap-
proached, as though I were a headman, and gave me
a seat at Sokol's right hand.

Briefly, the terms offered by the Turkish Govern-
ment were — That an Albanian-speaking Kaimmakam
should be at once appointed at Tuzi, and that he
should be a Christian; that the right to carry arms
should be allowed to all the insurgent tribes, except
(as always before) in the towns and bazars; that

BEFORE THE WAR 73

Albanian schools should be opened by the Grovern-
nient; that roads should be made in the mountains;
that money to rebuild the burnt houses should be
given; that maize, sufficient to live on, should be
dealt out till next harv^est, and that every male over
fifteen should receive one pound Turk on returning
home.

The tribesmen listened, growling, as Sokol de-
tailed the terms. And what guarantee was offered ?
None of any sort.

They blazed up in a fury. They had not suffered
and bled and lost all they possessed to be swindled
thus ! Kbig Nikola had promised them European
support and fi'eedom — had promised never to desert
them till they won it; and a European guarantee
they must have.

" Mon Dieu ! ils ont raison/' I muttered to young
Sokol Batzi, who was next me.

They did not understand the words, but caught
my meaning, and said flatly they would hear no more
about terms, and rose.

Muttered wrath came from the groups of Hoti,
Kastrati, Skreli, and Klimenti. Everyone refused
point-blank. They said it was a ruse to entrap and
murder them. Quantities of tribesmen were present,
as they had come from the mountains to receive
orders at the close of the armistice.

At 6 p.m. the heads were summoned to meet the
Montenegrin authorities on the drill-ground before
the Voyni Stan. The heat had parched it to an
arid, dusty waste. A canvas awning was hastily put
up for the officials, for, even at 6 p.m., it was still
very hot. A thick crowd gathered round, tense with

74 THE STKUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

suppressed excitement. Yanko and Saddreddin pre-
sided.

Saddreddin spoke Turkish, which not a soul under-
stood, and then called on Mihilaki Effendi, the newly
appointed Kaimmakam of Tuzi, to read the terms in
Albanian. He did so, haltingly ; for, with the
usual Turkish slop-dawdle, Saddreddin had only had
them translated at the last minute — and then by a
Greek !

The crowd appeared to understand nothing,
listened in silence, and gave no sign.

Yanko angrily demanded a reply of old Sokol.
The heads murmured together. Then Sokol said
they could give no answer till the rest of the in-
surgents had been consulted. For months and
months the Montenegrin Government had told them
they must accept no terms without a European
guarantee. Now they did not understand.

Yanko refused to take this as an answer. He was
obviously losing his temper rapidly. So certain,
indeed, had the Montenegrin Government been that
the Press agents in Cettigne had already telegraphed
to the papers that the insurgents had at once obeyed
King Nikola. And here they were, resisting to a man.

Sokol, much agitated, asked if he and some of the
heads might go to the Turkish Consulate and talk
things over with the authorities.

Yanko accepted. The crowd moved across the
plain to the Consulate, murmuring, but quite orderly.
Only at the door of the Consulate, when Sokol Batzi,
Dod Prenchi of Kastrati, and old Ded Jon Luli of
Hoti, passed in, they cried loudly, " Do not betray
us, do not betray us \" and for a moment seemed

BEFORE THE WAR 75

about to lose control, but restrained themselves, and
walked quietly away, and again held meetings.

Poor people ! Tlieii- indignation and distress were
painful to behold. I have never witnessed a more
poignant scene. They repeated again and again that
Montenegro had promised to stand by them till a
guarantee was obtained. The King hunself had so
sworn to many; had promised to assist them with
troops, if need was. They implored me to inform
England, to protest against this treachery, to save
them. It was painful in the extreme. 1 went back
late to the hotel, tired out.

Gregovitch captured me at once. " You are the
only person who knows their minds. Are they going
to yield?"

"No," said I. " And I do not see how you can
expect it, after all you have said and done."

He seemed very much upset, and said : " They will
have to. The maize-supply is to be cut off the day
after to-morrow."

I expressed great disgust at the cruelty of this, as
even if they yielded, it would be impossible for so
many to return in so short a tune. He was angry.
We said no more.

An American correspondent came and suggested
that I should act as mtermediary, and urge the tribes-
men to accept the terms; but I, knowing, better than
he, that up till now the Montenegrins had done all
they could to prolong the struggle, refused to now
play Montenegro's game for her. Next day a scare
was spread that there was an outbreak of cholera,
and this was used to get up a panic against the
further presence of the luckless refugees.

76 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

The Montenegrins were furious at the disobedience
of the Maltsors. The Maltsors were even more
furious at the Montenegrins' treachery. With so
many thousand armed men, all infuriated and
further excited by the extreme heat, the situation
was hourly more dangerous.

Wearied out and anxious beyond all words, I
kept out of sight, that my opinion might not be
asked, and spent most of the day behind a haystack
with Kol Martina], discussimg the hopeless situation,
cursing Montenegro and all the Powers, and devising
impossible schemes.

A blood-red sunset, that seemed all too appropriate,
darkened into night before we returned to the hotel
for supper. We ate alone and in silence. In came
Yanko, red-faced and much agitated, shut the door
after him, and said: "You must listen to me, you
two. I unplore you in God's name to act, and act
at once." Kol and I stared amazement at one
another. I replied to the effect that this was the
Montenegrin Government's own affair, not mine;
that there was much that I did not understand —
broken promises and so forth — and I therefore
could not act.

Yanko blustered, seemed distrustful, finally sat
down heavily, and expounded the whole situation.
Things had all gone wrong. He had been all for
war. The right moment had been lost ; the Turks
had taken all the positions. Those fools of Maltsors
had begun too soon ! With all the eyes of Europe
attracted, what could one do ? The Powers now
insisted on peace: if Montenegro disobeyed, she was
lost. The Maltsors must be sent back somehow —

BEFORE THE WAR 77

he and all tlie Montenegrin authorities hacl failed to
persuade them

I wondered how often in history a foreign female
had been asked by a Commander-in-Chief, who was
also a Queen's cousin, in the name of God and his
Government to make terms for him with insurgents
he had himself incited. Yanko, Martinaj, and I
argued up and down for two hours.

The tension was extreme. Yanko stooped to
threats. If the insurgents did not at once obey, all
those who were within the Montenegrin frontier (and
almost all had come in for the parley) would be
forcibly disarmed. This would mean bloodshed un-
doubtedly.

All food-supplies would be cut off at once. They
would be star^'ed out and forced to go defenceless,
and crave pardon and bread of the Turk on their
knees. Turks were Turks. Who knew what might
result ?

And if they consented to go, wliere were the
guarantees for safety ? If they consented to go at
once and quietly, Montenegro would see that they
went with 6,000 rifles and a supply of cartridges for
each man. This in itself was a guarantee of safety.
If we needed more guarantee — well, the terms had
been submitted to every Legation. The Turks must
fulfil them.

It was midnight. I was exhausted. There was
no other possible course, so, believing rather in the
6,000 rifles than the Powers, Martinaj and I con-
sented to do what we could.

I rose to go. But, no — the co-operation of the
mountain priests had to be secured. Father Sebastian

78 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

and Father Matteus and one or two others were
hastily summoned. They, too, as patriotic Albanians,
were reluctant to act. The tale began again. At
1 a.m., reeling with fatigue, I got up to go. Yanko
stopped me with, " You must begin early to-morrow.
Be ready at four \"

The night-air outside was as suffocating as the
room. I sweltered, sleepless with the responsibility
I had taken. Whichever I advised, resistance or
obedience, I might have the blood of these people
on my conscience, and I had no help to turn to. I
had written to editors and diplomatists often enough
to know that it would be useless; and there was no
time to lose. Sick with sleeplessness and disgust at
the way in which Montenegro had made a cat's-paw
of the Maltsors, and then, having failed to extract
chestnuts, cast them back to the enemy, I came down
into the yard at six in the morning, and found poor
old Marash Hutzi, the old doctor man of Hoti, await-
ing me. A brave and very honest old man, he had
told me often in the course of the insurrection that
he did not mind the suffering if God .would let him
see freedom before he died. That the Powers would
cast them back after this terrible struggle, that
Montenegro had given them up, dazed and stunned
him. He could no longer think, he said; he had
come to me for advice. I told him there was only
one way — to yield and go back. He answered that
he and all his family would obey. They would
accept my word, and none other's. He cheered up,
for he had shifted the responsibility on to me. We
went into the dining-room, where Yanko, Blazho,
and some other officers were waiting nervously.

BEFORE THE WAE 79

They were intensely relieved to see an influential
headman, and begged me to hurry up.

Martina] and the Franciscans came. They too
agreed that nothing else could be done, and our duty
was to save bloodshed.

Already at that early hour the sun was blazing.
The drill-ground by the Voyni Stan was deep with
dust. Martina] and I went from one group of
desperate and fiercely indignant men to another, and
plunged into the thick of them, I speaking, he trans-
lating, arguing, entreating, commanding. The air
was foggy with dust, and stank with sweat.

The men yelled and shouted. They had been be-
trayed; they would have justice; they would never
go back; they would prefer to fight and die here.
The King had promised a European guarantee.
They must have one.

Yanko rushed suddenly from the Voyni Stan, and
said he must have an answer by noon. I said he
could not; that he must give us till the afternoon,
and go away at once. I seized his arm and tried to
shake him, and sent him off.

Neither the Franciscans nor Martina] and I were
making any headway. The Klimenti men in especial
were furious. They said: "You are going back to
your country, where you will be safe, and you order
our women back to be violated by the Turks. You
would not go back to Albania for the winter your-
self.''

There was nothing left for it but to promise to go
with them. I promised. Even this influenced only
a few.

At middav, exhausted and hoarse, we gave up.

80 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

The Montenegrins were furious. I feared the worst.
But by the afternoon the tribesmen had had time to
consider the terms. Martinaj and the Franciscans
once more addressed them, and at four o'clock, re-
luctantly and sorrowfully, they consented.

Yanko, intensely relieved, made a speech, in which
he hoped that they would have all their national
rights, and that Martinaj should be Professor among
them in an Albanian school.

Blazho and Yanko and General Martinovitch
thanked me on behalf of the Government for my
services, and my promise to accompany the Maltsors.
But the iron was to be struck while hot. Carriages
were ordered, and some twenty headmen, including
Mirash Lutzi, drove off to Tuzi, fully armed. An
excited crowd saw them off.

The fateful day was over. There was no going
back from the step we had taken. The reaction was
horrible. Martinaj turned white. We were both
overwhelmed with the responsibility we had taken,
and could barely be civil m reply to the fulsome
thanks of Yanko, Blazho, and Martinovitch.

The Klimenti men sent me a message that they
went back entirely on my responsibility, and that
if aught happened to them, their blood was upon my
soul.

It kept me awake all night, and at 3.30 a.m. I had
to get up and crawl down the street to meet Mr.
Butler, of The Times, and Mr. Leland Buxton, of the
Macedonian Relief Committee, in order to fulfil my
promise of crossing the frontier.

In the grey dawn we drove over the plam to Tuzi,
where Mihilaki Eff endi, the new Kaimmakam, received

■•-t

BEFORE THE WAR 81

us very affably. I confess that at the time I dis-
trusted his promises, as I regarded him only as a tool
of Saddreddin Bey (a man for whom I had great con-
tempt); but he turned out to be a good man. I
found the returned insurgents in good spirits. Poor
old Mirash Lutzi looked ten years younger. It had
nideed been plucky of him to be among the first to
return, for he quite expected to be betrayed. Mihilaki
had treated the first twenty with great hospitality-
mutton, coftee, and suchlike delicacies galore.

Mirash's one anxiety was for his son. He called
me aside, and prayed me on my return to go straight
to Yanko, or Martinovitch, or whomever was in com-
mand, and beg him at once to warn the band they
had sent out a few days before, that peace had been
made. " If they are not recalled at once," he said,
" they will throw their bomb into Tourgoud's tent,'
and we shall all be executed in revenge.'' He cursed
the Montenegrin Generals freely for having thus
equipped and sent a band at the last moment. Nor
was his anxiety uncalled for.

Returning to Podgoritza at noon, I gave Mirash's
message at once to Yanko, and was told they had
ahready sent to warn the band. The insurrection
was over. The toil and strain of the past four
months had been vain.

^ I had hoped up till the last that some sort of
European protection would have been obtained, for
that would have entailed at any rate a rough' de-
limitation of Albanian territoiy ; and if that had been
done, what horrors would have been later spared !
But a ring had been formed by the Press of Europe :
The Young Turk was sacred. As someone remarked,

82 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

" A Turk has merely to say he is Young, and he
may do what he pleases." Europe pursued the fatal
policy of non-intervention. It seemed as though we
were all swept along into the cogs of a vast machine
that turned and turned ceaselessly and pitilessly.

With brutal haste, men, women, and children were
hunted back across the border like so much cattle.
I made a struggle to serve out as many garments as
tune allowed; but I was quite done up with the heat,
which rose to 104° F. in the shade, as well as with
the work, and an attack of lumbago and rheumatism
struck me helpless. I lay on my bed, and the refugees
came in all day for doles to help them to return to
their rumed homes by hiring a cart or horse to carry
the children and such goods as they possessed, and
especially to beg for opanke (sandals) for the long
tramp to the mountains. Martinaj sat by me and
dealt out as I directed; and from my room such men
as had no weapons went to the Montenegrins for the
promised rifles. All other foreigners were ordered
out of the town, lest they should incite the Maltsors
to further resistance. Then Martinaj was telegraphed
for to return to his work in Italy,' and I was left all
alone to help of the last of the insurgents as best I

could.

When I recovered enough to be able to crawl
downstairs, Podgoritza was a blank. Soldiers,
officers, insurgents, correspondents — all had dis-
appeared like a dream; or was the present cahn but
a dream— the hush before the storm ? For one who
was in touch with the King had told me, under promise
of strict secrecy (nothing was to be published before
next May), that the withdrawal of the Maltsors was

BEFORE THE WAR 83

only a ruse in order to bring about the withdrawal
of the Turkish troops; that so soon as this was effected,
the lost strategical positions would be reoccupied. If,
as was hoped, this withdrawal took place shortly, it
was possible that fighting would begin in the winter.
If not — why, in April for certain. And I was pledged
to winter in Albania.

PART II

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS

CHAPTER VI

THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT (1911-1912)

To give even an idea of the ceaseless strain, the
anxious waiting from hour to hour, as we drew nearer
and nearer to an unfathomable precipice, seems to
me an almost impossible task. It was an endless
winter of toil, misery, rumours, alarms, deaths —
all in an indescribable tangle of intrigue, plot, and
counterplot.

Only firm and prompt action on the part of the
so-called Great Powers could have prevented the
final catastrophe. But it daily became more and
more obvious that the Powers would rather that the
whole Balkan population died than that they should
stretch a finger to save them.

** It would be an awful thing," they said, " if our
little hands should tear each other's eyes.''

Nor, so it seems, did they see any alternative plan.
" Hawks do not pluck out hawks' een " is a fair
saymg. But the Powers are naught but a menagerie,
with nothing liker a hawk than a spatch-cocked eagle
or two. And so soon as the door is opened, they
believe they must do as other menageries — tooth and
nail.

88 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

In all the world there is nothing more pathetic
than the belief — in spite of all evidence to the con-
trary— that the little peoples have in the greatness
and goodness of the " Powers/' And nothing more
despicable than the Powers as they really are.

But for international jealousies of the meanest kind,
an international gendarmerie could have controlled
the affairs of European Turkey, and by preventing
the hideous series of outrage and reprisals that took
place throughout Macedonia and in parts of Albania,
as the Young Turk strove madly by every species of
cruelty to forcibly Ottomanize his subject peoples —
might have prevented, or at least have mitigated, the
wholesale slaughter that was shortly to follow.

Crueller and more calculating than the Turk, the
rulers of the Balkan States deliberately and in
cold blood incited resistance, stirred up rebellion.
For the aim and hope of each was to advertise
his cause upon a poster bloody enough to justify
war.

" We had expected quite half the population to die
as the result of this insurrection,'' said the Bulgar
Bishop of Ochrida and his secretary to me in 1904,
" and not one quarter have. Next time a great
many more must die, and Europe will have to listen
to us."

So things danced in a bloody circle, each Balkan
ruler striving " to free " the land at the expense of
the hapless peasants he pretended to " liberate,"
who, in fact, were so many " research guinea-pigs,"
with whom he experimented against the Turks, and
anyone else likely to thwart his schemes of aggrandize-
ment. And behind each petty ruler sat a Great Power

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 89

with " a sphere of influence " in view, and restrained

or egged him on according as it suited a yet larger

game.

H« * * * *

It was on August 19 that I arrived once more in
Scutari, ill and tired enough, burdened with my
promise to help the returned insurgents, and with
the knowledge that unless the Powers took immediate
and concerted action, more bloodshed was inevitable.

Russia, by cutting of! Montenegro's supply of
pocket-money, had, in fact, stopped immediate action.
But this was a mere lull.

Various reasons made it more desirable to stay in
the hotel than in a private house, and I had hardly
settled in, when the Maltsors began coming for help
and advice. Beyond imploring them to be patient,
I could do little for them till I had been a fortnight
in the doctor's hands.

The new Vali, an old Moslem Bulgar, was very
friendly, and gave me full permission to help the
burnt-out tribesmen. He would be glad, he said, of
anything that would content them. The Turkish
authorities, in fact, were not sorry that England
should be a counter-attraction to various other
Powers.

The position of things was as bad as it well could
be. The Turkish officers and all the Young Turk
representatives were furious about the concessions
made to the msurgents. Intense bitterness, too,
prevailed between the town Moslems and the late
insurgents, who had beaten them at Kopliku, and
this bitterness was foolishly fostered by the Young
Turk enthusiasts.

90 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Before the month was up came the first row. Six
Kastrati men were set on and severely mauled by a
gang of town Moslems, who were enraged by seeing
that the Kastrati had Montenegrin rifles. The six
Christians were promptly arrested, and the Moslems
let off.

All the fat was in the fire at once. Hakki Bey, the
Young Turk representative, said he was glad the
Christians had been thrashed ; it would do them good.
To add to the difficulties, Ramazan was beginning,
and in Ramazan Moslems are apt for quarrel.

The Archbishop protested — said the promised
maize was being given irregularly; that the promised
compensation money had not been paid ; and that if
violence were offered to the tribesmen, he could not
be responsible for consequences.

The Kastrati men were liberated, but the Moslems
were not punished. The tribesmen were defiant, and
clamoured for their money.

I, who had promised to go to the mountains and
investigate the state of things there, was too ill to go,
and was in something like despair when Mr. Nevinson
arrived, sent by the Macedonia Relief Committee, to
act as their agent. He relieved me of the job and
started off to visit the burnt-out districts. I went
with him, so far as it was possible to drive in a
carriage, to Baitza in Lower Kastrati, and there
visited some twenty ruined homes, all burnt, not a
roof anjrwhere. The people were squatting under
little sheds of rushes and boughs, and had collected
and used every unbroken roof-tile.

There are few sights more heart-rending than burnt
homes. The floor, lighted from below, flares up and

THE GATHEETXG OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 91

burns the roof rafters and all the props within.
Down comes the roof with a crash, and the red sparks
shoot up. Part of the stone wall is torn down by the
falling timbers. Blackened ruins are all that remain,
and among them cower the innocent victims who have
wandered back, destitute of nearly all but the clothes
they wear. And Europe says: " Thank God ! Peace
has been preser\^ed. We have not fought each other."
What God is it that they thank ? Moloch ?

The courage with which some of the returned refu-
gees faced their misery was admirable. One plucky
old woman who had succeeded in saving the parts of
her loom had put it up, and was hard at work weaving
stufE for the children's clothes from w^ool she had spun
during the insurrection.

In the church the Turks had decapitated the
images of the saints and poked out the eyes of the
pictures. One of the most inexplicable of the many
weaknesses that afflict mankind from Turks to
Kensits is the extraordinar}^ hatred which folk bear
for the S}Tnbols of any brand of religion but their own,
and the blind fury with which they attack inanimate
objects. It is the one point which many very dis-
similar religions have in common.

The devastation of Baitza was a fair sample of the
rest of the Turks' work.

Mr. Neviuson returned after a week's tour thi-ough
the mountains, and reported that the greater part of
the houses of the Klimenti — almost all in Hoti —
the Christian houses in Skreli, and nearly all in Ka-s-
trati, were burnt, and the few not burnt pillaged;
two churches and several chapels completely de-
stroyed, and all the churches plundered. In Gruda,

92 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

only a hundred houses were burnt, but ahnost all
were pillaged. The Moslems in some instances had
suffered as badly as the Chiistians.

Briefly, the net result of the Young Turks' policy
of forcible Ottomanization was, that in order to
enforce taxation, they had destroyed about 2,000
houses, and rendered the land unable to pay any tax
for years to come ; that they had been forced to yield
on the point of language and on the right to carry
arms; and that they had alienated the sympathies of
almost all the Albanian race.

To achieve this end, they had spent many millions
which, had they been devoted to the much-needed
pubHc works, might have brought peace and pros-
perity to the land, and had sacrificed something like
8,000 soldiers, reckoning killed, wounded, and those
which died of disease. Many troops had already left
Albania, but among those camped near Scutari and
Medua, a species of cholera was reported to be still
causing many deaths.

The Young Turks, in their struggle for supremacy,
had lost much. The Maltsori, fighting for freedom,
had lost nearly all they possessed.

The Turkish Government had by now paid the
£1 per head promised to each male over fifteen on
returning, and the maize distribution had begun.
But roofing and clothing were urgently required.
As all traffic had been, and was still, blocked by
military stores, there was scarcity of material in the
town, and importation was difiicult. We bought up
all the thin planks in the town, and ordered tarred
felt from Trieste.

One district, the tribe of Summa, remained un-

RKTCKNKI) kF,Il(.Kl> AT I^AITZA, SKI'TEM KI.K, I9II.

I\S'<i KN I \ n I IM-

THE GATHEEING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 93

visited. AVe started there on horseback to inspect.
It was September 24, a golden autumn day, glorious
with brown bracken, scarlet berries, and crimson and
yellow foliage. Before us, all blue and mysterious,
lay the Kiri Valley. It was with extraordinary joy
that I, once more after three years' absence, rode
into the mountains, past Drishti, which was then a
bower of silver olives, up the slopes of Maranaj, and
over his shoulder. Far below lay Scutari Lake, in-
comparably beautiful. But the turf, as we began to
descend on the farther side, was ringed with the marks
of Turkish tents, and the remains of a pack of playing-
cards were bleaching in the sun, left, perhaps, by
some " advanced " officer; for it is a common saying:
" He is a Moslem, but almost a Christian: he drinks
and gambles."

The track was very bad. We lost it more than once,
and it was only after nearly ten hours of ridmg and
scrambling we arrived in the dusk at the miserable
house of the priest of Summa. It had been com-
pletely pillaged. Save that he had a roof, he was
little better off than the poorest of his parishioners,
and he gladly shared the food we had brought.

The Summa tribe had made a futile little rising,
had failed to reach the other insurgents, been sur-
rounded by troops who burnt thirty-five houses, of
which twelve were Moslem, and plundered many of
the others. As the wTetched people had not suc-
ceeded in reaching Montenegro, they were not con-
sidered by the Turkish Government as entitled to
the corn ration.

Summa was always poor; it was now in abject
misery. We found the luckless creatures half-naked

94 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

among the ruins, the women boiling chopped grass
and nettles to feed the children, who shivered in
the chill autumn morning in the ragged remains of
shirts.

Food was obviously the first necessity here. We
gladdened them by the ofi'er of six loads (a load is
about 250 pounds) of maize if they would fetch it
themselves. I fed them at intervals all through the
winter.

We returned to Scutari, to find wild rumours that
Italy was picking a quarrel with the Turks about
Tripoli, but as there was no mention at all of the
subject in any paper we had received from England,
we scouted the notion.

Most urgent appeals for quinine had been coming
for some time from the people of Breg Mati, and a
large consignment of tabloids had just arrived from
England. This was our next duty.

The tribes of Klimenti and Skreli, and scattered
members of other tribes, have both summer and winter
grazing-grounds for their flocks. They descend from
the high mountain-pastures in October, and remain
on the fertile plains between the Drin and the Mati
till about the middle of April. The shifting of the
flocks is a fine sight: men, women, and children, in
native costumes, tramp with their pack-horses, loaded
high with gaily coloured bedding and big caldrons,
followed by hundreds of bleating, lowing beasts.

This year (1911), however, the insurrection in
which they had all intended to take part — for the
Klimenti are the most gallant of all the tribes —
broke out prematurely while they were still in the
plains. The first thing that the troops naturally

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 95

did was to block their passage, and to pen them in
the plains for the summer. The plains being water-
logged by reason of the overflow of the Drin and
Bojana Rivers, are haunted by a malaria of a most
virulent type, and the unfortunate people had been
rotting with it all the summer. They suffered,
indeed, more deaths from disease than did their
fighting brethi'en fi"om wounds.

We arranged to drive to Alessio, the little fever-hole
of a town that stands by the Drin, to give out quinine
there, to meet some of the tribesmen, and ride with
them to Breg Mati.

Marko, my faithful old dragoman, was not coming
with us. As he was helping us put our goods into
the carriage, he remarked: " Perhaps you had better
not go. People say there is going to be a war."

" A war !" we cried, and we laughed and drove
o&.

News was hard to get, for by this time the whole
district was. more or less in quarantine for cholera,
and in consequence few steamers stopped, and letters
and newspapers were much delayed.

Arrived at Alessio, we found terrible excitement.
Quantities of Nizams were running hither and thither,
carrying white w^ooden ammunition boxes, and rushing
to the hill that towers above the town, like so many
ants on an anthill. Officers, pack-horses, transport
waggons, soldiers — all were on the way to the coast
to leave for Constantinople, when a report spread
suddenly that the Italians were about to land. The
troops turned back at once, and were taking all
military stores up to the ruined citadel on the hilltop
as fast as possible. " Now you won't be able to get

96 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

horses," said our guide. " They have commandeered
them all."

Oddly enough, I did not take it seriously. I had
been expecting war and hearmg gunshots and artillery
since last April, and it had all fizzled out. The
quinine and the fever patients seemed far more
important. The tribesmen, who expected us, turned
up. They had cannily hidden their horses outside
the town, mounted us on good ones, and we reached
Br eg Mati in three hours.

Dom Notz, the priest, put us up hospitably in his
little wooden hut that stood on high stone staddles.
We rose early. Rain was pouring. By seven it
cleared, and we started on our errand. Alas ! Dom
Notz, with the intention of saving us a long ride and
house-to-house visits, had sent word overnight that the
free quinine had come, and the poor people were flock-
ing to the village of Gursi, which was the centre of the
district. The demand far exceeded our supply. It
was heart-breaking work. The least ill of the family
came to beg for the rest. In most houses it seemed
every person was stricken.

Lean and wasted, their skin tight and yellow on
then- skulls, their eyes sunken, they prayed : "Give me
quinine for fifteen people "; "I have twenty "\ "I
have six children, they are dying." The quinine
went like snow m sunshine. Many of the vie tuns
had hugely enlarged spleens. In about an hour and
a half we dealt out 6,600 grains of quinine, and the
supply was exhausted. A most painful scene ensued.
People, all rain-soaked, who had been tramping since
early morning, arrived, and in despair prayed us to
have pity and to give. And to escape the sight of

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 97

misery which we could not relieve, we had to mount
and ride away. It was a scene I shall never forget.

The horses were good, and we arrived fairly early
at Alessio. A young Turkish officer at once rushed
up to us. " Sprechen Sie Deutsch?'' he cried. We
did. He poured out his grief. Italy had declared
war. It was true; there were three Italian battle-
ships off Medua. The straight columns of smoke
from their funnels were visible above the hills that lie
along the coast.

" All is lost ! All is lost !" he cried. " It is that
accursed Abdul Hamid. He took everything for
himself, and left us with nothing. No navy, no
Dreadnought, nothing, nothmg ! Here am I with
my troops, and I cannot take them out. We must
march to Monastir. Unless England helps us, all is
lost. Tripoli is already lost.'' He clasped his hands
in despair.

" No doubt it is,'' said one of us, I forget which.
We rode on.
** I am sorry for that poor fellow," said Mr. Nevinson.
" I'm not," said I. And I added: " It is the begm-
ning of the end."

It flashed on me that this perhaps was the meaning
of the mysterious thing which I was pledged not to
reveal — that Montenegi'o would move in the winter
if circumstances allowed. Throughout Montenegro
the Italians are hated because by their great industry
they at once outstrip the lazy Montenegrins and make
money; but that would not prevent a political alliance
for mutual benefit. Italy would extend her in-
fluence in North Albania — the Catholics would hail
any aid that would save them from the Young Turks

98 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

— the Montenegrins would go into the Serb terri-
tories of Berani and Kosovo vilayet. If the constant
rumours of Bulgar mobilization were true, we might
have the long-expected break-up of the Near East
upon us in a month; and Austria would not fight,
but would demand, and later obtain, " compensa-
tion/' It all seemed clear as daylight. I was highly
pleased, forltho ught that Albania's chance had come.
A party of tribesmen was escorting us. The horses
were " going strong "\ we rode at a good pace, and
reckoned we could reach Scutari by 7 p.m., when
we discovered that the man who carried our over-
coats on his saddle had dropped them. Three of
our men vrent back to search. We remained with
one Maltsor. Time passed. It began to grow dark.
The Maltsor was reluctant to proceed, but we pushed
on. The moon came out, the great plains of the Drin
were all ghostly. We rode through magic and
mystery, vainly trying to judge where we were by
the dim silhouettes of the mountains, till we arrived
at the old wooden Bachelik bridge (destroyed, alas !
in the war), at 9 p.m., and to our astonishment were
promptly arrested. State of war had been pro-
claimed, and no one w^as to be admitted to the town
after sunset. The police outpost was very civil.
It spoke only Turkish and Albanian, and set to work
to write long biographies of us, and to spit on the
mistakes and wipe them out in Turkish fashion. It
then sent us with an armed escort to the police-
station in the bazar, where we were handed over,
with explanations, and the same performance was
repeated, only this time they wrote pages. I tried
to cheer matters by making shadows of animals on the

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 99

walls. Then we went off again, and were handed
to the towm police. Finally we were liberated at
11 p.m. without a stain on our characters. Every-
one had known we had gone the day before to give
quinine, so that our arrest was ridiculous. But as
they said: " War is war.^' I have told this in detail
as it was the first marked step which the authorities

OLD BACHELIK BEIDOE.

took to protect Scutari from Italian invasion. The
next step was to call for several thousand volunteers
" to defend the Fatherland."

The day was fixed. The military band, the crimson
silk banner, and the commandant, Hussein Riza
Bey hhnself, were all ready in the drill-ground before
the Serai, to welcome them and swear them in.
Whenever in past times Turkey had made war, the

100 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Albanians had swarmed to her standard. Now a
row of fifteen townsmen, one of whom was over
seventy, and another an habitual drunkard, were all
that appeared.

The commandant made a brave speech, thanking
them for their patriotism. A crowd of small children

looked on and grinned. Later,
from the Moslem villages, came
some more volunteers. One
hundred and sixty men in all
were ready to protect Albania
from Italy. It was a rude
shock to the authorities.

News was suppressed. The
English mail which came usually
over Italy went astray alto-
gether. On October 9 came
official news that both Austria
and Montenegro, who had been
dallymg on and of! with cholera quarantine, had
decided to cut off all communication with us. Mr.
Nevinson went off in a hurry by the last boat to
escape detention of unknown length, and I was left,
feeling rather like " the boy stood on the burning
deck.''

The Turkish authorities circulated quantities of
handbills describing victories at Tripoli so vast that
even the Moslems doubted them and inquired the
truth at the various consulates. In spite of all
promises that the vernacular should be used, Turkish
continued to be the ofi&cial language, and the newly
opened schools were teaching Arabic writing only.
I was overwhelmed with relief work. Aided by

MOSLEM CHILD.

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 101

my faithful old Marko, I worked aU day and every
day. To tell the details would be as wearisome as
they were in fact. Briefly, I tried to obtain the name
of, and number of, persons in each burnt-out family,
made alphabetical lists of each tribe, and learnt,
when possible, the circumstances. Together Marko
and I ransacked the bazar for any and every kind of
cheap warm material for clothes. All had then to
be torn into three - metre lengths, for the tribes-
men are very like a nursery full of children — what
one has the other must have. " We ask only for
justice,'' they said. Moreover, they objected strongly
to a large family having more than a small one.
" It is the ' house ' which counts,'' they said. For
a " house " to die out is a great calamity. It is
better, therefore, to help small ones than large ones.
Nor could I ever convince them that it was absm-d to
give a '' house " of twenty-five persons the same
ration as one of five. And, except that I insisted,
when possible, in giving extra to widows with chil-
dren, I had as a rule to conform to national usage.

The roofing question was extremely difficult, for
the quarantine made importation of more planks
hopeless. I gave people the choice of planks or
clothes, and we had endless trouble.

At first I dealt out shirt-lengths in Scutari, but it
caused too many people to flock to the town, and as
the relations between tribesmen and Turkish ofiicials
were highly strained, it was desirable to keep them
apart as much as possible. Moreover, the simple
souls persisted in doing lowly homage to me, and
addressing me as " Queen " in the streets, and this
caused the Turkish authorities, very foolishly, to

102

THE STEUGGLE FOK SCUTARI

protest to the British Vice-Consul against my
assuming a Royal title.

To avoid these difficulties, we made up great bales
of goods sewn in canvas (which could be utilized to
make mattresses, and was the perquisite of the men
who acted as carriers), and the priest of each tribe
distributed the stuff and garments — so many pieces
per house. Cutting, tearing, sewing, packing, the
wearisome days passed by. My only relief was to go

PACK-HORSES.

out at night and watch the sun set crimson behind
Rumia, or a golden full moon sail up from the purple
mystery of the Shala Mountains. Daily a bazar
rumour of some sort spread through the town.

On October 13 a Scutarene from Italy reported
huge Italian victories, but officially all were denied.

It was the Sultan's birthday, and Mass was cele-
brated at the Cathedral. There was a fairly large
congregation of Scutarenes, who, I was told later,
prayed for the Sultan's speedy conversion. The Vali

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 103

and suite were present, but of all the Consuls only
the Austrian. In the absence of Italy, Austria was
trying to be prominent and make up for lost time.
The Archbishop, who officiated, omitted the final
Benediction, and the Vali and suite departed without
bemg commended to the care of the Holy Trinity —
a fact which gave infinite satisfaction to the more
pious of the Chiistians.

There was whispered talk of Bulgarian mobiliza-
tion and of Montenegrin movement near Tuzi.
About the middle of October we heard that King
Nikola of Montenegro was making a tour through
all his provhices on the Herzegovinian frontier — a
district he had not visited for thhty years. As a
result, the Ministers of the Triple Entente at Cettigne
at once expressed to His Majesty the desire of their
Governments *' that peace should be maintained in
the Balkans.'' Russia had been very nasty about it,
France mild, and England firm. So said Petar Pla-
menatz, then Montenegrin Consul at Scutari, and
mightily disgusted he was; and a voice spread that,
in spite of quarantine regulations, some Maltsor heads
had been summoned to Cettigne. They did not go,
however, I believe.

The Vali meantime did his best to keep peace
with the Maltsors, but could get no money from Con-
stantmople for the promised house compensation.
Money had started, it was said, but had been " held
up " by a doctor of Korteha, who, as he was owed a
large sum by the Government, had, with the aid of a
band of friends, paid himself. Had it not been for
the blow to Turkish feeluigs when no Albanian
volunteers were forthcoming, I doubt if the money

104

THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

would ever have been paid. But Turkey could not
afford an internal revolt at this moment, and on
October 16 part of Hoti and Gruda, as the most im-
portant of the tribes, were paid. This only made the
others furious. Winter was rapidly approaching, and
the money urgently required.

It was the feast of the Madonna of Scutari —
Scutari's greatest day — the anniversary of that day
in 1479 when the Venetians, after a siege of nearly
a year, were forced to cede Scutari to the Turks, and

PILGEIMAGE TO THE OLD CHURCH OF THE MADONNA OF SCUTARI.

the angels swooped down upon the 'little church at
the foot of the citadel, flew away over the Adriatic
with the picture of the Holy Virgin, and saved it from
the infidels. Pilgrims trudged to pray at the ruins,
and the Cathedral was crammed with miserable peop le
who came to beg theii- Madonna's aid. I recognized
many. A man, wearing one of the shii-ts I had given,
fixed large brown eyes on me, and edged his way
through the crowd till he could kneel and pray by
my side. Then he rose and went.

In honour of the day my old Marko invited several

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 105

headmen to dinner — a noble meal. We had a wash-
hand basin full of soup and boiled mutton, another
full of rice, and then pancakes. In recognition of the
immense hospitality, it was correct to take two pan-
cakes and leave one uneaten. This mark of polite-
ness pleased Marko immensely — it was, indeed, a re-
markable instance of " manners," for the tribesmen
had not eaten such a meal for many a long day — and
he told a tale of a man who was fined five napoleons
by his tribe, and condemned to stand his judges a
dinner, because a stranger guest had emptied his plate
— a sure sign that his host had been niggardly.

The tribesmen told that there was trouble in
Djakova. The local chieftain, Zef-i-vogel (Joseph
the Little), had been asked to pay " dun.'' The tax-
collectors had tried to take one horse out of eight,
instead of one out of ten, and Zef and his friends had
opened fire and killed three Turks. That Isa Boletin
was between Ipck and Prishtina preparing to take the
warpath again; that it was not true he had made it
up with the Turks. He had been keeping quiet only
until he had made them compensate hmi for the
house they had burnt.

A Djakova man reported that Djakova was " so-
so; as hot as cold." All the tribesmen of Dukagin
who had taken no part in the insurrection began ap-
pealmg to the Vali for maize, money, and, above all,
arms. They came perfectly seriously, and argued:
" It is true we did not revolt, but it was not our fault.
We should have done so at once if we had had arms.
It is very unfair to give all these presents to the men
of Maltsia e madhe, and nothing to us." When told
they were not included ui the concessions, they replied :

108 THE STKUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

" Very well; so soon as we can get arms we will revolt,
and then you will have to give us maize and money,
too." Nor could they see the situation otherwise.
The Vali was hard put to it.

The tribesmen read bones anxiously to learn the
future, and a Maltsor saw " blood in Scutari in a fort-
night if the fowl has been properly killed — at any rate,
very soon." And all the bones, fowls' and sheep's
alike, told '' a great war soon."

Italy, it is true, had been prevented from attempt-
ing to land in Albania by Austria, and had retired
after a futile bombardment of Medua — or, rather, the
spot where Medua is marked on the map, for a tumble-
down barrack, a dirty Custom-house, a han, and a
few scattered houses are all that Medua can show.
The Italian papers announced that the Palazza Muni-
cipale had been completely destroyed by the Italian
fleet, and all who knew Medua smiled ; but there was
a general feeling that Italy would return, and that
next time — well, who knew ?

In the town a weekly excitement was the Hana (The
Moon), Scutari's only newspaper. The Albanian one
had died of inanition, for it was prohibited from pub-
lishing any recent news save that given by the Govern-
ment, and that the populace disbelieved. The Hamt
{The Moon), on the contrary, which was published in
Italian by a Jew, one Pardo, who had turned Moslem,
ran an exciting and excited career. It began as Dil
{The Sim), was suppressed, and came out next day
as The Moon. Pardo was a highly enthusiastic
" Union and Progress " man, and, according to
popular report, his paper was the paid organ of the
party. At starting he explained to me that he was

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 107

making an entirely new start in journalism. Hitherto
editors had described mainly things that took place
by daylight, and these any fool could see for himself.
He was going to confine hmiself to ascertaining and
describing where everybody passed the night.

A dirtier and more entertaming dog I never met.
He set spies at the doors of all persons of importance,
and prowled about in the dark. " Why waste
money V he asked, " on foreign correspondence,
when the domgs of your next-door neighbour are
so much more interesting V He spared no one of
the European residents, and attacked one Consulate
after the other, pouring out cataracts of obscene
rhymes, describing his victims, but seldom giving
names. Consulate after Consulate protested indig-
nantly. Pardo asked mildly: "Why did you think
it was meant for you V And the Vali said gravely:
" We have now Constitutional Government in Tur-
key, and complete freedom of the Press." If The
Moon were suppressed, it would only reappear as The
Star ; " so why worry V The more folk protested,
the better was Pardo pleased. Plamenatz, as Monte-
negi"in Consul, was rabid about some filthy verses on
the Queen of Italy. His protest brought out some
worse ones on the whole Montenegrin Royal Family.

As " Queen of the Mountahis,'' I was treated to a
whole column of scurrility, and said nothing at all.
A second attack followed, and then no more. Every-
one was curious to know what steps I had taken.
1 had taken none. But the gallant Mallsors had sent
a message to Pardo to the cflcct that the very next
tune he insulted the Kralitza he would be shot dead.
Next time I met Pardo in the street I shouted:

108 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

** Hullo, Pardo ! how are you?" He ran like a
rabbit, and the populace laughed aloud. The Hana
flourished, like weeds on manure, till the following
summer, when the Union and Progress party fell.
Pardo then made bold to attack the party which suc-
ceeded it. Poor Pardo ! The " Constitutional Free-
dom of the Press," upon which he had relied so long,
collapsed at once. He was promptly expelled the
country, and The Moon has never again materialized.
It was my fii'st and last experience of Young Turk
journalism.

But this is anticipating.

So far as the Maltsors were concerned, the Vali's
intentions were excellent; but he could not pay them,
for the rest of the money did not arrive. Misery
increased. The Austrian hospital was full of cases
of sickness caused by hunger and exposure.

News came from the mountains that poor gallant
old Marash Hutzi of Hoti was dead of pneumonia.
He was the first man I had persuaded to return, and
I felt as though I had killed him. The only comfort
was that Padre Sebastian had tended him in the
Church- house; he had not died out in the rain. I
mourned him at the time, but am glad now that he
who had given all his life to attempts to free Albania
has not lived to see his beloved tribe Hoti handed
by Europe to Montenegro, in spite of all its protests,
for it was owing to Marash primarily that the Monte-
negrins did not get Tuzi in the Berlin Treaty days.
He it was who then brought down the tribesmen, and
successfully resisted the Montenegrin occupation.
He died hoping and believing that liberty was in
sight. It is better not to live too long.

THE GATHEKING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 109

There was constant friction between the troops and
the tribesmen. The woods near Breg Mati and
Alessio were haunted by " komits/' who w^ere at
blood with the Government. A soldier — one of
several sent to patrol the district — met some of them,
and called " Halt \" They took no notice. He chal-
lenged again, and raised his rifle, but before he could
fire dropped with a bullet in his breast. Sorely
wounded, he cried out that he was a Christian. The
** komits,'' too late, befriended him, and summoned
a priest. He asked that the silver cross that hung
round his neck might be buried with him, and died
in a few hours. His dying wish was fulfilled. The
Maltsors regretted his death, saying no doubt he had
been forced to serve against his will.

There was great and growing discontent among the
Christian soldiers, principally Greeks, of whom a con-
siderable number were quartered in the town. The
enforcing of general military service was one of the
Young Turks' fatal errors. Exemption from military
service had been the Christians' one valuable privi-
lege, and no arguments of the Young Turk could
convince them that it was a privilege to be allowed
to serve the Turkish Government. The tales of ill-
treatment which the Christian recruits spread, the
disorder caused by their frequent desertion, and the
constant friction between them and the Moslem
troops, must all have assisted towards the final
catastrophe. In Scutari, at any rate, hatred of the
Young Turk was inflamed not only by the Clu-istian
troops in the town, but by letters received by the
relatives of the few Albanian youths who had been
pressed for service, and were in distant parts.

110 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

The Orthodox troops in Scutari bad been promised
a priest as army chaplain, and none had been ap-
pointed owing to dissensions in Constantinople as to
whether the right of appomtment belonged to Church
or State. They complained bitterly of insult and ill-
treatment to the Orthodox Bishop of Durazzo. He
protested to Hussem Riza, who replied that he re-
gretted that the charge was true, but it w^as all the
fault of the chaiishes (under-ofl&cers), and he could
do nothing.

And ever the Italians' war on Tripoli raised hope
that aU the Powers together would do something.
Italy was regarded by many as the only dog who had
dared blood the badger. When Count Mancinelli,
the Italian Consul, left Scutari, and the Italian Post-
Office, dispensary, and schools were closed, Pardo in
the Hana tried hard to arouse Moslem wrath against
the remaining Italian inhabitants, and failed com-
pletely. From the Djakova and Prizren districts
came new^s that from there, too, Italy's action was
seized on as an opportunity for harrying the Turks,
that much sniping of soldiers was going on, and that
the half-stai'A'ed population of the districts devastated
by the Turks in the previous year was plundering
wherever possible. " Things have never been so bad
as under Constituzi," said folk.

Mirdita became uppish, and demanded the im-
mediate withdrawal of the military outposts in her
territory, and the Government hastily complied.
The Maltsia e madhe m.en at once followed suit, and
clamoured for the withdrawal of the troops from
their land. This was refused, as the said troops were
declared to be frontier guards against Montenegrin

THE GATHEKTNG OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 111

attack. Already before Christmas the Turks were
well aware that an attack from Montenegro was
highly probable, and it was for tins reason that a
General as good as Hussein Riza was placed there.

There was a lull in the quarantine arrangements,
and seven belated letter-bags turned up all at once.
I learnt that I was to act as agent of the Macedonian
Relief Fund, that some more money was forth-
coming, and that the Italians were making slow but
sure progress at Tripoli. The tarred felt, too, ar-
rived from Trieste, and the Vali, who had not yet
received the rest of the house compensation money,
and was genuinely anxious to help any re-roofing
scheme, kindly admitted it all duty free. But the
highly conserv^ative Maltsors at first declined to have
anything to do with it. I was dismayed. It had
cost several hundred pounds of my little fimd, Mr.
Summa, our Vice-Consul, had had endless trouble in
getting it up the river — for the londras (barges) were
all commandeered for military stores — and now the
tribesmen said : ** No, we don't want it. We want
shirts and planks." My canny old friend, Mirasli
Lutzi, however, turned up. Mirash has an extra-
ordinary eye for the main chance, and was, and is,
ready to accept anything and everything. He bore
off several rolls of the ** carton," and speedily con-
structed such a fine watertight roof that its fame flew
through the land, and the wlmle country clamoured:
" Carton, carton !" Fortunately, the autunm was
unusually dry and fine. There was still time to do
some roofing. I ordered more " carton." The dis-
tributing and seeing it despatched on horses and in
barges was a great task.

112 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

On November 111 started out with Marko on horse-
back to visit the nearer districts to try and find the
poorest cases, and took bread and sardines enough to
last us four days — this I have found to be the most
portable and sustaining food for rough travel — and a
sleeping - sack, and filled up the saddlebags with
children's combinations.

We arrived at Baitza after four hours' ride, and
put up at one of the few unburnt houses. The poor
owners were very much pleased to see me. Their
house had been completely pillaged, and the few
cooking-pots and covers they had were the result of
the help I had given them at Podgoritza.

Though bright, the weather was very cold. Three
little girls, the youngest only three, sat sniffling,
miserably trying to warm their fingers by thrusting
them under the one tattered garment which each
wore. The wretched infant whined ceaselessly, half
perished with cold. I handed out one of the little
combinations, and the mother put it on over the
ragged cotton shirt which was all it had on. When
clad, it looked like a large grey frog. The result was
surprising. In half an hour, as it- warmed up, it
began to chatter and to frisk about like a little lamb.
But the two others wept miserably. I had no gar-
ment large enough for them.

The afternoon was passed in a four hours' ride
round the district. At night we shared our bread
with the family, and slept on the bare floor. We
were in luxury — some of the few who had a roof
over our heads.

All next morning I visited houses at Baitza, and
rode on to Skreli in the afternoon — up, up into the

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 113

high ^-alley. The sun went clown magnificently,
and the brown, dried brushwood on the mountain-
side looked like great stale bloodstains in the niddy
light. Before us were blackened ruins. The man
guiding us rode ahead on a most wretched white
horse. And the Skreli Valley seemed a Valley of the
Shadow of Death.

Out of the many burnt-out families I visited next
day, I remember vividly the cackling laugh of one
old woman: *' The Sultan/' she said, " is the stupidest

■41?,^

3jrTit" Out.

man in the w^orld. First he spent a lot of money to
burn down our poor houses. Now he must spend a
lot more to build them up again.''

The attempt, indeed, to gain anything by violent
means (by reverting, that is, to primitive bestiality)
costs both victor and vanquished so dearly that it is
questionable whether any good cause has ever re-
ceived from it enough to compensate, not merely for
the actual ruin entailed, but for the moral and mental
degradation that must ensue. The good cause may
emerge triumphant, but it is filthily defiled. And

114 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

the sins of the fathers haunt the children in the form
of hatreds that never sleep nor slumber, but wait
only thi'ough generations, till the moment comes to
strike.

One more picture will I give of relief work, and then
pass on to the political developments of the situation.

Ded Soko and his brother Djeto, two gallant and
honest Maltsors of Klimenti, begged me to come again
to Breg Mati with quinine. Ded and thi-ee of his
men came, as armed escort, to fetch me.

It was December 1. I wore a big " talagan ''
(shepherd's cloak) to keep out the cold, and we
started in the grey of 8 a.m. As we breasted the hill,
the wonderful view opened — the waters were out
and all the land a silver, shimmering flood, with
inky clouds above, and the purple Mirdite moun-
tains beyond.

Ded rode a pacing grey, and pushed on over by-
ways, across country, through fords, up banks, over
sludge, and between willows. Who can pretend that
a tar-paved road can ever give the joy of such a plunge
into the unknown ? We cantered into Alessio, and
halted to rest the horses. Joined by a lot more
tribesmen, we were off again before it was dark.
But as the light faded, down came the storm that had
threatened all day. By the time we reached the
forest it was pitch dark, and the rain falling in
torrents. Ded whistled a loud signal, and plunged
into a narrow track. I could barely see, as a grey
patch, his horse as he rode full trot ahead through
mud and water, yelling " heads " when the branches
were too low, and I lay flat on the horse's neck and
felt them thrash over me. Through mud and dark-

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 115

ness our beasts slithered, slipped, spread-eagled, and
recovered. Twice my horse climbed over an invisible
tree fallen across the track. The rain hissed and
whistled. I could not see a yard ahead. But the
horse followed on. It was an Erl King and Wild
Hunter ride. Great luminous fungi, high upon
rottuig trees, stood out here and there uncanny in
the blackness like lumps of dead fish, and saved me
once from cannoning into a trunk.

We emerged at last into a lane, saw the friendly
lights of Ded's house, and were soon seated in a great
room, where two tree-trunks blazed under a hooded
chimney. Djeto and Ded, the two brothers, had built
themselves one of the finest houses in the country
with the proceeds of many years' industry. They
owned big flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle. A
great family of relations all lived together, and I was
magnificently entertained. Mother-wit and natural
good feeling had raised these two quite untravelled
and unlettered men to a surprising degree of civiliza-
tion, in the best sense of the word. I little thought
as we talked, and they told of their great desire for
a school of agriculture to teach how best the land
might be developed, that in less than a year the big
house and every shed and stable would be burnt to
the ground, and that later I should see Djeto dead,
in his coffin, shot down by an assassin's bullet.
Peace to his ashes. He was a brave and honest
man, and a true patriot.

Already, then, by his work among the poor and
sick, he was gaining great influence among the tribes-
men, and his increased popularity brought down
upon him the hatred of the hereditary chiefs, among

116 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

them Essad Pasha. None of them wished a man of
no family to rise to power among the mountain-
men.

When trouble came and war, Djeto and Ded had
won the tiiist and faith of most of the tribes, and
Djeto paid for this with his life. But the future was
still unknown to us, and with Ded next day I rode
round and gave out quinine, to the great gratitude
and relief of the fever-stricken people. And I left
Ded a quantity for further distribution.

Returning to Scutari, I again found a war-scare
at Alessio: three Italian warships were said to be
in sight, and again the troops w^ere making active
preparations for defence. They told the Maltsors
that fifty Italians had been crucified by the Turks
at Tripoli, and warned them that that would be the
fate of all Christians. Oddly enough, this was the
first that I heard of atrocities at Tripoli.

Passing through Bushati, I found the Christians all
furious. They declared that when the taxes were
collected, the bulk was taken fi-om them, and that
Moslems were exempted. One of the headmen said
he had given up £16 worth of weapons last year
without any compensation, and that he would pay
no more tax till that sum was worked ofi.

On December 19 an envoy from the Maltsors com-
municated to me that the Austrian Consul-General
had sent for the heads, and told them they must
not revolt next year ; but promised that if they would
remain quiet two years, they should be freed from the
Turks by Austria. They replied : " Give us the ten
thousand rifles Austria promised us when Bosnia
was annexed, and we can take care of ourselves."

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 117

Further, tliat the Moslems throughout Albania had
learnt over Tripoli that the Young Turks were not
able to protect their own territories, and that it
would be better for them to strike for freedom along
with the Clu'istians, than to wait for Albania to be
divided between the Slavs, Greeks, and perhaps
Austria when Turkey broke up, as they saw it must
do in the near future.

I said that a revolt was madness, if they meant to
make a little one like last year's. He said: " Stone
on stone makes a tower; grain by grain a loaf. It
will be good bread, God willing.''

Hopes were raised by the discontent of the mili-
tary. The Christians were constantly deserting,
paying the Maltsors with their rifles and cartridge
belts to guide them over the border. All troops,
both Moslem and Christian, were suffering badly from
cold and damp under canvas on the Tri Alberi plain.
Many were said to be time-expired. They petitioned
Hussein Riza: " If there is war, send us, and we will
fight. If not, send us somewhere where there are
barracks — or dismiss us." No notice was taken,
and on the night of December 22 they revolted.
Sharp firing was heard in the camp at midnight.
An alarm spread. The men on Tarabosh were to
have revolted too, and fired on the town, but owing
to some mistake, the Tri Alberi camp rose first. The
artillery remained loyal, the machine guns were
pointed at the rebels, who had at once to surrender.
The affair was hushed up. Only freshly turned earth
by the camp bore witness to the fact that more than
one corpse had been buried that night.

Christmas was upon us, and all the land was a

118 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

hubble-bubble of hate. News came that, as ven-
geance for a bomb outrage at Istib, the Turks were
massacring Bulgars wholesale in Macedonia. The
bomb had been prepared at Sofia for the express
purpose of exciting reprisals. Was it the war
signal ?

But a fierce quarrel between Servia and Montenegro
looked ill for a Balkan Alliance. Nicephor, the Serb-
Orthodox Bishop of Prizren, had been dismissed for
loose conduct. The Patriarchia appointed as his
successor, one Dochich, a Montenegrin from Moracha.
Servia, who had pegged out this district as her claim,
was furious. The Montenegrins, whose war-cry was,
*' Onward, onward, let me see Prizren \" regarded it
triumphantly as: " Check to your King \"

The Serb priests of the diocese refused to recog-
nize the new Bishop, and telegraphed to the one
Orthodox priest in Scutari to go out on strike with
them. He, being Montenegrin, refused, and his tiny
flock supported hmi.

Christmas was dree and hopeless beyond all words.
I shivered all alone at supper in an unwarmed room.
And one lump of sticky pink stuff on a plate was the
only sign of Peace and Goodwill. I was about to
beg leave to join mine host and the servants in the
kitchen when the belated postman arrived with two
books from a friend. He was surprised at the size
of the Christmas-box he received, and I passed a
happy evenmg, reading snug in my sleeping-sack.
So ended the long, unhappy year.

It was bitterly cold. All the mountains were
white. I could not deal out clothes fast enough.
Through the long winter evenings I made sixty

THE GATIIERTXG OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 119

wadded coats for children, and employed people in
the bazar to make several hundred.

One gleam only brightonod the general hopeless-
ness. A cheque from Mr. Crane enabled me to go
on with the work. Unluckily, it had to be paid
tlirough the ^lontenegrin Consulate, and Petar
Plamenatz blabbed about the amount (" Mon Dieu,
quel diplomat !" as one of his colleagues remarked),
and a rush of mountain people consequently poured
in upon me.

Grim deed darkened the first days of the New
Year. The soldiers at Tri Alberi again petitioned,
and this time a mimber — said to be time-expu-ed.
but forced to remain with the colours because the
country was on a war footing — were given teskerehs
(passports) permitting them to leave.

Old Marko came in, saying: "Poor devils, how
happy they are ! All last night they were singing
and dancing. Now they are going home."

Their joy was short-lived. The first lot were
allowed to go as far as Vaspas, some three days'
march, and were there challenged by the military
outpost. In vain they showed their teskerehs.
These had only been given in order to disarm them
and get them safely outside the town, out of sight
of Consular eyes. A number were shot down, and
others were drowned in the foid. Meanwhile the
second batch had reached V^audys, all unaware of
wliat was happening. These also were stopped as
deserters. Tlieir despairing apj)eals and attempt to
escape were vain. The military outpost fired on the
u I armed mon. Altogether of the happy party that
had started homewards some two hundred were re-

120 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

ported to have perished. The survivors were brought
back as prisoners and put to forced labour on the
roads.

It was a piece of cold-blooded treachery which
disgusted all foreigners in the town, though Hussein
Riza defended it as the best way of suppressing revolt.
A large number of recruits from Asia Minor arrived
shortly afterwards, bare-legged to mid-thigh. Blue
with cold, they staggered through Scutari, followed
by two carts piled with what looked like dying men.
And the Albanians, growling deep, swore that nothing
should ever force them to do military service for
Turkey.

Politics flowed, as usual, a dirty course through the
sewers. Turkey made an attempt to buy the Arch-
bishop's support by the offer of a small decoration,
which he flatly refused. Montenegro thereupon
offered him a big one, which he also refused, to King
Nikolai's great mortification.

The Turkish Government, now in the eleventh
hour, began in haste to press on public works. French
engineers arrived in numbers. Roads, bridges, canals
— all were to be constructed ; there was to be employ-
ment for everyone. Vast plans were made and little
done.

In the opening of Turkish schools, however, the
Government was busy, and boys were collected from
all over the country.

Then came difficulties. Those who had come with
the belief they were to learn Albanian were disgusted
and disappointed, and began the study of their own
language on their own account. Two Moslems who
had been found with a Life of their national hero

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 121

Skanderbeg in the vernacular were expelled and came
to me for help. I advised their writing to the Albanian
member for Prishtina, which they did, and owing to
his intervention, they were reinstated. But the
authorities learnt nothing by this lesson, and expelled
two more boys from another school for similar reasons.
These, though Moslem, went to the school of the
Franciscans, an almost unprecedented step. And
the language question continued to cause great friction
in the town.

CHAPTEK VII

MUBLEZ ! MUBLEZ ! !

All through January the discontent of the tribesmen
increased. The men of Maltsia e niadhe came and
complained to me constantly that the house com-
pensation money was insufficient, and the Dukagin
men that they, who had not revolted, had received
no presents at all. It seemed clear to me that some-
one was inciting them, but whether Austria, Italy, or
Montenegro, I could not deteimine.

In any case, the poor tribesmen would only be
used as cat's-paws, so I begged them to be quiet.

On January 30 affairs took, to my mind, a sharp
turn for the worse. Since the end of November there
had been rumours of disagreement between the civil
governor (the Vali) and the military one (Hussein
Riza Bey). Now came news that the Vali was to
leave at once for Adana. I was sorry, for the old
man had dealt honestly by me, and I believed him
genuinely anxious to keep the peace with the Malt-
sors, and fulfil all the conditions promised by the
Government. Scutarenes repeated their favourite
tale that only once has Scutari had an honest Vali^
and he died on the way, before he arrived. Never-

122

THE GATIJEEING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 123

theless, even they admitted that this one left no richer
than he came.

Hussein Eiza Bey was, temporarily, to replace him.
Had tlie kindly old Moslem Bulg.ir retained liis post,
perhaps things might have ended diilerently. But
" what is ' egil ' (written in the book of Fate) nuist be,"
says popular voice. Perhaps nothing but the inter-
vention of all the Powers could have changed the
current of events, which quickened at once.

The same day a deputation of headmen came to
tell me that they had decided to demand the full
payment of all damages, besides house compensation,
destroyed beehives, burnt and looted corn and hay,
damage to vineyards, fruit-trees, timber, etc.

I combated long and vainly, said they had received
as much as could reasonably be expected ; that more
quarrelling would only lead to fighting, and then
they would lose all they had gained and the sympathy
of Europe too.

They replied that with arms they could do a great
deal; that they had a right to this money, because it
was promised in the twelve articles, and that they were
acting in accordance with the advice of Generals
Yanko Vukotitch and Blazho Boshkovitch ! I
pointed out that Montenegro had thrown them over
last time, and begged they would not start another
futile and premature revolt.

More headmen came, among them Mirash — foxy,
with his little twinkling eyes — who tried to wheedle
me by all his arts into joining a sclieme for rifle-
buying. " Thou, oh my sister — my golden sister —
thou canst if thou wilt." T swore by St. Nik(da I
could not: mv monov was j)urelv for relief work.

124 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

To prevent, in fact, their buying ammunition, I was
giving only in kind and not in cash. " But it comes
from komits in London,'' urged he. " Committee "
all over the Near East means only a Revolutionary
Committee. It was waste of breath to assure any
of them that the Balkan Committee was not armed
to the teeth, and awaiting only a favourable moment
to make a raid, and had, moreover, not supplied any
of the money.

Mirash counter-swore, by a whole galaxy of saints,
that I could summon " the English komits " and
— ^weapons, too, if I would. " See here, my sister,
about the money, it is very easy. I will sign a receipt
for maize distributed to the tribes, for you to send to
London. And only the Holy Trinity, God, you,
and I will ever know V And he roared with laughter.
I remained obdurate.

They were all going to the Vali, to demand the
twelve articles as written and signed in Montenegro.
" If the Turks want peace they must pay for it. If
not — peace if God wills."

I went straight to our Vice-Consul, Mr. Summa,
and asked to see his official copy of the terms. My
impression was correct. There was no clause which
could be interpreted into a promise to pay all damages.
The heads had abeady been to Mr. Summa on the
subject, and we agreed that we must stop trouble if
possible. Off I went to the Montenegrin Consulate
to see if I could get to the bottom of the affair; told
Petar Plamenatz I thought the demand a great
mistake, and asked upon what it was founded.
Petar enthusiastically said the tribesmen were right,
produced what he said was a copy of the original

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 125

document signed at Cettigne, and some French law
books, by which to explain the legal French in which
the terms were drawn up. His version, and the
version of the documents dealt out officially to the
Consulates, differed substantially. All now turned
on Article XL This, in the Turkish official version,
ran, (XL) " Paiement du montant des maisons in-
cendiees," and in Plamenatz's copy: (XL) " 1\
n'existe pas pour le moment d'autres fonds speciaux
en dehors des dix milles livres accordes par sa S.M.
mais il va sans dii*e, que le Gouvernement Turque,
qui a decide de reconstruire les immeuhles hrnles ou
detndts, poui-vou-a a un supplement de credit dans
le cas ou ces dix milles livres seront insuffisants.'"

I was of opinion that by " immeubles," houses only
were meant. Plamenatz, who had taken a law
degi-ee in Paris, intei"preted it otherwise, and proved
by his dictionary of legal terms that ** immeubles "
stands for all things attached to, and belonging to,
the soil, standing corn, thnber, fruit on trees. Even
oxen, if used solely as plough-oxen, are ** immeubles,''
as necessary to the soil.

I informed him that " maisons " was the word in
the Consular version I had seen, and that probably
houses only were intended. He vowed that not only
was ** immeubles " the word in the version signed
by Saddreddin Bey at Cettigne, but that the Maltsors
were definitely promised the repayment of all damages.
I took a copy of Plamenatz's version of the whole
terms. Either the Turks or the Montenegrins were
lying. It seemed to me to the last degree unpri)b-
able that the Turks should have ever promised to
make good all damages. Now the whole thing nnist

126 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

turn on a legal quibble as to the meaning of
" inuneubles/'

I took Plamenatz's version to the British Vice-
Consulate. Mr. Summa had not previously seen it.
We compared it carefully with his version, and I sent
copies of both to London with the comment: " My
great effort is to prevent the Maltsori being made
cat's-paws of, to rake out someone else's chestnuts."

On February 9 an excited deputation of thirty
headmen, including several Moslems, handed to
Hussein Riza a demand for the full payment of " les
immeubles " — " Mublez, mublez," as they called
them — and for the release of two men who had been
imprisoned, it was declared, contrary to Article L,
" That a general amnesty has been accorded."

A stormy scene ensued. Hussein Riza denied all
knowledge of " immeubles." The tribesmen threat-
ened hun that they would have their rights. He lost
his temper.

Three headmen came to me immediately after-
wards wildly excited, swore that all the tribes were
now united except Mirdita, which must fall into line
with the others soon, as the Mirdites dreaded annexa-
tion either by Austria or Montenegro; swore, too,
that they were solely for autonomy, and would accept
no foreign rule; that they were in communication
with the leaders of Kosovo vilayet; and that they
would decide their course of action in twenty days.

A great gathering of heads of all the mountains
took place next day in the Cathedral, and they swore
" besa " together. I was not present, as it was better
not for me to appear at a revolutionary meeting.

The Archbishop paid the expenses in Scutari of all

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 127

the delegates, and a letter signed by thirty headmen
was sent to each of the Consulates to " let them know
we are Albanians, and mean to be Albanians."

I could not understand the situation. The Mon-
tenegrins, it w^as clear, were pushing the Maltsors
towards revolt. But the Maltsors had declared
themselves for autonomy. The Archbishop, I knew
for certain, would not accept Montenegrin rule. Yet
he was apparently encouraging the demand for
" immeubles.''

On February 10 wrote I to England: " Is it possible
that Monte negi'O will play for an autonomous Albania,
thereby blocking Austria ? The idea here is (and in
Montenegro, too, I believe) that Turkey will not last
long as she is. It appears as if all now depends on
whether Bulgaria plays Austrian or Slav. The one
thing certain is that the place is a mass of intrigue,
and the Maltsors, if they don't look out, will be the
pawns in the game. Theii* idea is to strike for freedom
before anyone else can move to annex them."

The immediate result of the Maltsors' action was,
that next day the " telal " (public crier) went round
the town proclauning a state of siege, and that the
gendarmerie had the right to shoot at sight any man,
woman, or child, native or foreigner, who did not at
once halt when bidden to do so. This put the town
Christians, who, for the most part, have not the pluck
of guinea-pigs, into a state of abject terror, so that
they postponed indefinitely the Carnival ball they
had been preparing, and expected a massacre any
minute. And it infuriated all the Consulates. The
French Consulate ni particular was enraged, and
declared that the French engineers could not con-

128 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

tiuue their work on the new roads till certain that
they would not be challenged in an unknown tongue,
and shot down before they knew what it was about.

This was Hussein Riza's first proclamation as Vali.
He retracted in a hurry: explained first that a baker
who supplied bread to the troops at Berditza had
entered the camp after being forbidden by the sentry,
who had then fired at and wounded him. Conse-
quently, it was advisable to warn the populace to
halt when ordered. Secondly, he said that that was
not what he meant. The telal had read it all
wrong.

Next night firing began from the low hills beyond
the Khi. Shutters closed hastily, and the populace
rushed about the street crying, " It has begun.'^
It was only, however, some foolish men of the
Temali-Dushmani tribe, who, angry because they
received no maize from the Government, fii'ed fifty
shots or so m the aii-, as defiance, childishly. A rush
of soldiers from the camp halted at the river's brink.
It was dusk, and they feared to cross and be am-
bushed. Nor did I go farther, for it was too dark
to see.

The new Vali arrived on the night of the 16th.
We were told he was an Albanian, and I formed high
hopes that he would perhaps save the situation. As
a counter-blast, I was told that a huge lot of contra-
band rifles were expected shortly to arrive at Obotti
in charge of an Italian steamboat captain who was
an Austrian subject.

Spring was hard on us now. The plum-tree behind
the hotel burst into blossom, snow-white and brilliant
against the mountams. The birds were shouting and

THE GATHERING OF THE WAE-CLOUDS 129

holloaing, and young men's fancies turned towards
thoughts of revolution.

On February 20 the Sen^ian Minister, Gavrilovitch,
and the French Charge d'AfEaires, Monsieur Cambon,
arrived from Cettigne " just to take a look round."
Gavrilovitch asked me about the situation. I told
him I was doing my best to keep the tribesmen quiet.
He seemed much relieved, from which I diagnosed
that at any rate Sers'ia was not yet ready for the final
crash. He added that much depended on the result
of King Nikola's visit to Russia; then smiled and said :
" You, I suppose, will wait and watch developments V
When he left he asked: " Have I your permission to
report at Cettigne you are working pacifically ?
Your influence is of very great importance." " You
exaggerate it," said I. He said: "Good-bye. I
shall see you again here, or " — he paused — " or per-
haps at Podgoritza. Who knows ?"

So peace and war were still in the balance. How
long would Europe shilly - shally before acting ?
Nikola of Montenegro was on his way back from
Petersburg, and was due at Cettigne to-morrow or
the next day. Next week war might begin. Why
did no one intervene ? It seemed as though w^e
w^ere drifting towards the edge of rapids, with no
branch to cling to.

If Europe were careless, the Turks w^ere not.
Military work, which had been going on all the
winter, was being pressed forward quicker than ever.
It was said that £T60,000 was being spent on barracks
alone. Miles and miles of coiled barbed wire of
horrific quality had for a long while been arriving
and passing through the town. 1 think it began

130 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

coming as early as October. Gangs of men went, to
the cheery strains of a military band, to work outside
the town. Only Moslems were taken; but some
Christians assumed Moslem names, and got a tem-
porary job in order to learn what was happening, and
reported that bomb-proof trenches and wire tangles
were being planned, and made, out on Fusha Stojit.

Arms were dealt out secretly by the Government
to the town and village Moslems at the mosques at
night. Thereupon a deputation from the neighbour-
ing Christian villages waited on the new Vali, and
complained and asked for arms, too. He denied
having given arms, and the delegates cried, " Not
with your own hands, perhaps \" derisively. The
new Vali made a multitude of promises. He was
not really an Albanian, said report; had been born in
Prishtina, and never been back since childhood — " a
Tnrk of Turks in his heart.''

Hussein Riza, as military commandant, ordered
that the tribesmen were to give up all the rifles they
had received from Montenegro, and have Turkish
Mausers in exchange — nice new smokeless-powder
rifles; said that he had ascertained 'that 2,000 Monte-
negrin rifles were waiting for distribution at Virbazar,
and a lot more at Dulcigno, but would see to it that
they never came in. The tribesmen replied that they
had bought their present rifles with their blood, and
would not part with them. As for his " modern
smokeless-powder " weapons, they were probably a
lot of old Martinis. They would not be swindled.

I was told that Montenegro had given money to the
Mirdites, and that Yanko Vukotitch was trying to
bribe some Moslem heads in Kosovo vilayet. Lastly,

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 131

that the revolution was tuued for May, and that
plenty of weapons would be forthcoming. Tre-
mendous enthusiasm and hope were raised by a
report that Italy had bombarded Beyrout and

A MOSQXTE.

Smyrna, sunk some war vessels, and that the Yemen
was in revolt.

The British Minister and the Greek one arrived
from Cettigne on March 1, also " just to have a look
round." "Heavens!" thought I; "now we've had
Serv'ia, France, England, and Greece. Things must
be tituppy !"

Nikola of Montenegro returned from Russia, and

132 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

summoned Hussein Riza Bey to an artillery display
at Podgoritza. Scutari was first stunned and then
derisive when told the two had sworn peace. The
news threw the tribesmen into great uncertamty. A
tale spread that Nikola had done it on purpose to allay
Hussein Riza's alarms, and had shown him his worst
guns and asked his opinion on them.

If Montenegro remained quiet, it would be a good
opportunity for the tribesmen to rise, said some of
the heads. I said it was madness. A large propor-
tion of the tribes were in a state of dire poverty, and
none of the burnt-out ones had any possibility of
sowing corn. If there were no harvest, a famine
must follow. I ceased giving clothes, and began to
scrape up money for seed-corn, though how to get
enough I had not an idea. With seed-corn in view,
too, the Maltsors were in a fever about the payment
for " mublez.''

Saddreddin Bey was dismissed suddenly from his
post at Cettigne, whether because he had thoughtlessly
signed an ambiguous document I never ascertained.

On Monday, March 4, a large deputation of head-
men went to the Vali. He greeted them affably,
said he, too, was an Albanian, and asked what they
wanted. They replied: " The twelve articles." First,
schools in their own tongue. The Vali replied that
he had already told the Archbishop that the priests
should be paid 200 piastres (about thirty-six shillings)
a month to make schools in their own houses. The
tribesmen shouted: " We want proper schools, not
priests !" They insisted. The meeting became noisy.
They demanded the promised roads. These, said the
Vali, were already begun. " Yes, artillery tracks to

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 133

the tops of the mountains. We want roads to our
valleys." And so they fought point by point till they
came to Ai-ticle XL, and demanded " mublez." Then
a terrible uproar ensued. The Vali denied their claim.
Mirash Lutzi's son threw down a copy of the Monte-
negrin version. The Vali wished to take this copy of
the articles, but they refused to give it up. He lost
his temper, and, to quote an eyewitness, " these poor
ignorant Maltsori, who have never been to school,
made as much noise as though they were educated
gentlemen in a real Parliament.''

The deputation left, furious. Some rushed ofi to
the Austrian Consulate, and came away declaring
angrily that they had cried to Herr Zambaur: " If no
Chi"istian Power will protect us from the Young Turks,
we shall be forced to turn Moslem \" and that he had
replied: ''Why don't you, then? What does it
matter V What truth there is in this tale 1 do not
know, but it flew round, was generally believed, and
caused much bitterness. Others of the deputation
came to me, very sullen, and as cross as bears. They
would not listen to reason, but said: '' If the Govern-
ment will not keep its promises, so much the worse
for the Government." And they cursed Austria, and
asked: "Where are the ten thousand rifles Austria
promised us when Bosnia was annexed, not one of
which we ever received V

I went to discuss the position with Mr. Summa,
and found Petar Plamenatz at our Consulate. ^Ir.
Summa maintained always that only house com-
pensation was ever meant. Plamenatz stuck to the
" immeubles " clause, and stated that until the
Turkish Government received the bill, it had no idea

134 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

of the mill which had been wrought. He related that
on May 13 he had seen houses flaming, and had gone
straight to Tourgoud Pasha and asked hini: ''Are
you mad ? What are you doing ? You are destroy-
ing your own property I" But that Tourgoud had
persisted, saying he was giving the tribesmen a good
lesson. Plamenatz could not sufficiently condemn the
barbarity of house-burning. I noted this in my
diary, and later it read strangely.*

The Maltsori held raging meetings in the town, and
were about to leave after a flat refusal of the Vali to
grant their requests, when a man came flying into the
town with the news that the road was waylaid with
armed Moslems, and that there was a plot to assas-
suiate the headmen, more especially Gelosh Djoko and
Mirash and his son. The tale spread like flames that
the Vali had arranged this in order to put an end to
the Maltsors' demands. They rushed to the Arch-
bishop's palace, spent the night there, and sent angry
messages to the Vali. He declared he knew nothing.
Every Christian in the town believed that the Govern-
ment had planned a general assassination of the heads.
There was wild excitement. Most of them stayed a
couple of days with the Archbishop. Mirash and
family slipped ofi by night; an armed escort came to
meet the others.

The Christian inns at which the tribesmen always
stopped when in Scutari were closed by order of the
police, to the indignation of the whole Christian quarter.

The Vali, a nervous and irritable man, broke down

* At the time of going to press news is coming in that the
Montenegrins are burning houses in the districts they have just
annexed.

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 135

and was ill. All believed that really lie was afraid
to show his face.

The die was cast. To this day the tribesmen
believe that the Government tried to assassinate
them, and never again did they place the smallest
faith in it. Revolution appeared to be merely a
matter of time. It was to begin, we were told, at
Kroja and Avlona, and the Northern tribes would
follow on. Essad Pasha Toptani, since so notorious,
came to Scutari. He had completely split with the
Committee of Union and Progress, of which he had
been a member, and was now, so he said, heart and
soul for Albania. He was working a propaganda
among the Scutari Moslems, visited, too, the " Giuha
Shk}^ " (Albanian Language Club) of the Catholics,
and made a most friendly speech. It was reported
that he was anxious to obtain the support of a great
Power, especially England, and that he was all for
autonomy.

On the 10th Petar Plamenatz, the Montenegrin
Consul, was sunmioned by telegraph to Constanti-
nople to replace Popovitch as Minister there. I was
surprised, for, having known him many years, I did
not consider him of sufficient intellectual capacity for
international affairs of importance, but believed him
to have a fair insight into the Albanian situation, and
therefore valuable at Scutari, for it was certain that
Albania was the key of the whole situation.

Scarcely had he left, when all Scutari was excited
by the news that eleven of the Montenegrin political
prisoners of the Bomb Affair of 1907 had escaped by
burrowing under the walls of the prison at Podgoritza,
fled to Tuzi, and taken refuge with Mihilaki ElTendi,

136 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

the Kaimmakam, who brought them at once by
steamer to Scutari. King Nikola, I was told by a
Kastrati man, sent at once and offered £300 reward
to any of the Maltsors who would shoot the most
important of them — an ex-Minister. But no one
rose to this handsome offer. I went at once to learn
if my poor friend, Dr. Marusitch, were among the
escaped, and to aid him if possible; but he was not.
There was widespread sympathy with the fugitives,
not only in Albania, but in Montenegro, and it was
never discovered who aided their flight. They left
shortly by sea, but not before the new Montenegrin
Consul, Jovitchevitch, had had time to exchange
insults with them in the street.

The appointment of Jovitchevitch puzzled me ex-
tremely. He was blankly ignorant of place and
people, and a raw hand at Consular work. He came
to me for a copy of my copy of Plamenatz's copy of
the celebrated " twelve articles,'' and the loan of my
maps, as the Montenegrin Consulate possessed none !
The copy I gave; my maps I did not. He, as had
Popovitch, complained that his Government gave him
no instructions, and I could only suppose that it was
hoped that, in his ignorance, he would tread on
Turkish corns and set the Turks a- hopping. Looking
back, I am inclined to think the reason was far
simpler — they had no better man to put in his place.

CHAPTER VIII

THE REFORM COMMISSION
" It is useless to lock the Stable-door after the Steed is Stolen."

Now, when almost all Albania, Moslem and Christian,
was disaffected, and want and misery were widespread
in the North, it occurred at last to the Young Turks
that it would be as well to send a Commission to
mquire into the needs of the country and attempt to
remedy them. Hadji Avdil, then Minister of the
Interior, with a staff of Commissioners which included
a French Colonel and an Englishman— IMi-. Graves-
started from Constantinople. The news was received
with derision in Scutari. " Reform V cried popular
voice. " Not he. He is only coming to juggle the
elections and swindle us with promises. We have had
enough of that." I protested that there was, at any
rate, an honest Englishman on the Commission, and
was laughed down. " How can anyone be honest,"
they asked, "who is in the pay of the Young
Turks?" ^

On March 19 the Commission, much delayed by the
difficulties which it met in Kosovo vilayet, where it
was fired on more than once, arrived in Scutari with
considerable fanfaronade and a salute of guns from

137

138 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

the citadel. A party of town Moslems, in golden gala
attire and armed with Mausers, acted as escort, to-
gether with a number of soldiers; but as a show the
thing was a failure, for, for some mysterious reason,
the Commission was made to dismount and tramped
through the muddy streets in draggle-tail order, the
horses led in the rear by suvarris. The Moslem
schoolboys lined the road at intervals. The Francis-
cans sent some of their schoolboys, by order, it was
said, of the Austrian Consul, and the Christian band
played — by order of the Vali. There was no en-
thusiasm.

Mr. Graves visited me shortly and said: " I do not
expect you to believe me, but I assure you that this
Reform Commission is perfectly genuine, that we
have come to do our best. The Government has
realized the gravity of the situation. Unless the
Chauvinist party should get the upper hand, and T
hope it will not, the reforms will be carried out.''
He gave details as to the inefficient officials whom the
Commission had already dismissed. I replied that
I fully believed in the intentions of the Commission, but
that things had arrived at such a point that it was too
late. Moreover, it was easy to dismiss inefficient
officials, but where was it possible to find suitable
men to replace them ? I had no hope myself. Mr.
Graves admitted the difficulty, but said it was not
insuperable, and asked me to make suggestions as to
the needs of the Maltsors.

I begged immediately for a distribution of seed-corn,
pointing out that the twelve articles promised rations
of maize " until next harvest,'' but that no one
had explained how, in the devastated land, a harvest

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 139

was to be obtained, and that my fund would allow of
a very small distribution only.

I asked for maize for the whole of the mountains,
not merely for the late insurgents; for, owing to
the general upset, all were in great poverty, and those
who did not receive it would look on it as a reward for
revolting, and act accordingly. He promised to do
his best, and said that I might tell the people that the
destroyed woods were to be reckoned as " inomeubles "
and paid for. Also that the Government was pre-
pared to remit taxation and give exemption from
militar}^ service until the reforms were carried out.
We discussed also the burning question of the national
language, of schools, and of the gendarmerie.

For the next two days I was kept busy translating
petitions into bad French for presentation to Hadji
Avdil. One made gigantic demands and began with
such a servnle address to the Sultan that both I and
the man who had draughted it burst out laughing.
" What does it matter V he said. " This is the last
Turkish Sultan here, and he will not last long."

A very good petition began by pointing out that
Albania had been till lately the faithful ally of Turkey,
and in return had only been crushed and humiliated.
It begged for (1) recognition of Albanian nationality,
(2) the use of the Albanian language in police and
law courts and all Government offices that came in
direct contact with the people ; (3) the institution of
Albanian schools with Albanian masters; (4) liberty
to develop the language; (5) that heads of Govern-
ment departments in Albania should be Albanians.

All was labour in vain. I circulated Mr. Graves's
messages industriously, and said he would do his

140 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

best. Folk merely smiled, and either disbelieved it
or said he would be bamboozled by the Turks. Hadji
Avdil, they pointed out, had gone first of all to visit
Hussein Bektashi, who represented " Union and
Progress " in Scutari. " You will see,'' said everyone,
" he has only come to arrange that two Young Turks
shall be elected for Parliament.'' And they declared
that they would not present any of their petitions, as
everything was a foregone conclusion — when " the
Englishman " was safely out of the way, everyone
who had signed a petition would be arrested. Oh,
yes, they knew all about Turks, young and old.

By Sunday the 24th, all had gone wrong, and even
Mr. Graves was less hopeful. One of the main objects
of the Commission in Scutari had been to make
peace with the Maltsors, and as yet the Minister and
the heads had not met. He had ordered the Vali to
summon them, and they, firmly convinced that the
Vali had plotted to murder them last time they came,
refused flatly to come without a guarantee of safe
conduct.

An Englishman of very great experience in the
East once said: " In a great emergency you may
always trust a Turkish official to do the wrong thing."
Hadji Avdil did so now. Had he sent a genial per-
sonal invitation, had twenty sheep roasted whole,
and held a friendly pow-wow with the chiefs of the
whole mountains, it is possible the whole course of
events in North Albania, and therefore in Turkey in
Europe, might have been very different. But he
rode the high horse, considered himself insulted, and
ordered the Archbishop to summon the tribesmen.
The Archbishop said it was impossible after what had

THE GATHEEING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 141

occurred, unless a formal guarantee were given. Mr.
Graves thereupon offered his parole, and the French
Consul the protection of his Consulate, and they asked
me if I could act. I accordingly took council with a
Seltze headman, who said that with a guarantee it
could be done, but pointed out truthfully that it took
a whole week to summon the outlying tribesmen. It
was then Sunday night. Mr. Graves replied that the
Commission was leaving on Wednesday, and asked
me if I could persuade the nearer men to come — it
would be better than nothing. As it was precisely
the Baitza men whose death was said to have been
planned, I hesitated a bit, as, after all, it was possible
that certain officials might use Mr. Graves as an
innocent lure and no French Consular protest could
benefit Mirash and. Gelosh Djoko if they were shot
dead on the way. So I said, if their presence were
urgent, I would myself ride in and out with them, if
it could be arranged, but pointed out that one tribe
without the rest was no good.

Hadji Avdil would not unbend from his foolish
dignity as a Minister. Mr. Graves did his best, but
none of the Commission realized the absolute en-
tirety with which all confidence in the Government
had been destroyed. In fact, the eleventh hour had
struck, and the minutes were flying. Hadji Avdil
and the headmen never met.

The Commission left on the 30th — delayed because
the road was " held up " — leaving trouble behind it.
It had confirmed the tribesmen in the belief that the
Government had plotted to murder them. It had
thereby ahenat^d all the town ChristiaiLs. It had
quarrelled with the Archbishop and had triedjto buy

142 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

peace of the Mirdites by giving forest-cutting con-
cessions to the Abbot. Whether the Mirdites would
be pleased at learning the Abbot had the right to cut
what they regarded as their woods was an open
question.

The whole thing was disastrous. The important
influence to have gained was the Archbishop's. He
had acted quite honestly when he feared to invite
the tribes without a formal guarantee, but was

HOUSE AS MILITARY OUTPOST.

blamed by both the Commission and the Austrian
Consulate.

A straw shows which way the wind blows. I had
tried by Mr. Graves's influence to obtain the payment
of a debt of £T15 to a poor man whose house had been
commandeered by the Young Turks as a military
guardhouse. He had applied in vain thirty times
for the promised rent, which was a year overdue.
Armed with a note from Mr. Graves, he applied again,
full of hope.

" Ah," said the Turkish oJGScial, " this is from the

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 143

English gentleman. How kind of him ! When the
money comes, we will let you know !"

It never was paid — had, in all probability, been
embezzled on the way when it was due. After this
I could say no more. For the reply was always:
** Even your Englishman could not make them pay a
debt of £T15."

Scarcely had the Reform Commission left — the
populace breathing fervent prayers that it would be
ambushed at Kroja — when it was made public that
the Vali had been dismissed and would be replaced
by Hussein Riza Bey, and that Prenk Pasha had
resigned his headship of Mii'dita. By tradition
Prenk was head not only of Mirdita but of Luria,
Kthela, and the Alessio Mountams. Now, pre-
sumably to restrict his influence, Hadji Avdil had
told him that a new distribution of provinces was to
take place, and that in future he could be recognized
only as head of Mii'dita.

" All or none," said Prenk as an ultimatum.

" None, then,'' said Hadji Avdil.

Scutari was amazed, and Prenk, very vexed, said:
** Very well; whatever happens, do not put the blame
on me."

Prenk in the early days of the Constitution had
loyally played " Union and Progress." So much so,
that the Mirdites began to turn against him, and
accuse him of being a Moslem in his heart. There
was no doubt about it, said some — he washed his feet
every day. To regain lost influence, he was forced to
play anti-Government, and was suspected of having
instigated the refusal of the Mirdite zaptiehs to serve
the Government any more. They had recently

144 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

suddenly disbanded. At the same time, Hadji
Avdil was a fool to quarrel with Prenk, for there can
be no doubt that on more than one occasion he pre-
vented the Mirdites from rising.

As for the dismissal of the Vali, all the Maltsors
and many of the town Christians believed he had
been dismissed because he had failed to assassinate
the headmen, and thought that they had acted very
wisely in refusing to come down and meet the Com-
mission. When told of the remission of taxes, they
jeered: "They daren't enforce them. We have
given them one lesson; we will give them another.''
And they contmued to talk of autonomy as before.

" The Turk," they said, " is, in one particular only,
like the Lord God. As he was in the beginning he
is now, and ever will be. We don't believe in any of
his reforms. They are only dust in the eyes of
Europe."

All argument was thrown away on them.

One of the Moslem leaders at Ipek sent me word
that he had 700 followers, that they would accept
neither Austrian nor Turkish rule, but would like
English. Could I write to the King ? I replied it
was impossible, and I could do nothing.

The new Vali, Hussein Riza Bey, who later played
such an important part, was an Asiatic. He was a
short, dark, rather thick-set man, with a hook nose
and bright, dark eyes; held himself badly, wore his
belt crooked and his tunic sticking up in a lump
above it behind, and was imperious in manner. He
came from Bagdad, where he had a very good record.
I had had to act twice as dragoman to him about the
construction of a steel stern-wheeler steamer for the

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 145

river, and had found him, in that aftaii', such a hopeless
muddler that I underestimated his powers in his own
line of business. As military commandant, too, he
had shown himself cruel. I regretted his appoint-
ment also, because he was so actively engaged forti-
fying the city that he could have little time for civil
affairs. Whether, so late in the day, any civil gover-
nor could have pacified the Maltsors it is impossible
to say.

One thing is certain, Hussein Riza was a fine soldier,
and it is primarily to him and his splendid plan of
fortification that the thanks of all Albanians are due.
He saved Scutari. He was trained by Germans and
knew his work.

The first event of importance under the new Vali
was the Parliamentary election. This was to take
place on Sunday, April 14. Both town and mountain
Christians struck in a body. They formed the
majority of the electorate, but declared that they
would not vote — the elections would be all juggled —
that was the reason of Hadji Avdil's visit. No
matter how many votes they polled, a *' Young
Turk " would be declared elected. They would not
take part in a farce; and nothing would budge them.

Polling-day poured rain, snow, and sleet. I was
writing in my room when a revolver shot rang out
close by. Leaning as far out of the window as pos-
sible, I saw two more shots fired at a Turkish officer
(the second in conmiand) on horseback. He ciashed
off" at a gallop uninjured. There was a rush of
gendarmes and people, but no arrest was made. The
assailant was a well-known Scutari Moslem, but such
was the unpopularity of the Government that it dared

146 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

not provoke the Moslems by capturing him. More-
over, at bottom the affair was unsavoury.

The election went off without any interest. Only
ten Christians voted — and they split their votes. All
Catholic Scutarenes persisted in the belief that they
had effected a great stroke of business by refusing to
vote, and had shown the Turks what they thought of
them. I thought them foolish, and said so. But
they pointed triumphantly to the results of the
elections all over the country. Greeks, Serbs, Bul-
gars — all had been made to elect Young Turks.
Seldom has an election been so shamelessly manipu-
lated.

Hussein Riza was greatly vexed at the attitude of
the Scutari Christians, and tried hard, though the
election was over, to put a Christian in. He vainly
tried to induce the Archbishop to influence his flock,
but the Archbishop replied that Hadji Avdil had for-
bidden him to take any part in politics.

The two Young Turks, elected as arranged, were
declared members for Scutari, and the Christians of
the whole district remained unrepresented.

Hadji AvdiFs visit had, so far, made bad worse. I
clung to the hope that the seed-corn which I had
been promised would — come war, come peace — at
least save lives. It had been bought, and the authori-
ties sent for the various headmen in order to ascertain
the names and number of persons in the families,
with a view to fair distribution.

I expected them all to be delighted. Not at all.
They leapt to the conclusion it was a plot. " The
Turks," they said, " never gave a present without a
reason." They believed the proffered corn was a

THE GATHERING! OF THE AVAR-CLOUDS 147

" wooden horse/' It was a trick to ascertain how
much arable land they had and tax it; or to lure the
heads to Scutari and assassinate them. So com-
pletely had all faith been destroyed that the Klimenti,
who were first approached, refused stiffly to give a
reply. I was horrified, sent for them at once, and
told them the seed-corn was my idea and asked how
they could live without it. They replied: "That
Englishman was in the pay of the Turks. They sent
him to you to trick us." All I could do was to send
an assurance of the honesty of the affair to Padre
Giacomo, the good old priest of the tribe.

Next day came an old friend — a headman of
Kastrati Katun — an honest old chap, in complete
amaze. " I have come to consult you. We need
this corn very, very much, but we dare not accept it;
God knows what trick is at the bottom of it."

He was delighted with my explanation, and went off
to tell Katun it was safe to accept.

With some other tribes I had hicrediblc difficulties.
The heads went backwards and forwards from me to
the British Consulate. They admitted that they had
nothing but starvation before them — but they feared.
Mr. Summa and I talked ourselves exhausted, and I
told them they " were blackening my face " before
they dared accept. If they must stane, they must,
so they said ; it would be better than selling them-
selves to the Turks. We persuaded them all in the
end, and thereby saved many lives. It is one of the
few things to which 1 look back with complete satis-
faction.

CHAPTER IX

PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT

Quite early in the year I had been told that a great
general rising of Albania would take place. It would
begin about St. George's Day in Kroja, Tirana, and
Avlona, and the mountain - tribes were to rush
Scutari.

Meantime, the Turks, directed by Hussein Riza Bey,
worked hard at strengthening Scutari. I learnt in
May, by riding over the plain, that works were going
on in five places at least, and judged they were im-
portant, as I was warned off by shouts. Judging,
also, by the vast amount of barbed wire that was
always arriving and passing through the town, I told
the Maltsors they could not possibly rush it, and that
the attempt would be suicidal. They jeered at me
and the barbed wire, but told me nothing would take
place till the end of June.

That Tarabosh was becoming extremely strong
we learnt by chance. The Turkish officers stole a
very good sporting dog belonging to a man I know.
He complained to the Vali, and said the dog had
been seen at Tarabosh. The Vali denied it. The
dog's master persisted, and finally obtained leave,
not to go himself, but, to send his servant. The
latter, a sharp lad, returned with the dog and a
description of the fort.

148

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 149

I wanted a holiday badly, and also clothes. More-
over, it was advisable for me to leave the country,
at any rate, for a time. The tribesmen would not
take my advice, though they were always coming
for it. And when the " burst up " came, I did not
wish to be considered responsible. So at the end
of May I left Scutari for Rome. The situation be-
tween Turkey and Montenegro was already badly
strained, owing to a quarrel about steamboat rights
on the lake. All steamer traffic between the two
countries was stopped, and things looked as though
they might develop uncomfortably. It being im-

possible to travel via Montenegro, I had to go to
Corfu, and tranship for Brindisi.

In Rome, to my surprise, I was invited almost at
once to speak with the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
the Marchese San Giuliano. The political situation
puzzled me extremely.

Nikola of Montenegro had apparently failed to
obtain Russian support. But it was obvious that
Montenegro was stirring up perpetual unrest among
the mountain-tribes. There were more rumours that
" this time Montenegro will give us enough arms to
free ourselves." Now there was the lake-steamer
quarrel, and a company financed by Italy was mixed

150 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

up in it. I believed that Italy must be the motive-
power behind Montenegro, for I could not believe she
would act alone.

The Marchese and I talked round and round for a
little while, for we were naturally both more anxious
to obtain information than to give it. Then he asked :
" Well, in your opinion, will the Maltsors of Scutari
mountains rise this year or not ?"

" It depends," said I, '' on Montenegro." He
looked so genuinely surprised that I said to myself
at once: "No; Italy is not engineering this
affair."

" What do you mean by ' depends on Montenegro ' ?"
he asked.

'* Well, I think it does," I repeated. I was now
pretty certain how things stood. It was not Italy
and not Russia that was shoving. So it must be
the other Balkan States.

The tale that Bulgaria would begin so soon as
Montenegro did, must be true. That Montenegro
meant business was evident; for Popovitch, the
Montenegrin Minister in Rome, told me that the
Montenegrin Cabinet was dissolved, and that Mitar
Martinovitch was the new War Minister. " Now
we shall have war," he added.

To my mind the weak point was Greece. Ten
years ago in Macedonia I had seen for myself the
hatred that raged between Greek and Bulgar — a
hatred so intense and so savage that it amounted to
mania, and it was hard to believe that union between
the two was possible.

I returned Scutari-wards at the beginning of July,
travelling through Montenegro.

THE GATHEEING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 151

Podgoritza was hard at work taking in military
stores and drilling men. For Montenegro, a great lot
of men were mobilized. The ordinary man wanted
war, and talked of little else. The situation, as I
wrote at the time, " was sickish."

Blazho Boshkovitch had gone to Cettigne for
orders. So had the Montenegrin Consul from Scutari.
The Turkish Consul took the blackest possible view
of the state of things, and the Moslems of Kosovo were
in full revolt.

H the Maltsors rose, I should not be able to get to
Scutari to fetch my remaining goods, so off I went at
once across country. Scutari I found jumpy and
nervous. War preparations were going on fast.
Hussein Eiza Bey did not mean to be caught napping.
But reports of Albanian victories came from Kosovo
vilayet, and the telegraph-line to South Albania was
cut.

A bright idea flashed across me, and off I went to
the old Greek Consul, with whom I was on friendly
terms. We talked on general topics. Then I asked
suddenly, and apropos of nothing at all: " Is it true,
Moasieur, that your Government has signed a Treaty
with Bulgaria against Turkey V''

He jumped visibly, and, greatly upset, began:
" Mademoiselle, you must surely be aware that all

Governments have affairs which one must not "

I apologized, and begged him to say no more. Nor
was more required. If it were not signed, it was
about to be. The last straw had been laid. War
was now as certain as is anything in this world.

I decided to leave Scutari, calculating that both
postal routes would be cut (via Medua and via Mon-

152 THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

tenegro), and that it would be impossible to send or
receive news.

It was July 17. Next day came news of a very
sharp fight between Turkish regulars and Monte-
negrins, on the frontier at Matagushi, not far from
Podgoritza. It had lasted seven hours. The Mon~
tenegrins had lost nine dead and six wounded, and
the Turks rather less.

The Montenegrin Consul, who had just returned,
was greatly agitated. " Mon Dieu !" he said to me,
" I hope you will not publish a book before five
years. You know too much."

Popular voice said: '' Montenegro will declare war."
A quarrel of some sort must be picked as prelude, and
it was possible this was the one. I packed and left
Scutari.

Passing through Tuzi, the frontier town, I called
on Mihilaki Effendi, the Kaimmakam. He said the
affair was purely local: some Montenegrins had
passed the frontier carrying arms, had been ordered
by the frontier patrol to give them up, had refused,
and been fired on. It was a pity, but — " Que voulez
vous — the usual frontier incident with which these
people amuse themselves." I told him that, in view
of the general situation, I hoped that the Maltsors
would not rise. They had better wait till they had
learned more, before they struck for autonomy.
He agreed, and said he had done his best (which was
true. He had worked very well). But he was not
at all hopeful, as there were Montenegrin intriguers
at work.

Podgoritza I found raging. In summer it is always
a small Inferno, and with excitement, had leapt to

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 153

fever heat; the popular pulse was anything you
please. Unarmed Montenegrins, so everyone swore,
had been fired at when on their own territory.
Turkish soldiers and bashi-bazouks had crossed the
frontier 300 metres. Of the nine Montenegrins killed,
four had been mutilated. The Turkish Consul had
had to bear witness to this fact.

I did not agree with the Kaimmakam that this was
" a usual frontier incident," and believed it to be
" a put-up job " by one side or the other, but was not
sure which had the more to gain by it. When
Monsieur Ramadanovitch came to investigate the
circumstances, I suggested to him that the Turks
had perhaps tried to make a war scare, as they were
greatly bothered by the Moslem insurrection that was
raging in Kosovo vilayet, and if the insurgents
thought war with Montenegro imminent, they would
make peace at once, and combine with the Turk
against the Slav. Ramadanovitch agreed, and added
that, for that very reason, Montenegro must keep
quiet.

I noted that day in my diary: " Montenegro wants
to let the Turks and the Kosovo Albanians fight
themselves tired before taking any active steps."

War fever was so high that it seemed advisable to
stay, though Podgoritza was suffocatingly hot.

The Government ordered that no owner of a horse
was to sell it without permission. The guns were all
ready.

" Wait and see the first shot fired," said the people.
I waited a week, during which nothing happened, and
I received a message from the tribesmen, saying they
had not enough cartridges nor rifles, and did not

154 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

know what to do if a crisis arose. They begged
help.

I went up to Cettigne for a breath of fresh air.
The first thing I did was, accidentally, to meet the
King and Queen driving in their pony- carriage. His
Majesty at once stopped and summoned me. After
greeting me he said:

" Absolutely you must go and tell your Maltsors
that they must not rise now." I was considerably
embarrassed, for this clearly meant that he intended
them to rise later for his own purposes. I said,
'' Sire, I have already told them they have not enough
cartridges, and can do nothing"; and I added:
'' But they will not wait for anyone."

He expressed himself as very pleased with the
advice I had given ; said I was younger and more
beautiful each time he saw me, and drove away,
leaving me wondering that His Majesty should attempt
to catch such an old Balkan bird as myself with chaff
of that sort .

Next day I had a message from a very important
Maltsor, saying he must speak to me in private on
something of the highest importance. I arranged
the meeting. He spoke very earnestly, and said he
had come on behalf of the Maltsors, to beg that I
would write to England and explain their situation.
I transcribe the main points of his statement, for it
throws a strong light on subsequent events:

" We believe that in five years' time, by constant
struggles, we should be able to fight free and make
our own terms with the Turks. But Austria has
had her plans formed for God knows how many years,
and does not mean to give them up. King Nikola

THE GATHER! XG OF THE WAE-CLOUDS 155

also has his. His plan — and I swear to you that this
is true — is to take all Maltsia e madhe, Bukagini and
Mirdita. He is very careful to want to take only
a population less than Montenegro. He does not
want an Albanian majority, for he wants to crush
and Slavize all that he takes. He planned this last
year, but though a certain party — that led by Sokol
Batzi— was in favour of Montenegrin rule, the majority
were not. This is the reason why Montenegro gave
out no more arm^; and did not advance. He knew
we would not accept him. For the help we received
last year we are truly grateful. But we made no
promises. It was fear that Albania might be divided
and part given to Montenegro, that prevented the
Moslems of Kosovo and the Tosks from rising with
us last year. Perhaps it was a mistake, for had they
risen, Europe then might have recognized us. What
we wish you to write to England now is — That King
Nikola has 7nade a flan that will ruin us. He is doing
all he can to prevent Maltsia e madhe from rising
till he is ready. He wants it to rise as he advances,
and make Europe think it is under his control and
wants his rule. We are placed between three enemies
—Turkey, Austria, and Montenegro. The only way
we can spoil his plan is to rise now and help the
revolution in Kosovo vilayet. If we fall under
Montenegro or Austria, it is death for us as a nation.
So we may as well rise and be killed— or win, God
willing."

I asked, " What about arms and ammunition ?"
and he admitted they were very short of ammunition,
but that there were not more than 15,000 Xizams
around Scutari, and that all the Christian ones would

156 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

desert; also that the Scutari Moslems were sick of
the Turks and would rise, too. The Kosovo Moslems
were capturing quantities of ammunition from the
Turks, " and we can, too; it would be better than
accepting more help from Montenegro."

I feared a fiasco. He said: " It would be better to
wait fifteen years perhaps, under Turkey, till we are
more educated for autonomy, but it is impossible.
We know for certain that Austria's and Montenegro's
plans are complete, and will soon be in motion. We
must act first and show Europe we are quite indepen-
dent of these two. Say to the British Government
that if it will not help us we beg that it will not help
our enemies, either with money or political support.
We beg that you will stay, for this time we shall need
your help more than ever. As for me, I can think
no longer of my family, but only of my Fatherland."
Nor was this an idle boast, for he had fought very
bravely throughout the insurrection. He spoke
rapidly, and was tense with excitement and concen-
trated hate. Later he brought some others to confirm
his statements, and they all left shortly for the front.

From this moment I considered myself definitely
pledged to stand by the Maltsors in the coming struggle
as I had done in the past.

That same afternoon Miouskovitch gave me a most
graphic account of the frightful " sitting on " that
King Nikola and his suite got in Russia, when they
went there hoping for support. " It was terrible,
mademoiselle ! They threatened us with annihila-
tion !"

The King had behaved with his usual astuteness,
but poor Dushan Gregovitch had succumbed to the

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 157

popular craze for being interviewed, and had confided
to a newspaper that war was necessary for Montene-
gro; she must have this, that, and the other, and
meant to have them at an early date.

The Tsar, in wrath, demanded of King Nikola the
meaning of this, and he unkindly replied that no one
ever believed Gregovitch. It was hard on poor Grego-
vitch, for he really had spoken the truth this time.

On Monday, July 30, came word to me that the
Maltsors, in accordance with the determination they
had already expressed, had risen, had stopped a
Turkish convoy of thirty-two Nizams, captui'ed all
their arms, and seventeen loaded mules. Two days
later the Klimenti tribe drove all the soldiers out of
their land and captured the stores of a whole camp.
A letter informed me of an elaborate plan for a com-
bined attack on Scutari and many other details.
News from Kosovo was, that the insurgents were
carrying all before them, that they had demanded
the dissolution of Parliament and a fair election, and
had given the Government forty-eight hours in which
to make up its mind.

It was August 2, the anniversary of the great
betrayal of last year. Looking back, I wondered
how I had got through the strain and misery of that
week. And the situation was in no way better;
there was more trouble ahead.

On the 4th came men of Shala to me, praying
for arms, and an appeal for ammunition from Kas-
trati. All the Dukagin tribes together had but
2,000 rifles, 1,500 of which were those given last year
by Montenegro. They said, too, that a whole bat-
talion of Montenegrins had gone up to the frontier

158 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

from Kuchi, and had had a fight with the Turks.
They were vexed that Montenegro should already be
beginning before the Albanian question was decided.

It was as I feared. Again the tribesmen had risen
without sufficient means. In spite of the constant
rumours of contraband, I knew that very few weapons
had actually come in, and that, as Austria wished the
Maltsors to keep the peace, the supply was practically
cut off. Albania had never been re-armed properly
since the surrender of arms in 1910.

I said it was absolutely impossible for me to help
with weapons. They were greatly disappointed, as
they clung always to the belief that England had
helped the other Balkan peoples to obtain freedom
and would help them.

The insurgent leaders, meanwhile, were desperately
anxious lest the Kosovo Moslems should accept terms
from the Turkish Government which did not include
all Albania. It was now or never, they said, the
time for all Albania to strike and be recognized as a
nation. Dervish Bey, of Elbasan, was reported to
be on the warpath, and bands of patriots were making
ready at Kortcha. There were several good leaders
down South, only I was begged to note that no one
in the North had any belief at all in Ismail Kemal,
and all would refuse to recognize him, as they believed
he was not really a patriot, but would betray them
to a foreign Power.

By this time Cettigne was in great excitement.
The rumour of a frontier fight was true. A battle
had taken place at Mojkovach, in the Kolashin dis-
trict, on August 3.

THE GRrS-XIKG FRONTIER.

CHAPTER X

THE LAST SCENE OF THE FOURTH ACT

Before telling of the last bloody scene of the pre-
war era, I must briefly describe the Turko-Montene-
grin frontier. Someone in the diplomatic service once
told me, " In drawing frontiers the ethnographic
question is not considered," which is just a diplomatic
way of saying, '' You grab the land with the livestock
on it," and ignores the fact that when a foreign body
is thus incorporated, it almost invariably creates pus,
which has, sooner or later, to be let out by an opera-
tion.

The frontiers drawn by the Treaty of Berhn were
so impossible that in many places they could not be
defined, much less enforced. As the borderers them-
selves described it, '' The frontier floated on blood."

The ethnographic question can never be safely
ignored. Alsace is still an open sore in Germany.

The more recent frontiers of the Treaty of London
have already been washed out by blood, and the future
will show how much of the Bucharest frontiers can
stand that gory laundry.

By the Treaty of Berlin solid Albanian districts,

159

160 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

which hated all things Slav, were handed over to
Montenegro, and solid Slav districts, which asked
nothing better than to be Montenegrin or Serb, were
handed over to the Turkish Empire. Worse, if pos-
sible, tribes and groups of tribes were divided, and this,
in a tribal land, should be avoided at almost any price.
Debatable tracts were strewn all along the Montene-
grin frontier. The site of the recent Matagushi affair
was one.

It was further claimed by the Montenegrins that
the Turks had not only built kulas (blockhouses) upon
debatable areas, but had thrown up entrenchments
over the frontier-line, and that from these kulas the
frontier Nizams incessantly " sniped " Montenegrins
who were upon their own land. The contested areas,
it should be remarked, were mostly cases in which
the Berlin frontier had been drawn between a village
or tribe and its pasture-land.

In July a Turko-Montenegrin Commission was ap-
pointed to rectify and delimit these frontiers.

The biggest of the Berlin blunders was that the
large Slav tribe Vassoievitch was cut in half. Nothing
biib very liberal concessions on either'side and care-
fully reckoned compensations could ever have recti-
fied that frontier.

This Commission, instead of visiting the spots, de-
cided everything on paper with the aid of maps — an
extraordinary piece of Turkish slopdawdle at such a
critical moment. In truth, the thing was a farce.
Montenegro, in all probability, insisted on it in order
to drive in one more peg on which to hang war. The
Turks, on their part, if they wished peace, should
have insisted on a delimitation by foreign inspectors.

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 161

Pending the ratification of this paper frontier by
the Turkish Government, neither party was to have
the right to occupy the debatable portions with
mihtary. Such was the position of affairs when the
fight took place at Mojkovach at the beginning of
August.

Cettigne was bubbling with wrath, but the authori-
ties were chary of giving details ; nor was it till some
time after that I got what I believe to be a true ac-
count from an eyewitness ; briefly thus: " The Monte-
negrin peasants were sent to mow grass near the
frontier. As they had been fired at when they had
tried to mow there before, some gendarmes went with
them. The Nizams opened fire from the kula at
once. The gendarmes summoned troops, who were
waiting near in case of need. These came with such
a mad rush that they surrounded the kula before the
Nizams had time to fire, and crowded so close against
the walls that it was impossible to fire down on them
from the loopholes. Yelling their war-songs, they
demanded the surrender of the garrison. Someone
rushed from a neighbouring house with a can of
petroleum, and, dodging the fire, got to the kula
with it. A Montenegrin stripped off his shirt, dipped
it in petroleum, and thrust it, burning, to the wooden
roof. This blazed up, some ammunition exploded,
and the Nizams had to rush out. More Nizams and
some Moslem Albanians rushed to the rescue from over
the border; they all fought like wild beasts. A
Nizam rushed out all in flames and was shot down.
The kula was burnt down. I saw at least seventy
corpses round it. The Montenegrins were mad with
rage; they cut the noses off their fallen foes, put

162 THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

them in their pockets, and followed the retreating
Turks in a wild rush almost to Bijelopolje, 15 kilo-
metres over the frontier. They lost twenty-two
killed and thirty- two wounded. A wounded Turk
was taken alive; but at night a Montenegrin recog-
nized him as the man who had killed his father, and
bashed his head in. Altogether four kulas were
burnt. The Montenegrins had over three thousand
men in the field."

Later a Kolashin man told me that it had been
intended to take Bijelopolje, and the hour and the
day had been all planned, and that it would have
been forced to surrender, had not the troops been
hastily recalled, owing to representations made by
some of the Legations at Cettigne.

The Turkish Minister, Rustem Bey (otherwise
Bilinski) demanded an apology for the violation of
Turkish territory, admitting that the land was de-
batable, and that the Turks had entrenched it, but
denying Montenegro's right to invade with troops;
and added that if he did not receive the apology by
8 p.m. on August 6, he would break off diplomatic
relations and leave the country.

Montenegro refused, and almost immediately after-
wards the Kaimmakam of Berani, in whose district
the fight had taken place, telegraphed apologies to
the Montenegrin Government, and stated that the
Nizams had fired the first shot.

King Nikola, jubilant, sent for a gusle and played
national airs, and then rode round Cettigne on his
white horse. That the affair was *' a put-up job "
to force Turkey to declare war there can, in the light
of subsequent events, be little doubt. Montenegro

THE GATHERIXG OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 163

trailed her coat and Turkey trod on it. But it is
also possible that Turkey's part was played deliber-
ately, for it was very certain that in case of war with
Montenegro the Moslems of Kosovo would make peace
and play Turkish for the nonce, in hope to save their
territory, and obtain further concessions later.

Be that as it may, the Turks acceded to the de-
mands of the insurgent Kosovo
Moslems, dissolved Parliament,
and promised a form of au-
tonomy.

The ^lontenegrins were not
at all pleased w^ith this news,
but I found Gavrilovitch (the
Servian Minister) and MitarMar-
tinovitch, now War Minister,
both still confident that all the
Catholic Maltsors, Maltsia e
madhe, Dukagini, and Mirdites
would support Montenegro. I
denied this. Martinovitch would
not believe me; but Gavrilo-
vitch seemed shaken.

The Maltsia e madhe men,
meanwhile in full revolt, w^ere

greatly put out by the failure of the Kosovo
men to consult the Christians before making terms.
They had captured and disarmed all the small mili-
tary outposts in Klimenti and Gruda, and taken
their stores and ammunition, and were besieging
Bukovitz, the one big Turkish camp in Hoti. Owing
to its lack of water, it was bound to surrender in a
few days. A relief force from Scutari was routed by

A Q0SLR.

164 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

a combined force of Hoti, Kastrati, and Skreli. Tuzi
was completely cut off from Scutari and short of
supplies, and, so far as I could learn, all the tribes
except Gruda, which was influenced by Sokol Batzi,
were entirely for Albanian independence.

The Turkish Government sent the Archbishop to
the mountains to negotiate peace. He succeeded in
making all the insurgents, except Gruda and Shala,
swear peace on condition the Turks evacuated the
mountains. The Turkish troops accordingly with-
drew from all points, except the summit of Dechich
and Planinitza, a fortified camp on its flank, which
they declared necessary as frontier outposts. The
Montenegrins were furious that the tribesmen had
made peace, and declared it was an Austrian " politik."

War preparations went on apace in Podgoritza.
Rifles were dealt out to young and aged. On
August 12 artillery went to Kolashin and Suka, and
I noted: " Montenegro has no preparations at all
for field ambulance, let alone hospitals." The few
wounded Albanians who came into Podgoritza were
shamefully neglected and in most horrible state. I
sent a lot of antiseptic dressings up to the mountains.

We were now on the giddy brink of war. King
Nikola notified the Powers that if they would not
undertake to keep order by delimiting his frontier
and protecting it from Turkish violation, he must
himself take the necessary steps. Generals Mitar
Martinovitch, Yanko Vukotitch, and Blazho Boshko-
vitch held a council of war. The Powers did nothing,
except, as usual, cackle like a lot of hens.

Seventeen guns went to the Zeta. " Voila," said
the Turkish Counsel, an Armenian, " the Turks have

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 165

now their last chance, li this new ministry fail,
c'est une debacle, une debacle complete I Pray God
that my poor Armenia may not fall into the hands
of Russia !"

It was reported that Russia was doing her best to
restrain Montenegro; but I noted at the time in my
diary at Cettigne on August 15: "If Russia really
wants peace, why are so many Russian officers toddling
about here ? They can't all pretend they have come
to teach in the cadet school, when it is closed for the
summer holidays."

On Friday, August 16, the Montenegrin Govern-
ment notified the Legations that Nizams had fallen
upon certain Christian villages, that ten men had been
killed and thirty women and children taken prisoners,
and so worded the communication that it appeared
that Montenegrin territory had been violated.

I was sure the affair was beyond the border. So
it was ; but it was impossible to get a clear tale from
the Montenegrin authorities. Yanko Vukotitch went
up at once to Andriyevitza to take command, and a
rumour flashed in shortly that the Montenegrins had
taken Berani; but this proved untrue. Refugees
were reported to be swarming in, and there were
many wounded.

On the 19th at 10 a.m. Cettigne held a public
indignation meeting in the market-place, the first
public meeting permitted under the recently granted
Constitution. The speakers called on the crowd to
rescue their brother-Serbs beyond the border, and
were loudly applauded. It was intended to demon-
strate before the Palace and the Legations, but the
police barred the way and the meeting dispersed.

166 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

I started for the seat of war next morning early,
arriving at Podgoritza by eleven. Here I liad to
search for a carriage which would drive me to Andri-
yevitza; and, when found, the man refused, owing
to the extreme heat, to start before 5 p.m. During
the delay Podgoritza begged me not to go. " The
guns are all placed," they said. " The Balkan Powers
are all now agreed. Come and see the guns early
to-morrow. The first shot will be fired within twenty-
four hours." I cast doubt, and was told that " men
were going to cut grass in a certain spot, and if, as
was hoped, they were fired on, the artillery would
retort at once."

I reflected that this would be the third time " the
grass trick " was played, and that it was not good
enough, so clung to my first plan, and started at
5.30 p.m. on the long drive — a soothing, magical
drive. We seemed to leave heat, hate, and squalid
politics all behind us as the carriage zigzagged on
and on up the mountain-road, whose edge dropped
sheer into bottomless gloom, while the peaks towered
above, majestic in the soft green light of a big half-
moon.

At 3 a.m. we halted at a han and drowsed till 7 a.m.,
and arrived finally, with weary horses, at Andriyevitza
at 7.30 p.m., two days and one night after leaving
Cettigne.

Andriyevitza was in sore plight. Montenegro had
made another attempt to bring things to a climax,
and this time the Turks had outwitted her and taken
terrible vengeance. Nearly all the Serb villages near
the border had been burnt. They all formed part
of the Vassoievitch tribe, which had been divided by

THE GATHERING OE THE WAK-CLOUDS 167

the Berlin blunder; everyone, therefore, in Andri-
yevitza had relatives among the victims. In the
schoolhouse were some fifty wounded, including several
women and two mutilated children. Refugees were
coming in daily. The situation was most painful.

So closely were the Montenegrin and Turkish halves
of the tribe intertwined that the Mayor of Andriye-
vitza had been member for Berani in the first Turkish
Parliament under the Constitution, but had retired,
as it was a farce, and the despotism of the '' Union
and Progress " was intolerable.

Briefly, the IToung Turks had, in this Serb district,
tried forcible Ottomanization. The school was closed,
the priest flogged and imprisoned in a filthy latrine.
Under the Constitution, however, the district, as it
had a Christian majority, had the right to a Christian
Kaimmakam. Ilia Popovitch, a native Serb, was
appointed. Poor Ilia ! He was an honest and
honourable man, but he and his young French wife
undertook an impossible task — to create " un petit etat
modele " of his district, according to the spirit of the
Constitution. As his unfortunate widow told me, he
was opposed both by the Moslem Albanians of the
district and the Serbs themselves — the former because
they dreaded measures that would allow of the
development and expansion of the Serb element, the
Serbs because they were opposed to any measures
which wuuld help to make peace and strengthen
Turkey.

A further difliculty was that the commandant of
the frontier garrison would not act together with a
Christian civilian, and opposed him violently on all
points. The Turk looked on Ilia as a pro-Serb, the

168 THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

Serbs considered him as a traitor who sided with the
Young Turks. He it was who sent the telegram
stating that the Turks had fired the first shot at
Mojkovach, and by virtue of his office he formed
one of the Commission appointed to inquire into
the affair.

Exactly what happened will never be known.
From the frontier poor Ilia sent a hasty note to his
wife, telling her to go to Paris at once, and he would
join her. She, with her infant daughter and a young
Serb lady (her friend), alarmed, left Berani secretly,
and fled to the frontier mountains. Only just in
time. That very night, the night of August 14-15,
Turkish troops and Moslem Albanians, led by a
Turkish officer, fell upon the village of Lower Urz-
hanitza, massacred sixteen persons in their beds, cut
off and carried away three heads, and took thirty-one
vv^omen and children prisoners. These persons were
all members of the Tchoukitch family, which, it would
appear, were suspected by the Turks of being con-
cerned in a revolutionary plot. So they undoubtedly
were, but the savagery of the Turkish attack was un-
pardonable. The Montenegrin troops, which, as in
the Mojkovach affair, were ready, at once rushed to
the aid of their cousins across the border, burnt all
the Turkish frontier blockhouses in the neighbour-
hood, crossed the frontier with their guns, and the
insurgent natives and the troops together would have
taken Berani had not the Powers at Cettigne ordered
the cessation of hostilities.

Andriyevitza, when I arrived, was furious at the
recall of the troops. Seventeen Serb villages had
been burnt or partially burnt and plundered; the

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 169

number of dead was not yet known. I went to in-
ve.stigate the truth, and crossed the frontier with one
of the surviving Tchoukitches — a schoolmaster from
Podgoritza. The Montenegrins had a large camp on
a hill on the very frontier, and two big guns pointing
at Berani. We passed the burnt Turkish block-
houses, and crawled round under cover of the hills
to avoid the Turkish guns, which might open fire.
From these blockhouses the frontier guard had been
for the past three years in the habit of firing at the
Montenegrin houses across the border, and as these
were of wood, and not more than 1,000 metres away,

^"^ieq^

MONTEKEOBIN WOODEN HOUSES.

the bullets ripped right through them. The priest of
Budimlje (one of the burnt villages), a wild figure in
native di'ess, with long black elf-locks streaming from
head and beard, climbed up to us and narrated recent
events.

I passed on through Urzhanitza, saw the black heap
of ashes, all that was left of the house where Suro
Tchoukitch was beheaded. Hard by, at a cottage-
door, sat his weeping daughter. So on, through
misery and terrified people, who begged that Europe
should be told of their plight, and thanked me for
risking my life to visit them. Wretched pawns in
the game of politics, they were primarily the victims

170 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

of the Berlin Treaty, which " had not considered the
ethnographical question," and secondly of Monte-
negro's schemes for aggrandizement. No lot can be
more miserable than that of the luckless human beings
who are used as live bait by ambitious rulers.

Tchoukitch piloted me safely right up to the in-
surgents' camp in an old cemetery, the thick stone
wall of which gave cover from whence we could see
the Turkish camp beyond. The leaders, one of whom
was said to be brother to the Servian Consul at
Saloniki, were desperately resolved to fight till their
district was free. They were savage with Monte-
negro for withdrawing the guns and troops, and, as
they said, '' betraying us."

The feeling in the whole district, including Andriye-
vitza, was apparently pro- Serb rather than pro-
Montenegrin. Andriyevitza had never forgiven King
Nikola for condemning to death as rebels three of its
goodliest sons but a short while ago.

Of Isa Boletin, the Albanian leader, both the in-
surgents and Tchoukitch were full of praise. Wherever
he ruled, no Serbs were molested, but were treated
with great justice. He had even supplied Serb in-
surgents with arms.

Firing was expected to begin as usual in the even-
ing, and the insurgents would not, therefore, permit
me to go farther. As it was, I did not reach Andriye-
vitza till 9.30 p.m., tired out.

Next day came news that Djavid Pasha had
arrived with four battalions at Berani. All Andriye-
vitza was aghast. Berani could have easily been
taken last week, they said; now it was too late. All
the insurgents would be massacred, and Montenegro

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 171

might not go to their help. General Yanko Vukotitch
came to me much harrowed. He " wished to com-
municate with Djavid, but was afraid of treachery.
H only a stranger could be found to act as inter-
mediary ! . . . Would I, perhaps ? . . . With a
white flag the risk would not be great. ... Of
course, the Turks fired on it sometimes . . . but
when they saw it was a woman ..."

I was amazed. How often did fat Yanko mean to
fall into holes, and then expect a foreign female to
pull him out ? But I expressed myself as willing to
take aU risks. Yanko said he would let me know
to-morrow. His officers very properly objected to
the scheme, but as none of them dared ride to Berani,
they met Djavid's envoys at '' the frontier of the
insurgents," who held half the valley.

Djavid demanded immediate peace and the sur-
render of arms. The insurgents refused. All An-
driyevitza sympathized. The number of wounded
brought in was now sixty-eight, among whom were
the two mutilated children, who, fortunately for
themselves, died. Very great anxiety was felt for
the thirty-one women and children prisoners at Berani.

A furious meeting demanded war. Jovan Pla-
menatz, the Minister of the Interior, arrived in all
his best clothes, and proclaimed peace in King
Nikola's name.

One of the insurgent leaders, Avro Tsemovich, sent
a letter to Djavid, which he signed with the names of
the other leaders, accepting peace. This caused great
anger. Andriyevitza cursed, but submitted. Tse-
movich, a big animal with bloodshot eyes, came to
me, breathing rakia and a-stuttcr with drink, explaiu-

172 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

ing away his conduct incoherently; and the picture
that remains of him in my mind is such that I can
credit all the subsequent charges against him.

I communicated the details about the imprisoned
women and children to Cettigne, and through the
influence of the British Government their release was
obtained.

Meanwhile the unfortunate wife of Ilia Popovitch
(the Kaimmakam) was waiting, sick with anxiety, for
news of her husband. It came. He had been hacked
to pieces before the Konak at Sjenitza, his eyes
torn out, and his fragments left unburied three days
for the dogs to gnaw. The Turkish officials, so said
eyewitnesses, looked out of the window and offered
no help. How poor Ilia came to Sjenitza, a purely
Slav district not far from the Servian frontier, no one
will ever know. Nor has it ever been proved who
planned his death. Andriyevitza declared that the
frontier Izbashi, Muhedin Bey, did so, to avenge the
fact that Ilia had declared the Turks guilty of firing
the first shots at Mojkovach. But later some Alban-
ians, who had been at Berani with the Turkish
army, declared that it was the work of the Serbs, who
wished to get rid of a man who was working to keep
the peace and thereby block Servia's plans for ex-
pansion. We shall never know.

I never felt more sorry for a stranger than for his
unhappy widow, a Frenchwoman, left penniless in a
wild land with one little child and another about to be
born. It is such as these who really pay in the great
game of international politics.

None of us dared tell her the hideous news, and she
left for Cettigne.

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 173

Peace was patched up for the moment. But
sniping was constantly reported from the borders.
Only prompt rectification of the frontier could make
peace lasting. So long a list of victims was given
me that I decided to go at once and see for myself.

A frontier Captain was going to Polimia. I took
the opportunity and started in a hurry on a wooden
pack-saddle. We arrived in pitch darkness at the
telegraph-station, which was also an inn and a
military outpost, only to learn that a man had that
day died, shot from across the border. A lot of
angry men told of men, women, and cattle killed and
wounded in the past four years. I passed a wTetched
night crowded in one stuffy room with the tele-
graphists and the frontier guard. And while washing
at the stream in the dawn of next day heard the sharp
tack-tack of the Turkish Mausers from a kula at the
end of the valley. The surroundings were most
extraordinary. No less than five kulas looked down
on us, nearly all within range of the Polimia people,
who were helpless as rats in a pit.

Twenty houses had been deserted as uninhabitable.
From many others folk only dared come forth at night.

I climbed with the Captain and some soldiers up the
mountain Dzamiya, where stood the Montenegrin
frontier kula, a very stiff ascent, and thence saw the
frontier, complicated beyond belief, coiling in and
out, one valley Montenegrin, one Turkish — tongues
of land so narrow that a rifle bullet could carry right
across and kill on the way. The Veliki Valley alone
had seven kulas round it. We crouched behind a
stone rampart, as the next kula was firing at intervals.

A military wire brought word that the Captain was

174 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

to return at once to Andriyevitza. Up leapt the
Montenegrins and rushed straight down the mountain-
side. It was all I could do to follow. Then came
a ride in the dark as fast as possible, on the wooden
pack-saddle, and I arrived dead-beat and shaken to
pieces.

Yanko and Plamenatz had both left.

I had given both maize and money to as many of the
refugees as I could. It was growing very cold. I had
come only with a pair of saddle-bags, and had no
warm clothing, so decided to return to Cettigne, but
the frontier Commandant, Major Veshovitch, opposed
this.

" Wait," he said, " something will happen."

I whiled away the time by writing an article which
would be in time for the October reviews, in which I
detailed the state of affairs. " If the Balkan people,"
I wrote, " are left to fight it out between themselves
and the Turk, there can be little doubt of the issue.
Together the Greeks and the Balkan people can put
something like 600,000 men in the field, all well
armed, and mostly first-class fighting stuff. The
Christian subjects of the Turk would all aid the in-
vading armies. . . . The Turk was a great soldier, but
he is now so decayed that he is forced to send his
officers abroad to learn the arts of war. Nor can he
now make his own weapons; he has to borrow the
money with which he buys them," and so forth.
And I ended with the warning paragraph: " Not even
the Great Powers can now arrest the course of nature
— things can no longer remain in statu quo. It re-
mains only to decide whether it shall end in a blood-
bath. The curtain is rising on the last act."

THE GATHEPvTXG OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 175

To my great disappointment this article which I
had intended to herald, and foretell the results of, the
war, was never published. The editors were so ill-
informed that they did not believe in it.

Still nothing ha])pened. T grew tired of waiting.
Then the Commandant told me that as Turkey could
not be made to declare war, Montenegro would. He
had sent a whole battalion to Dzamiya and finished
an artillery track to the summit, was at work on
others to neighbouring heights, had commandeered
GOO horses to fetch up small ammunition, and the
bomb was made which was to blow up a Turkish kula
on the Gusinje border. This would be the signal for
a general rising of the Serbs across the border.

These came every night in batches of 100 to 150 at
a time. Some were extraordinarily wild types, lean,
dark-eyed, and shaven-headed, who squatted on the
ground and howled weird songs at night. So much
from " the back of beyond " were many that they
brought with them as money, coins of Maria Teresa,
and suchlike, and were dismayed to find they would
not buy bread.

Each man received a repeating-rifle of an old pat-
tern, and a belt of cartridges. The Turkish military
attache arrived one day on his way to Berani, and a
whole gang of men from Ipek nahia had to be hastily
hidden in the school.

Arming went on thus nearly every night. And
spies brought word that Servia was mobilizing as fast
as possible, quietly, and that Servian Komitadjis
were already out.

The Montenegrin schoolmaster from Plava came
down for orders. He was one of the insurgent

176 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

leaders of that district, and, in the crowded guest-
room at the baker's, yelled the most blood-curdling
discourse I have ever heard. It was to be war; the
Christians this time had sworn to pay back to the
Turks all they had done to them through all the cen-
turies— outrage for outrage, mutilation for mutilation.
" Last year the Maltsors behaved with the utmost
moderation. They spared the mosques, released all
prisoners unscathed, assaulted no women, behaved
well in all respects, and hoped that the Powers would
mark it to their credit and recognize they were fight-
ing for freedom. But the Powers cast them back to
the Turks with no guarantee of decent treatment ; to
the Turks, who had burnt and defiled their churches,
violated their women, and burnt wounded alive in the
houses. This showed that the Powers like atrocities —
they encourage barbarism, and, by God ! they shall
have it." The audience roared applause. I, horrified,
said they would lose all outside sympathy if they
showed themselves as bad as the Turks, and they
shouted me down. It was a most remarkable
speech, for it stated truly that the Maltsors had fought
honestly the year before, and expressed the intention
most emphatically on the part of the Montenegrins
to commit atrocities. But in a very few months
Montenegro denied to Europe that they had done so,
and attempted to put all the guilt upon the Maltsors.
News came from Podgoritza that the Maltsors had
again risen and were trying hard to take Dechich. I
decided not to wait for the Commandant's bomb, but
to go to the help of the Maltsors, about whose fate I
was extremely anxious. War was certain, and what
would happen to them ?

THE GATHERING OF THE WAR-CLOUDS 177

Two days were lost tinding a conveyance. I
started in torrents of rain, plodded through deep mud,
and arrived at Podgoritza to find that, though there
was temporary quiet, the Maltsors had made a
desperate struggle for ten days to capture Dechich ;
had captured Planinitza and all its arms, but been
again dislodged, by artillery from the summit. With-
out artillery Dechich could not be stormed. But
they had destroyed nearly a whole Turkish Battalion
near Nenhelm, had cut the route and the water canal,
and hoped to starve Dechich out. Ded Soko of
Klimenti was out with his men at Breg Mati w4th the
object of blocking the route of any Turkish reinforce-
ments from Tirana.

The Gruda and Shala tribes had never accepted the
peace made by the Archbishop at Bukovitza, and all
the tribes regretted they had allowed the Turks to
pass out with their artillery. Gruda was especially
angry that Turldsh troops had not been withdrawn
from her territory, as they had been from the other
tribe lands.

The peace at Bukovitza had, indeed, been made by
the advice of the Austrian Consul-General, Zambaur,
who told the Maltsors to be patient.

But what they wanted was not foreign rule, but
freedom; so, at the time of the Eucharistic congress
(September 10) at Vienna, they gave Austria an ulti-
matum. " The situation is quite intolerable. Do
you mean to help us ? Yes or No." " No " was the
reply. And they retorted: " Very well, then, we will
call for help to Montenegro."

Certain of their Austrian advisers believed that it
waui now highly desirable that the atatiui qiio should

178 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

be overthrown, and that to allow Montenegro to do so
would be the best policy. The mistake which Austria
made throughout was in under-rating the Serb army.
Various headmen of the Maltsors accordingly went
to Cettigne. The agreement they declared them-
selves to have made was that they would fight to-
gether with Montenegro and drive out all Turks from
the borders. King Nikola would not take any of their
territory. All he wished was to free his frontiers
from Turks.

PART III
WAR

' And to make the cause of Religion to descend to the cruell
and execrable Actions, of Murthering Princes, and Butchery of
People . . . surely this is to bring Downe the Holy Ghost, in stead
of the Likene^se of a Dove, in the Shape of a Vulture or a Raven:
And to set, out of the Barke of a Christian Church, a Flagge of
Piratfi and Assassins."

'^^ '^ /f >)

CB0S3 AGAINST CRESCENT.

CHAPTER XI

" Onward, Christian soldiers,
Marching on through war.
With the Cross of Jesus,
Red with Moslem gore."

HvMN OF King Ferdinand.

At Cettigne there wa.s no question of patching
frontiers. Students sang " Onamo, onamo !*' (On-
ward, onward, let me see Prizren !), the King's battle
hymn, in the streets. It should be noted that, in the
early days of the war, Prizren was the popular objec-
tive, and that the King undoubtedly aspired to make
it his capital as King of Great Servia.

On declaring war, he issued a proclamation in
which he " called upon the Montenegrins to help their
brethren in Old Servia, where Serb men, women, and
children were being massacred. However adverse His
Majesty might be from disturbing the peace of

Europe, there was nothing left for him but to take

181

182 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

up the sword, for his hopes of liberating the Serbs of
Turkey without bloodshed had been vain. Monte-
negro, therefore, declared a Holy War, inspired by the
noblest intentions of preventing the final extermina-
tion of its brethren."

I saw Yanko. He was starting at once for Andri-
yevitza, to take command, and had with him a young
friend as secretary, of whom we shall hear more
later.

All horses and vehicles were already commandeered
for the army. Yanko told me I must start soon if I
wished to see the first shot fired.

I saw Mitar Martinovitch bubbling with enthu-
siasm. " We have all the Maltsors with us !" he cried.
I said: " No, Excellency, you have not." To which
he replied: " Mademoiselle, I am very well informed."
And I: *' So am I, Excellency."

Cettigne was dead-calm. Nearly everyone had
gone down to the front. I went to the hospital
to see if things were ready there and to offer help
if necessary.

Dr. Matanovitch assured me that all was ready. He
and the Eussian Sister opened a small cupboard, and
showed me it was full of shirts and bandages. And
as he had very little trained help, and as this was the
only hospital, he said he would be glad if I would go
as near the front as possible, and gave me some " first-
aid " dressings. If I were overtired and knocked up,
he added, he could give me a private room in the
hospital.

I was struck dumb with amazement. He, and
apparently the authorities, believed that this small
hospital of some 150 beds would suffice for the whole

WAR 183

campaign. Nothing else had been prepared; no
other hospital existed.

The Montenegrins, then, really expected the war
to be over in from four to six weeks. They began
purposely before their allies, and, I believe, without
informing them ; for they believed themselves in-
vincible, and meant to sweep up all Kosovo vilayet
before the Serbs were ready. Of the Serbs they had
no opinion at all.

When I asked, " What is the Servian army
worth ?" " They are a lot of swineherds," was the
invariable reply.

The plan of campaign, as expounded to me, was
that the army should be divided into three parts.
One under Yanko Vukotitch — the Kolashin-Andri-
yevitza division — was to attack Kosovo vilayet; the
second, under Mitar Martinovitch, was to attack
Scutari from the Tarabosh side ; the third, under
Blazho Boshkovitch, was to attack it from the
Podgoritza side. All three divisions were to unite
subsequently at Prizren, which was spoken of as the
main objective. Yanko himself told me so.

Together with every friend of the South Slavs, I
was anxious that the almost wholly Slav districts of
the Sanjak, of Berani, and the frontier should be
freed. But Prizren, I regarded (and regard) as an
Albanian town and district, and hoped it would so
remain.

On Sunday, October 0, with an odd feeling that I
was shortlv about to undergo an operation, I left

Cettigne with D , the newly appointed (rovemor

of Podgoritza, and throe of his assistants; for the
reign of Stauko Markovitch was over. The martyr-

184 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

dom of the horses had begun; the wretched brutes
had made the long journey backwards and forwards
contmuously for two days and nights, and could
scarcely crawl. We walked on foot much of the way,
and arrived very late.

On Monday, October 7, Prince Danilo arrived and
inspected the troops. A surprisingly large propor-
tion were old men. They marched past in irregular
herds, singing war-songs. Before the Voyni Stan,
on the historic ground where little over a year before
we had persuaded the Maltsors to make peace,
numbers of men squatted about awaiting uniforms
and orders. One old man, finishing his lunch, held
the carefully picked sheep's blade-bone against the
sun.

My theory about bone-reading has always been
that the seers see that which they expect. " What
does the bone say V 1 asked. He stared long and
anxiously, and shook his head. " Blood. And more
blood. Nothing but blood." I had expected him to
see at least the taking of Prizren, and was interested.
He threw it down with a sigh.

News came that Essad Pasha had ordered the
Maltsors to accept the terms arranged by the Kosovo
vilayet insurgents, but that they had replied they
were sick of Turkish promises. Ded Soko and his
men offered resistance at Breg Mati ; but Essad, who
had realized that he must play Turkish to save
Scutari, fought his way through, and arrived at
Scutari with large reinforcements. Djavid Pasha
and his army had evacuated Berani.

On the 8th martial law was proclaimed, but no one
took any notice of it. Orders were given out that

WAE 185

correspondents were to send only the official news
given out at Cettigne.

Professor Kovachevitch, teacher of French and
German at the Gymnasium at Podgoritza, was
anxious that I should employ him as assistant in any
corresponding work I might do. Being lame, he was
not liable for active service.

" Soon/' said he, " you will see the noses come in.
We shall not leave many a Turk with a nose."

" If you do any such swinery," said I, " you will
rightly lose all European sympathy."

He was very angry. "It is our old national
custom," he declared; *' how can a soldier prove his
heroism to his commander if he does not brine in
noses? Of course we shall cut noses; we always
have."

He had travelled considerably, and been in English
employ in Egypt; but the blood of the primitive
savage flowed in hun, and he, the trainer of
youth, gloated and boasted over the idea of severed
lips, ears, and noses, and confirmed the report
that all Turkish coi-pses at Moykovach had been
mutilated.

I expressed strong disgust, and hoped that the
presence of foreign military attaches, doctors, and
correspondents would prevent the possibility of the
hideous atrocities which occurred always in local
risings and fights, far from foreign eyes.

All the royal Voyvodas — Bozho, Marko, Gjuro,
Sharko — arrived, and it was given out that King
Nikola, who till recently could " bear, like the Turk,
no brother near the throne," had made up liis family
quarrels.

186 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

At night there was great singing of "Let me see
Prizren." The Zetski and Piperski battalions went
up Fundina way. The Nikshitchski and Vuchidolski,
to the Zeta plains. I went up to bed early, to be
ready for emergencies, and on the stairs met old
Voy\^oda Gjuro, who said: " It will be to-morrow —
and then as God wills."

Next day, the 9th, I rose at five, before the dawn.
The Voyvodas were leaving in carriages. It was
dark, and a fine drizzle was falling. A long line of
pack-horses waited dismally under the ' trees. Only
those whose owners were present got a feed.

The Bishop of Ostrog appeared, having just blessed
the Alaj-bariak (military standard) in the church at
a private service before the Royal Family.

I asked for Blazho Boshkovitch, hoping he would
tell me where to go, and was told (1) that he was at
Fundina; (2) that he was not yet up ! A perianik
(one of the King's bodyguard) shouted to Kovache-
vitch, who was also waiting: " The King has gone up
to the top of Goritza \"

We started for the little hill from which Podgoritza
takes its name. The rain ceased; the sun came out
and sparkled on the coarse drenched grass. About
thi'ee-quarters of the way up we were halted by the
perianiks, and saw the King, in full Montenegrin
costume, standing brilliantly white against the sky,
on the summit, with Prince Mirko and a small
suite.

The clouds lifted from the mountains with a won-
derful play of light and shade. Not a sound was
heard but the tinkle of sheepbells from the wide plain
below, across which ran the frontier-line. Beyond it

WAR 187

towered Dechich, with its roughly fortified Turkish
outposts. The aii' was crystal clear. An endless
quarter of an hour dragged by. So peaceful was the
scene it was hard to realize that the long-talked-of
status quo was about to be shattered and the map of
Europe changed. In the strain of excitement all
possible and impossible results of the approaching
fall of the Turk whirled through my mind. Boom !
The big gun roared from Gradina, on the height to
our left, fired by Prince Petar. A great white fuff
of smoke showed where it struck Planinitza, the camp
on the flank of Dechich. I had no field-glasses, but,
so clear was the air, I could see the walled camp with
the naked eye.

The bells rang out from the church below us; the
band, which was with the King, struck up the national
hymn. The few spectators, mostly little boys, and
the perianiks joined in, and shouted " Zliivio !"

I looked at my watch; it was 8 a.m. And we were
at war. The shots followed in quick succession.
More missed than hit. We watched, with all our eyes,
for two hours, which passed like minutes. Suddenly
a great column of flame and smoke leapt up from
Planinitza. Some ammunition must have been ex-
ploded by a shell. Another followed. Soon I could
see the Nizams, tiny khaki dots, in full retreat. The
first victory had been scored.

Already the Montenegrins were shelling Rogom, a
camp near the foot of Dechich, and the summit of
Dechich itself. To everyone's suqirise, the Turks
made no reply save two shells, which foil far short.
They had, in fact, no long-range guns. A rattle of
rifle-fire told that, under cover of the artillery, the

188 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Maltsors, together with some Montenegrins, were
attacking at close quarters.

When Planinitza fell, the King and suite left
Goritza. I hurried after and obtained permission
from the Governor to telegraph at once to The Times
and another paper that war was declared, and handed
in the messages at 10.30, believing I had given Europe
the first news. So I had; but, unfortunately, one
Zhivkovitch, a friend of the King, was acting both
as Renter correspondent and Press censor. He
changed the date of my messages, and held them back
nearly twenty-four hours; and so, though he did not
send his own till late in the evening, his was the
first in.

I emphasize this fact because I believe all corre-
spondents suffered from it, and not only the corre-
spondents, but the public. For the earliest " news ''
that came out was generally a version concocted in
the palace. No correspondent should be allowed to
act at the same time as Press censor.

Returning from the telegraph-office, a woman
stopped me and gasped: "Don't tell, anyone I told
you — Blazho is dead \"

" What !" I cried; " Blazho Boshkovitch V

" Yes. A soldier I know has told me; it is a secret.
There were four bullets in him. They say he shot
himself. In God's name, do not tell of me V

I asked at his quarters, " Where is Blazho V and
was told, " At Fundina." So he was — but dead.

The dull " boom " of heavy guns went on all the
afternoon from Gradina and the Zeta. Roorom and
Vranje and Vladnje, Turkish border-posts, were under
continuous fire. At evening it was made public that

WAR 189

Blazho was dead, and had been buried hurriedly and
privately. Suicide was the official report. " He had
gone mad, tried to attack Dechich at night with only
a few men, and had shot Imnself in despair." But it
was whispered through the town that late at night he
had been heard in hot dispute with one of the Prmces,
and had been found dead some tune afterwards; that
no man could fire four bullets into himself; and why
was no public inquiiy made; and so forth. Murder
was the verdict of his friends and relations, who
firmly denied the charge of insanity, and swore they
would exhume the body so soon as war was over, and
prove the manner of death. But the war lasted much
longer than anyone anticipated, and the mystery of
Blazho's death will never be explained. Peace be to
his ashes ! Prmce Danilo took over the command.

October 10. — The dull thud of big guns began early.
By 7 a.m. I was far out on the plain, lymg flat, so as
not to draw fire, and listening to the shells that
swished across well ahead of me. On my right the
Zeta guns were playing on Vranje, and on my left the
Gradina guns were fii'mg on Dechich. Two shells in
quick succession struck the summit, which was pro-
tected only by a rough stone wall run up since Tour-
goud Pasha occupied the height last year. It could
not by any possibility hold out long, and made no
reply. Vranje, a modern fortress, was answermg
strongly. I crawled nearer, and saw the fire from
both sides.

At 7.45 a terrible continuous rattle of rifle-fire
began on the slopes off Dechich above Miljesh. I
wondered how any human being could live through
such a fire. But it seems that with repeating-rifies

190 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

the men, once started, keep up ceaseless fire, whether
there is much chance of killmg or not. The big guns
boomed continuously. The slopes of Dechich were
a-smoke. At 8.30 firing slackened. A heavy cloud
settled on the mountain-top, and a sudden silence. A
few drops of rain fell. Dechich had surrendered.
Soon the mountains were all shrouded in rain-clouds,
and I trudged back to Podgoritza.

Filing was heavy in the afternoon. I borrowed a
horse from the barracks, and, for the first time in
my life, rode out quite alone. A horrible and con-
tinuous fire of rifles and machine-guns raged just
behind the little hill of Eogom ahead of me.

But, though it was evident that with no big guns
the Turks could not hold out long, nothing resulted
that day.

Tramping round Podgoritza at night to find Zhivko-
vitch, the Renter Press censor, was maddening, as he
never appeared till he had got his own messages well
off. But as I know Servian, I translated mine to the
Governor, and got him to sign it, and got it off before
Zhivkovitch knew, once or twice.

Rogom fell next morning at seven. I met some
very hungry soldiers on the plain, and got the news
from them in exchange for some bread; for the com-
missariat (or " intendanz,'" as it was called) was not
yet organized, and only those men who managed to
get food from home had anything to eat.

A heap of wounded — the results of Dechich — began
to come in. They were crammed into the barracks.
Nothing and no one was ready for them, and Matano-
vitch came down from Cettigne to tackle 297 wounded
almost single-handed. All the dregs of Podgoritza

WAR 191

and a mass of small children put on Red Crosses, and
swarmed to the barracks. But of trained help there
was none, and the authorities had decided not to
admit any foreign help or doctors into theii- hospitals
to see the shocking mess they were in.

Little Princess Vera arrived in a motor, leapt out
and cried, wrmgmg her hands: " It is terrible, terrible;
there are wounded men ! Mon Dieu ! mon Dieu !
what shall we do ? " It was evident she had expected
none.

Corresponding was for me a mere by-product. I
was there to watch the situation for myself and do
relief work. So I went to the barracks to see if I
could help. Matanovitch, reeling with fatigue after
a day and night of continuous work, begged me to
go out and look for wounded. A Bohemian engineer
had also volunteered for this, and together we
collected some necessaries, for the Red Cross was in
too great confusion to supply anything. But nearly
all the wounded were ah-eady in, and we found little
to do on the Zeta plaui.

^^ Next day, however, Matanovitch cried out to me:
'' I recognized your dressing on that bayoneted boy.
Go as near the front as you can. We are very short-
handed.''

Two Gruda Albanians, slightly wounded, told me
that Gruda had been among the fii'st on Dechich, and
had lost fifty-two killed and wounded, and that the
top of Dechich was knee-deep m dead Turks. So
quick had been the final rush on the stronghold that
the Turks fled without putting their guns out of gear,
and the retreating Nizams were shot down with their
own artillery. There had been frightful jealousy

192 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

between the Maltsors and the Montenegrins as to
which should get first into Dechich. These two men
rejoiced naively like children, for one had taken ten
and the other six Turkish Mausers. The Monte-
negrin censor, however, would allow no mention of
the Maltsors to be made, and pretended that Dechich
had been taken by Montenegrins alone, though at the
same time they cursed loud and deep because the
Maltsors had captured and carried off all the artillery
mules and pack-horses from Dechich — a pretty good
proof that they were first in.

A certain halfpenny paper, it should be noted,
published a photograph of a great " castle in Spain,''
with towers and castellations, of a style quite impos-
sible in the Balkan Peninsula, and called it Dechich.
Nor was this by any means the only bogus photo-
graph published. The silly craze for getting a thing out
quickly, without giving possible time for inquirmg into
its truth, makes a large proportion of so-called " news '
mere rubbish to gull the public. " What is that?"
asked an Albanian priest. "It is called Dechich in
this English paper !" I said. He stared, and added
disgustedly: "People say the English are truthful.
English papers are, it seems, as bad as all the rest.''
And he threw it down, disgusted.*

The great bare suimnit of Dechich stood sharp
against the sky. I felt hot with shame. Nor could
I again get up any interest in corresponding, haunted
always by the dread of similar occurrences. And

* Since writing the above, I have looked through back
numbers of illustrated papers, and am disgusted by the gross
carelessness which permitted photographs even of Caucasians to
be sold to the public as Balkan subjects.

WAR 193

even the most accurate and conscientious of journalists
are always liable to have tlieir facts distorted by
picturesque and wholly false details, added, I presume,
by the office-boy.

Montenegro was stunned and stupefied by the
amount of wounded. The charge had been a quite
mad one — a race to be first in, between the Maltsors
and Montenegrins. The leaders of both were killed,
though in the hospitals there were, I believe, at least
tlu-ee men petted as " the first man in Dechich."

The Montenegrins showed once and for all that
their idea of fighting was that of their medieval
ballads: "Da uchinimo jurish !" (Let us charge!).
They rushed like a pack of wolves, howling war-cries,
and had no notion of how^ to take cover or spread.
It w^as this which brought about Montenegro's high
death-roll.

News came in at once that the Montenegrms, owing
to not having kept a good lookout, had been am-
bushed at night on the other side of the lake at Zogaj,
and badly cut up. Matanovitch rushed back to
Cettigne for the wounded who resulted. In capturing
this position, the Montenegrins had committed
atrocities, and eight hon-ibly mutilated bodies were
taken into Scutari, one of them that of a Turkish
officer. The photograph of a noseless, lipless head,
then taken by Mi". Marubbi of Scutari, has already
been published. The clotted blood shows that the
victim was alive when mutilated, for corpses do not
bleed so.

Meanwhile, on our side of the war, the Montenegrin
army had worked round behind Dechich, having been
given free pass through the Albanian tribelands.

194 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

Moreover, the Kastrati and Skreli men on ahead
attacked the Moslem villages on the Lake border,
and opened the route. News came that the Monte-
negrins had burnt a number of Moslem villages on the
Antivari side.

On Sunday, October 13, the Alaj-bariak and the
band were made ready to march into Tuzi, which, it
was believed, must fall at once. The guns of its fort,
Shipchanik, had fired half the night, and ceased sud-
denly, so we presumed their ammunition was ex-
hausted. A summons to surrender was sent the

SKETCH ON FIELD: MONTENEGRrST SOLDIERS GOING TO SHIPCHANIK.

town. The Commandant replied by demanding per-
mission to retu'e with his men to' Scutari, and was
refused. Montenegro shifted her big guns down to
the plain near the town, and next morning Tuzi was
bombarded from six points, including the summit of
Dechich. It surrendered at once. At 2.30, with the
Bohemian engineer and a green omnibus, I went to
Urzhanitzki Most, the frontier bridge, to give first
aid, if necessary, and see the formal surrender. Three
or four wounded Nizams, one with his breast muscles
ripped up by a bayonet, needed dressing, and drank
water greedily.

Montenk(;rin.s occii'Vim; the Tl kk.i.->ii iuuiki^> Shik iia.n;k
im.mkdiatei.v after its strrender.

^^^^fc-^J^' "

.,„ f'^*

-»''^

^F'

■\:, ••

I )Ki MH II AMI Mil. m kN I I'i kKl^ri l.i ' " nip'i ^i. i K' 'M i i. /: ii A S i r / K I M<>>1.

< )i r<»KER 14. 191 2

WAR 195

Then time passed slowly. Prince Danilo and the
white charger and the band were all ready. Dusk
fell. Flames leapt up from Vladnje and Vranje.
The soldiers had set fire to them. The little crowd
of Montenegi'ins rejoiced. I exclaimed — for I knew
only too well the horror of burnt homesteads — and
remembered, too, Montenegro's loud indignation at
" Turkish savagery " last year. But an old woman
cried: " Burn ! Let them burn ! I am very glad.''
And all said: " They are Moslems. Let them burn \"
The band struck up a lively march as a battalion
started for Shipchanik and crossed the bridge. The
orange sunset deepened into burning red, upon which
the hills were very blue. The blazing villages weie
crimson spots, and over all crept up a sUm crescent
moon, as though the sign of the Turk were dying,
pallid, in a sea of blood.

It was 5.30 when, through the gathering darkness,
the long line of prisoners came in sight with the
Turkish Pasha at their head. He dismounted at the
bridge, came forward on foot, and offered his sword
to Prince Danilo, who bent down from his white horse,
took it, and returned it, and announced at the same
time that as a reward of victory Major Bechir was
promoted to the rank of Brigadier. Then came the
surrendered garrison, rank after rank, out of the
darkness, trailing over the plain like a snake. A
stupendous sight: several thousand able-bodied men
— all prisoners. I thought of a drawing I had once
made of a Roman triumj^h. Poor devils ! They had
better have made a dash for Scutari, and died fighting.
A large number perished slowly later of cold and
misery. All the garrisons of Tuzi, Vranje, Nenhelm,

196 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

Eogom — the entire frontier guard — gave itself up. In
five days something like 5,000 prisoners were taken,
and Montenegro's head was completely turned.

Next day the engineer and I drove on to Tuzi with
a bus-load of various necessities. Little white rags
flew from sticks on many a house, and chalked crosses
on the doors appealed for mercy. A dead horse in
the midst stank sickeningly. We reported ourselves,
and went straight to the military hospital. The
Turkish doctors in charge demanded angrily to be
allowed to go to Scutari, and were amazed to learn
that it was war, and not a mere frontier af!air, that
was taking place. That the other Balkan States
were about to attack, was news that stunned them.

The hospital was crammed with wounded Nizams,
and was foodless and waterless. The engineer went
off to fetch a bus-load of water in cans from the river.
I remained to clean up. Having been quite cut off for
a week, the place was in a terrible state. Two shells
had gone through the building in spite of its hospital
flag. It had been impossible to clean anything, and
the floor was thick with dirty wads and dressings,
and old petroleum cans full of putrid blood and pus.
The Turkish doctor, furious, demanded in broken
German proper treatment for his wounded, and re-
fused to help, saying he was not now responsible. I
made a bonfire, and worked a long time burning dirty
dressings and carrying out the blood -cans. He then
saw I really wanted to help, and put on some orderlies
to work also. The engineer brought bread and water,
and we made some sort of order in the place. I had
till then been too busy to investigate the actual
Vv'ounded. The doctor now pointed out eight men

WAR 197

with bandages round tlieir faces, close and flat.
There was no nose or lip. He imitated slicing.
" Look ! Montenegrin work \" Eight men, not
otherwise wounded, had been deliberately caught and
mutilated. Kovachevitch's words had come true.

The doctor wished me to tell Europe. I was in a
painful position. When acting as correspondent, I
had undertaken to reveal no secrets detrimental to
Montenegro, and had cheerfully promised, believing
this to mean the position of troops, guns, etc. But
to hide such foul deeds was another thing. I worked
the whole day, sweeping, and burning, and wrestling
with the disgusting problem of the mutilated men.

At night I returned to Podgoritza, and, having
decided that " honesty is the best policy," I found
Jovitchevitch, the late Montenegrin Consul in Scutari,
and told him in strong terms what I had seen and
what I thought of it. I would not report it this time,
but there must not be any more. The result was
that the correspondents, a mixed squad of whom were
collected at Podgoritza, were not allowed to go for-
ward till the mutilated men were hidden.

The next day the engineer and I spent in prepar-
ing to advance and in feeding the hospital. Getting
a flock of sheep, for mutton, and pemiing them in an
outbuilding, delayed us so that we had to sleep one
night more In the hospital dispensar}\ It was too
late to start.

The woe of the conquered had already begun. The
newly ai)pointod Montenegrin Governor of Tuzi —
Gjurashkovitch — proceeded to "rub it iji" by hanging
a portrait of King Nikola in the hospital, and joj-fully
informing the Turkish stafl' that the Montenegrins

198 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

had occupied Plava and Gusiiije, and, of 2,000
Moslems who had endeavoured to retake Berani, had
slaughtered all but 250.

The doctor was terribly anxious about his horse.
He loved it as a child, he said, and dreaded lest one
of the many looting Montenegrins or Maltsors should
steal and maltreat it. Lootmg was in full swing.
Strmgs of Montenegrin women were filing across the
plam from the surrounding houses and villages, bent
double under bales of clothing, tobacco, household
gear, and what not. " What have you there, mother ?
I cried to an old woman halting on the bridge.
*' Clothes," said she — " beautiful clothes.'' " Where
did you steal them?" "I didn't steal them," she
cried furiously; " I took them out of a house." " H
you take the children's clothes, they will die of cold
in the winter." " So they shall, God willing. They
are all Moslems."

Nearly all the greatcoats and blankets of the un-
hajjpy Nizam prisoners w^ere looted. " Save my
little horse from these brigands," prayed the doctor.
** You had better sell it to me," said I, suddenly
inspired. He was loath to part,' but realized he
must sell or be robbed. We clapped his saddle on it.
I mounted, glided smoothly, swiftly through walk
and trot to canter, turned, dismounted, and con-
cluded the deal in five minutes; and so, dirt cheap,
did I acquire the Houyhnhnm, five and a half years
old, sound as sense, and sweetly gentle, and fulfilled
my lifelong desire to possess a horse.

I promised the doctor to take great care of his pet,
and he begged me to carry a letter for him to a friend
m Scutari. " I cannot," said I. " Not even with

Thk HorvHNHNM.

I'lll, Mti.N 1 l.M.i.KlN.-. IN Tl/.;

WAR 199

your horse shall I get there now." " What \" cried
Gjurashkovitch; " not get to Scutari ? Why not ?
We are going to take it iji four days/' " No army
can take Scutari in four days," said I. " It is very
strongly fortified." Gjurashkovitch and his officers
laughed contempt. " Ladies know nothing of mili-
tary things." " I know what barbed wire is, though,"
said I. " I had friends in the Transvaal." " Oh,
for the English, perhaps," cried they, " but for us

Montenegrins Do you know what we shall do

with this beautiful barbed wire ? We shall do this."
And the speaker clipped the air with finger and
thumb.

I had not spent the winter in Scutari for nothing,
and knew that there were guns in bombproof em-
placements out on the plain. These fellows had had
a whole year to spy the land, and if they had failed
to do so, it was not my affair. That they had the
physical courage of wild boars I was aware, but
having seen and heard them booze and boast for
months on end I had no behef in then: science. So
I laughed. " You will see in a few days," they said.
'' We shall," said I. And we did.

I slung my saddle-bags on the Houyhnhnm, and
started for the war with a blanket-sack and six tins
of sardines.

CHAPTER XII

" The things that I have seen and heard,
In field and camp and barrack too —
I tells them over to myself,
And sometimes wonders if they're true."

It had poured in blinding torrents for two days.
The engineer and I slopped through mud to the arm
of the lake at Nenhehn. The green omnibus lum-
bered after us. The ferry was entirely blocked by
artillery. The soldiers were camped in mud and
water; the two unburnt houses remaining were
occupied by officers. The Commandant said he could
not take the Red Cross bus till the guns were over;
in any case, would not take the horses. They must
go round by the mountain-track. There w^as no
knowmg when the ferry would be clear, so I started
at once over the Chafa Kishat along with the am-
munition horses.

The top of the pass was all great wet boulders with
deep mud-holes between all churned up by the traffic,
and far too bad to ride over. I stumbled and climbed
for two hours in a clattering jam of ammunition
horses, slithering and falling here, there, and every-
where, and being mercilessly flogged to their feet
again. At the other side of the pass the convoy
halted for the night. I pushed on, and so did two
young Montenegrins. They had never been over the

200

WAR

201

border before, and followed me. We rounded the
head of the lake by moonlight, and plunged into a
dark unknown track. The Houyhnhnm felt his way
wearily over loose stones and through deep mud. I
wondered if we should find a roof over our heads that
night. Something loomed white, and I hailed it.
Two Maltsors cried enthusiastically out of the dark-
ness: " It is the Queen ! Come with us.'' I turned
of! the track, and followed them to a great half-
burnt house that had thi'ee rooms intact. The two
young Montenegrins came, too, gladly. A crowd of
insurgents rose to greet me when I entered. It was

MONTENEGRIK CAMP AT VIR KASTEATIT, OCTOBER, 1912.

the house of Dedush Marashi of Vukpalaj, and a
great caldron of mutton hung over the fire ready
for all comers. The company ate hungrily, and,
havmg done so, turned to the east and chanted a
long and impressive prayer for victory, before casting
themselves upon the floor to sleep.

October 21 saw us start at 5.30 a.m., but on
arriving at Vii- Kastratit, the opposite side of the
ferry, there was no green bus and no engineer. Nor
did anyone think them likely to arrive. Hideous
confusion reigned everj^^here. I walked tlu-ough the
camp of cursing, hungry men. No rations had been

202 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

served out to them, and they were climbing trees for
any kind of eatable seed or berry, and searching
for blackberries in the hedge. I gnawed crusts of
bread, of w^hich I had a pocketful, and fed the
Houyhnhnm with the hay which lay about in tons
trampled under foot. It had been commandeered
wholesale.

The guns were coming up from the water's edge,
and mules and ponies struggled desperately in harness
made for full-sized horses, which slipped and twisted.
The wheels sank deep in the sucking mud. The un-
happy beasts, who could get no purchase on the loose
collars, that reached almost to their knees, floundered
under volleys of lashes and heaved the gun up the
bank, only to fall again.

I had been told at Podgoritza that I should be able
to obtain all necessary rations from the camps; but
I meant to have something better than hay and
blackberries, so, when Padre Lorenzo, the Franciscan
of the district, rode up on his ferocious bay stallion,
I accepted his invitation to go with him.

All day we rode round the district visiting the
dismayed peasantry. Akeady they w^ere vaguely
alarmed at the results of calling in Montenegrin help.
Prince Danilo had been distributmg a lot of Monte-
negrin caps, which they had taken as a joke at first.
Now they asked what it meant. They did not wish
to wear the badge of Montenegrin subjects. That
night I wrote in my diary: " The Montenegrin troops
are consuming all the hay, to be paid for at some
future date when the beasts are dead for want of it.
People all say they are sick of war — have had two
years of it now. Many have leapt from early middle

WAR 203

age to old age. They are all worn and haggard. The
land Ls all ploughed up by artillery and pack-horses.
God knows how it will all end."

A doleful day enough, and at night I unsaddled the
poor Houyhnhnni, to find that my hosts of last night
had put the saddle-bags on unskilfully, and that a
buckle had cut a deep hole on his quarter.

October 22. — The engineer never turned up, and
Padre Lorenzo had other work, so I decided to push
on alone, but (fur the sake of the Houyhnhnm's back,
w^hich I had touched up with an antiseptic) left the
saddle-bags behind, and with only the blanket and
the sardines followed some natives to Kopliku. The
Houyhnhnm, I may mention, healed up beautifully,
but my own back and all the rest of me suffered in
consequence, for Padre Lorenzo locked up his house
and followed on, and I remained baggageless for the
rest of the trip.

Kopliku was a seething mass of soldiers, artiller}^
and mud — worse, if possible, than Vii- Kastratit.
There were not nearly enough tents, and no one
seemed to know where anyone else was. I made for
the Maltsors, as most likely to help me, and found
Sokol Batzi and his son and all the Gruda men.
They told me to stick to them, and along with the
heads I crowded into a big Maltsor house. The host
was a Moslem cousin of Sokol's, an anti-Turk Moslem,
so his house had escaped burning. Rain fell in
torrents, and there was no cover for the huge
crowd.

Padre Lorenzo arrived, and Padre Marko of
Triepshi, and Doni Ernesto of Rioli. The guns of
Tarabosh boomed in the distance, and a still' fight

204 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

was reported to be taking place between the Dukagini
and the Moslems of Vorfaj.

General Lazavitch, commanding under the Genera-
lissimo, Prince Danilo, sent, so I learnt later, a letter,
which is still extant, to the Dukagin tribes, inviting
them to help take the Moslem villages, and promising
they should share the spoils equally with Montenegro.
The tribesmen, anxious to take what they considered
legitimate vengeance upon the Moslems, who, armed
and incited last year b}^ Bedri Pasha, had plundered
the Christian villages, came down.

The Montenegrins had, however, summoned them
as " cat's-paws," meaning to use them as fighting men,
and then throw all the blame on them. The Monte-
negrin soldiers, under the direction of their officers,
seized all loot worth having, loaded it upon the gangs
of women who had come for the purpose, and sent it
under escort to Podgoritza. The Maltsors came off
very much " second best."

Moreover, blood is thicker than water. The Malt-
sors had thought of the sort of intertribal plunder of
old days — a tit-for-tat affair. When they saw the
awful slaughter and havoc wrought by the Monte-
negrins, and the outrages committed on women and
children, they were filled with pity for theii' wretched
Moslem brethren, and sheltered and fed many of
them in the mountains throughout the winter. This
made the Montenegrins furious, and was quite unex-
pected by them. They had meant their victims to
starve. But of this more later.

October 23. — A dismal rainy morning. Our sopped
horses stood miserable in puddles. I went with Dom
Ernesto to the headquarters of the General Stafi'. It

WAR 205

was the house of the Bairaktar of Koplikii, and, ex-
cept the one in which I was quartered, was the only-
Moslem house left unburn t. It had been saved on
purj^ose to be used as headquarters, but had been
completely looted. Princes Mirko and Petar were
there, and Jovan Plamenatz, Minister of the Interior,
now acting as director of the " intendanz " (commis-
sariat). This, under his skilful management, had
broken down completely. He had only had boiled
maize to eat, and was very sorry for himself. I, who
had fared sumptuously with my tribesmen, merely
thought it funny,

I asked Plamenatz how I could best help with the
wounded, and found no arrangements of any kind
had been made. A Montenegrin doctor was there
with some cases of materials, of the contents of
which he professed ignorance. He did not expect
many wounded. Such as there were would have to
walk to him; he was not going to them. I urged the
necessity of dressing a wound at once to prevent
infection. " Oh, if they get pus," said he, " they
must die. I shall have no time to clean them."

The Princesses, too, were interested in w^ounded,
and so the field hospital must be in a quite safe place
away from the front. Plamenatz took no interest
whatever in wounded. Confident that Scutari would
fall hi a day or two, he discussed absurd plans for
taking Durazzo and Dibra.

I rode out with Dom Ernesto. No big attack was
as yet possible, as the big Montenegrin guns were not
up. Stniggling teams were heaving them panifully
tlu-ough mud a foot and more deep.

We met the enghieer, who had just arrived, and

206 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

had been told off to put up the military telegraph-
wire, which was to follow the troops, who were already
advancuig. Small fights were scattered about on the
plain below, and had no particular results. The guns
of Tarabosh boomed regularly. We watched the
sudden white fuffs of smoke rising alternately from
the Turkish and Montenegrin strongholds.

On the 24th Tarabosh silenced suddenly, and the
tale flew round that it had fallen ! " Martinovitch
will shift his big gmis from Rumia to Tarabosh, and
Scutari will surrender in a day or two." And they
added triumphantly: " We told you so !" The truth,
so I was told later, was that the King was so anxious
that Prmce Danilo should have the glory of taking
Scutari that he ordered Martmovitch not to be too
quick about taking Tarabosh.

Next morning came our marching orders to advance
at once. A sheep had been set roasting early, in
anticipation of a move. We wolfed a savage meal,
and started on a beast of a ride in a torrent of rain.
All along the route we met parties of Montenegrin
women loaded with loot, and some of them wreathed
with new telegraph-wire. As we passed, one made a
dash at the hedge, and began hauling down the
telegraph-line put up only yesterday by the engmeer.
" Oy, you !" I shouted; " you mustn't take that \"
" We shall take everything we find \" they screeched.
And down came that military line.

Just before reaching Gruemir we passed under the
noses of the two big guns brought up the day before.
The gunners, wild to open fire, yelled to us to hurry
on, but the Maltsors paid no heed, and we trailed by
in a long straggly line at our owm pace. Passing the

WAR 207

headquarters, I shouted to young Vrbitza, the Prince's
Aide: " Your women are destroying the telegraph."

" I know, I know," he returned, with gestures of
despair. " What can one do ? It is terrible !"

Two of the Franciscans had already found quarters
at Gruemir, and I, and Nikola Batzi, and the rest of
the priests all crowded in. Old Sokol and the food
never turned up. We shared the sardines brought
by Doni Ernesto and me, covered the earthen floor
thick with hay, and burrowed into it for the night.
Tack-tack-tack-tack rattled suddenly out of the dis-

CAMP COOKEEY.

tance. We leapt into our soaked coats and boots,
and rushed, stumbling over the rocks, up the little
hill hard by to get a view. A fight was going on, on
the plain below. The contiimous uncanny rattle of
the Turkish machine-guns came out of the darkness;
thunderous reports of the two big Montenegrin guns
shook the earth as the shells tore past us every few
minutes. The Turks had attempted a surprise near
V'raka. Down came the rain again in torrents. The
firing died away. We returned to our hut, and occa-
sional droppuig fire punctuated the ceaseless patter
of the rain. At 2 a.m. tiie big guns again shook the
hut. It occun-ed to iiic that milv a line of half-

208 THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

starved, sopped men were between me and a hideous
death, but it all seemed so unreal that I curled deep
into my blanket-sack and slept like a dog.

Saturday, October 26. — A grey chill dawn, all veiled
in rain. We lit a fire, and as there was nothing to
eat, Dom Ernesto generously served out a nip of his
private rum all round. I collected some maize-cobs,
roasted them in the ashes, and, gnawing them as I
walked, went to see the soldiers. The camp, like all
Montenegrin camps, was a filthy muck, with no
attempt at sanitation — not even a trench — and men
and women all crowded together in tiny tents. I
understood what Major Veshovitch had meant when
he said: " For us, war in the winter will be far better
than in summer." No army could have survived a
summer campaign in such camps of sewage and offal.

The army was busy looting huge stores of maize
left in the deserted Moslem houses, and anything else
handy, and loading it on the women. Everyone
seemed to think the Moslems had left for ever. They
had, in point of fact, fled into Scutari, leaving most
of their goods behind them, for they had not enough
ammunition to offer resistance. The Catholic house
where we were quartered bagged a hundred hens.

The sun came out with extraordinary brilliancy.
Scutari seemed but a stone's-throw distant. I could
see the well-known buildings and " chinaar i madh,"
the big plane-tree near old Marko's house. A cold
terror seized me lest a shell should destroy the little
house, and all the kindly innocent folk within it.
Here was the looting army, but all the plain was
a-tinkle with sheep-bells. It was like a mad dream.

Plamenatz arrived and announced a great Bulgar

WAR 209

victory. We had only beard for certain two days
before that the other Balkan States had begun. A
Balkan Alliance, we w^ere told, had been signed on
September 18 for three years.

A large number of Maltsors arrived from Maltsia e
raadhe, with their tribal priests and headmen, and a
big general attack was ordered for to-morrow. We
ate two of the looted hens to be ready for an early
start.

Sunday, October 27. — A crowded, suffocating night,
lulled by the monotonous, squelching tramp of the
troops that passed continuously. We were roused at
dawn, and ordered to follow the army at once, and
then not to, but to wait till the General Staff moved.
The big guns were on the move again, and the attack
postponed till they were in place. Our division then
consisted of fifteen battalions — that is, about 15,000
men — and the Maltsors as well ; and the j\Iontenegrins
reckoned to take Scutari by storm. We could see
black smoke and flames rise up ahead as the advancing
army burnt and plundered.

Monday, October 28. — A soldier, straight from Pod-
goritza, brought mc a week-old telegram from Lord
Lucas, much mangled in transmission. I made out
that he was ready to send a surgeon experienced in
field - work, and hurried to headquarters expecting
Plamenatz to be pleased. On the contrary, he was
vexed and upset. " We have no need of doctors,"
he said. I protested that there were a few wounded
coming in now every night, and that there would soon
be more, and that there was no one to attend to them
but the one doctor who remained behind at Kopliku.
Plamenatz replied that the slightly wounded could

210 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

walk there, and as for serious cases, he would arrange
later to take them by steamer to Rijeka, and thence
motor them in freight-waggons up to Cettigne. I
begged that he would at least let Dom Ernesto, who
is medically trained and very skilful with wounds,
have some material from the Kopliku store, as he
and I would then dress wounds on the spot. This,
too, he refused as unnecessary. I believe he thought
they would walk into Scutari without losing a man.
I pointed out that an answer must be sent to the
telegram, and he dictated a reply to me, which he
signed, and said it should at once go by military wire.
Needless to say, it never did.

Twenty-five Mirdites came in, saying Mirdita was
very poorly armed and short of ammunition, and
prayed Plamenatz for weapons for the tribe that they
might protect their own land. He replied that he
had none here. They must wait till we got into
Scutari in a few days, when there would be weapons
enough for all. The idea that the Serbs would come
over Mirdita, and the people be obliged for lack of
weapons to let them through, had possibly occurred
to him.

I left Plamenatz, and with some Maltsors and their
priests went up a little hill behind the headquarters.
The general attack was about to begin. Some be-
lated Montenegrin soldiers straggled past, like a pack
of wild creatures. " Those poor devils," said one of
the priests prophetically, " will never storm Scutari.
Remember, I have said it." The Montenegrin guns
opened fire on Golema. I knew it was bomb-proof.
Golema replied. Shot after shot was aimed at us, or
rather at the village just below. All fell short on a

WAR 211

bank about half a mile away. Some burst, and the
brown bracken flamed in patches; many fell without
exploding. Our guns appeared to be firing straighter,
but had no eftect whatever on the bomb-proof. Some
Montenegrins, of the staff, climbed up to us, and gazed
through glasses. They all had a childlike belief that
a place has to surrender at once, so soon as a big gun
is fired at it. I assured them you can go on firing
for months on end — for example, Ladysmith and
Mafeking — and that so long as there is food it does
not greatly matter.

Suddenly a Turkish shell fell just alongside a house
I had visited yesterday, and a burst of black smoke
followed. A man was killed. Till then, none of us
had realized we were being fired at. A second fell in
almost the same spot, and no other. They fired at
the former range. The Turkish firing on the Monte-
negrin battery at Vraka was, on the contrary, good,
and the latter was very hard pressed.

The bombardment of Scutari was to begin shortly.
The Catholic priests were anxious the Catholic quarter
should be spared. Dom Ernesto ran off to the gunners.
They replied they had no idea which part was Chris-
tian and which Moslem. It is an amazing fact that,
though for years Scutari had been a mere week-end
trip from Cettigne, and though for the past year any
Montenegrin officer dressed as a peasant could have
driven a flock of sheep to market there, and learnt
the lie of the land between the frontier and the town,
they were all as ignorant of the country as though it
were Central Africa. Absurd funk had made many
Montenegrins regard a trip to Scutari as highly dan-
gerous. At the beginning of the campaign they had

212 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

no maps, and as these were published at Vienna, had,
subsequently, much difficulty in obtaining any. I
refused more than once to part with mine.

Dom Ernesto indicated the quarters of the town,
and at 3 p.m. the first shots were fired, aimed, it was
said, at the new konak and old barracks in the middle
of the town. So far as I could see, all fell short out-
side the town, and the fire soon ceased. The military
band, meanwhile, practised industriously every even-
ing in preparation for the triumphal entry into
Scutari, and the white steed and the Alaj-bariak were
all ready.

Tuesday, October 29. — Great uncertainty as to move-
ments. Rifle-fire and shrapnel audible. Nikola Sokol
Batzi, who was acting as official Albanian interpreter,
told me he had to ride forward later with Plamenatz,
but would probably go too fast for me. I therefore
started alone on the Houyhnhnm, whom I had cher-
ished carefully, and with whom I was now on excel-
lent terms. It was quite a strange trail to me. I
reached the ruined church, a remnant of pre-Turkish
days, at Rashi, and drew rein. A multitude of troop-
ploughed tracks branched in all directions. The sun
glanced on the re-erected military wire, and, certain
this must be a short-cut to headquarters, I followed
it straight across country. Plamenatz and Nikola
never caught me up, although I waited a bit for them,
so, as the most important thing in war is to find
quarters before they are all taken, I pushed on to
Boksi. A Montenegrin officer overtook me, asking if
I knew Plamenatz's whereabouts. We cantered on
together, drawing nearer and nearer to the sound of
continuous rifle-fire. The Houyhnhnm, being a

WAR

213

military horse, did not mind a bit, nor yet for the
shells which began to hum on the right. Two
Albanian women driving a donkey with their house-
hold goods on it, met us in mid- track, and shouted:
" Go back ! There is a battle down there ! We
nearly drove the donkey into it I" As it was head-

RUIN'S OF CHURfH OF RASHI.

quarters, and not the grave, that we were in search
of, we slewed round. I hailed two Maltsors by a hut,
and they directed me to the quarters of the Gruda
tribe, and I left the officer to shift for himself.

Bv now I had learnt that, in spite of all I had done
for the Montenegrins in past years, they could in no
way be reliedCon for any help, and that the poor

214 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

tribesmen whom I had aided in their last year's
trouble were my best friends. Gruda was quartered
in the big house of a rich Moslem. Tring Smailia of
Gruda, an Albanian virgin, a sturdy, thick- set woman
who does not know what fear is, had looted at Dechich
a long, low, grey pony, built like a badger, loaded it
high with coffee, bread, and salt, and come out to
cook for Gruda. She hailed me with joy, led me to
a room full of hay, weapons, and old mutton-bones,
and gave me a handful of figs and a lump of hot duck,
which she fished out of a petroleum-can on the fire —
the first meal I had that day. I went out, and up a
hill to get a view. A frightful firing was going on.
Some Montenegrins asked me what had become of
Plamenatz. There was much confusion.

A rumour spread that the Montenegrin troops were
too few, and that it was going hard with them. But
I was very tired, so lay down in some hay and tried
to sleep. But the next house caught fire; a Maltsor
had let a cigarette fall on the hay-covered floor.
There was the hell of a row, and a sauve qui pent.
The scattered cartridges left behind went off in a
great fusillade. Sleep was impossible, so I took the
Houyhnhnm for a walk to graze. Heavy firing con-
tinued. Shells began to fall beyond our house, but
at a safe distance. I returned to it. As there was
no other food, seven sheep were slaughtered and set
a-roasting for the return of the tribe at night. All
the outer wooden staircase and the balcony streamed
with their blood, and the yard was strewn with
paunches and entrails.

At 5.30 the tribe came home, weary but jubilant,
the bairaktar, carrying the tribal colours, singing and

WAR 215

yelling. They had had a hard fight. Only one
Griida man was killed. They had killed a lot of
Turks and taken their Mausers. " As for the Monte-
negrins ? Oh yes, a lot of them are dead; but look
at the rifles and cartridge belts we've captured !"
They flung themselves down in the hay like couchant
wolves.

Old Sokol Batzi and Nikola turned up. The latter
and Plamenatz had lost their way altogether. The
idea of following the military wire had not occurred
to the brilliant brain of the Minister of the Interior,
and he had wandered right down to Ura Mesit (the
bridge), and been turned back by the troops.

The room at night was an indescribable scene of
hot food and filth. The hungry men, their feet and
trousers all bloody from the field and the sheep's
blood on the stairs, tore the lumps of hot meat as
fast as Tring cast it before us, but with fine courtesy
chucked all that they considered tit-bits — the lumps
of hot fat and the kidneys — at me. The floor was
thick with bones, bits, and muck; the house — a fine
one, as peasant houses go — was befouled and \\Tecked.
Two gaudy hanging-lamps, of Austrian manufacture,
and a woman's folding looking-glass, which in such a
place must have been a dear treasure, were piteous
relics of former splendour. Nikola, disgusted, said to
me: " We are supposed to be liberating Albania, and
we are living like wild beasts and brigands ! It is
sickening !"' The red light of the still blazing house
shone in on us. The Maltsors gorged the fat mutton.
Triumphant savagery and childish joy mingled with
blood and filth.

A Montenegrin brought in w()rd that Golema was

216 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

not taken; that ten battalions had been engaged, and
had lost heavily. There was no aid at all for the
wounded. A hundred came in. Dom Ernesto, always
provident, had brought a little " first-aid " material,
but used it all on the first ten. A tribesman was shot
through the abdomen, and died. It was impossible
without material to help any of them.

Wednesday, October 30. — At 7 a.m. a hot fire started ;
a big battle was raging about an hour away. The
Montenegrins were, in fact, trying to take the hill of
Bardhanjolt, which was not yet fortified in any way.
I decided to get as near as I could, but was told I
must go on foot, as on the Houyhnhnm my head
would be visible above the hedges and draw fire. I
met some soldiers bringing in two prisoners, who
reported that yesterday had cost dear. Later I
learnt that, out of two battalions, one had had to be
made. I went on alone, and came out on the banks
of the Kiri River, and saw with a sudden pang the
big stone bridge, Ura Mesit, which I had known in
so many happy moments. The shells were humming
by, and a piece of the parapet had been carried away.
Again it all seemed like a bad dream.' I crossed the
bridge carefully and slowly, for it was steep and
slippery, and was scarcely over when a shell whizzed
behind me, just cleared the bridge, and fell into the
water with a mighty splash.

I turned to the track, which was under cover of
rocks, and two more shells passed over me, one falling
just beyond the bridge. A lot of Maltsors, mostly
women, came hurrying along loaded up with tobacco
and household gear, and prayed me to turn back.
An under-officer came up and asked me if I " had

WAR 217

seen Brigadier Bechir, and where was Prince Mirko,"
but I could not help him. More and more shells
screamed over or near us. Retreating people told
me to go back. Three retreating ^lontenegrin soldiers
said advance that way was impossible, as the Turks
were shelling the turn of the path heavily. No one
could get round. They, too, wanted to know the
w^hereabouts of the Brigadier. Things were going
badly, and he was not to be found. As there was no
object in being shot at this stage of the war I, too,
turned back, and on reaching the bridge saw that
the Turks must be trying to destroy it, as the shells
came pretty quick, but all too high. They were
striking and exploding on the hillside just above.

I waited in cover till just as a shell had fallen, and
then again crossed the bridge with great deliberation,
lest I should slip and fall, and got across before the
next shot came. My ruling idea, now I was near
water, was to wash, for I had not even washed my
hands and face for some days, except in a little
scooped-up rain-water; so I crawled dow^n to the
brink, using the big stone buttress of the bridge as
cover, and was getting my head and face and neck
washed, when another shell came, and some soldiers
yelled to me to come up. They were behind a rock
at the top with a long deal box. When I had washed
as much as I could in the presence of soldiers, I climbed
up to them. They had Prince Mirko's large telescope
in the box, asked me where he was, and where was
Bechir, and were obviously reluctant to cross the
bridge. Judging by the hot and hotter fire that was
going on, I felt quite certain that Master Mirko would
not be found out there, and advised them not to go —

218 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

and risk the telescope. Of Bechir's whereabouts I
knew nothing.

They seemed greatly relieved, and, being safe under
cover, detailed yesterday's events. The Nikshitch
battalion had been very badly cut up. The Captain
ignorant] y mistook a lot of Scutarene Mohammedans
for Maltsori, and went straight into their hands, and,
as ignorance is the costliest thing in the world, paid
for it with his life. The Moslems hacked him to pieces,
and the Montenegrins retorted by mutilating, and
sixteen noses and some other bits were taken that
night to the Commandant. I said good-bye to these
amiable youths and went back to my quarters, which,
with much sheep-slaying, were a hell of blood and
muck.

For the past few days the Maltsors had been grum-
bling and growing bitter. They had invited the aid
of the Montenegrins, and were rapidly discovering
that Montenegro considered them as conquered rather
than as allies. They had expected the Albanian flag
to be hoisted at Tuzi, and declared they had not shed
their blood so many times on Dechich in order to give
it to Montenegro. Also, that the Montenegrins com-
mandeered and looted everything, and did not give
them the promised bread rations nor shoes, and so
forth. There was much friction. That afternoon a
large number of Maltsors left, taking with them such
tobacco, wool, and hides as they had looted, and also
the two lamps from the house and the looking-glass.
To my remonstrances they replied that if they did
not take them the Montenegrins would, which was
true.

At about four the firing, which had never quite

WAR 219

ceased, became very violent — a death-rattle of
machine-guns and rifles. I climbed a little hill with
Padre Sebastian, and the firing grew nearer and
nearer. The Padre remarked grimly that both he
and I would have short shrift if the Turks rushed the
village. A number of Maltsors joined us, who, dis-
contented, had not gone to battle. From higher up
we could see the shells falling thick up the valley
just beyond the bridge. As Sebastian remarked,
" They might come our way any minute," and we
were within range. But they appeared to be aimed
at the bridge, though they never hit it. It was a
small object, and invisible from the position of the
gunners.

As it grew dark the firing died down. Dom
Ernesto came, in great distress. The wounded were
coming in, and he had never a rag nor bandage left.
Had begged Plamenatz, who replied he had no time
to bother about such things. Ernesto begged me to
ride back next morning and look for the Red Cross,
and bring as much a^ I could persuade them to
give.

The sun-set blazed orange, and all the foreground
was aglow with ruddy fires, at which roasted seven
sheep spitted lengthwise. The smoke rose blue, and
the smell of roast mutton mingled with the sickly
stench of sour cud from the sheep's paunches on the
ground.

I took the Houyhnhnm to water at a muddy
pond, and led him along the lane to graze, and when
I tied him up in the dark stable for the night buried
my face on his warm, clean-smelling neck, and felt he
was the one civilized being among all the lot of us.

220 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Should I saddle him ? If the Turks but knew the
confusion of the Montenegrin camp, they could rush
the place at night and wipe all out who were unable
to fly. The other horses were all unsaddled. I
decided the English one could not be the only one
to look afraid, and climbed up to the room above.
Tring had found two cabbages — an amazing relief.
Our sole diet — the greasy, roasted carcasses, with
their blood wet on our boots — was hard to tackle.

Gjelosh Djoko, lean and haggard, but fit, turned
up and reported that Italy had made peace with
Turkey, to the disgust of our whole company. Yanko
was said to have taken Ipek; Dom Ernesto said that
the Montenegrins had lost heavily to-day ; and some-
one from the battlefield had seen the naked corpse of
a Moslem, bound hand and foot with cords, and with
every appearance of having been tortured to death.
AVe finished the meal. I, dog-tired, lay down to sleep
with my saddle under my head ; but in came a lot of
Skreli men, who started howling a long war-song
about the fights with Tourgoud last year. Our men
joined in. The room was packed to suffocation with
a yelling mob. Tired out, the whole crew at last lay
down to sleep, and I was sleeping heavily when
Nikola Batzi suddenly seized my shoulder, shook me,
and cried in my ear: " Get ready. The Turks are on
us. The orders are to leave at once." I sat up. A
Montenegrin was shouting something in the doorway.
Everyone was on his feet. The one and only idea
that occurred to me was that it meant flight over
rocks, and I must lace my boots tight. And I did so
very carefully, rolled the sleeping sack, picked up my
saddle and bridle, and descended in a crowd to the

WAR 221

pitch-dark stable underneath, dropping my i^addlc-
cloth on the way.

Groping with outstretched hand, I felt the
Houyhnhnm's hind - quarters, followed along the
halter, untied it, took it in my teeth, and was leading
him out, when in came Padre Buonaventura and
struck two matches, and set all the stableful plunging.
My beast, however, followed quietly, and stood while
I saddled him in the light of the full moon. The
Maltsors, with the skill of long practice, had all their
beasts loaded up in no time, forgetting nothing, not
even the remains of the mutton, and in very few
minutes from the first alarm we were started. Old
Sokol on his bay horse led, and we rode over the
rocks to the houses on top of the little hill — the Stafi
Headquarters. Here was a nice confusion: men
running here, there, and everywhere, asking for their
battalions, their officers, for the Brigadier and God
knows what, and, as it was one in the morning and
bitterly cold, lighting a huge fire — a most idiotic pro-
ceeding unless they wished to show the enemy exactly
where we were.

Down below all the houses we had left were ablaze ;
the Maltsors and the Montenegrins had fired them
before leaving. The chill mist of the night glowed
scarlet under the cold green moonlight, and all the
distance was a dark, mysterious purple-black, a-rattle
with rifle-fire. It was incomparably magnificent.

I saw the long line of ammunition horses eating
hay, so slipped oft' and began feeding the
Houyhnhnm, as, if it came to a sauve qui pent, I
had only him to rely on, and there was no knowing
when he would get his next meal.

222 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

We were to wait for orders — that is, we had to wait

till Plamenatz and Prince Mirko and staff were safely

off, and then cover their retreat. I saw them sneak

by, a little party of men all mounted, and at 1.30

we mounted and followed. I stuck close to old Sokol.

No one was sure of the way, for it was decided to go

straight over the mountains, lest, by the trail on the

plains, we should be rounded up by the enemy. My

little horse clambered gallantly over rocks I should

not have dared ride by daylight. I kept thinking,

" This is ridiculously like a Book for Boys," and

began to sing. We were a long, long trail of soldiers

(a mixed assortment, it seemed, from a variety of

battalions) and Maltsors. Once we plunged into

thick mist in a valley full of camp-fires, and seemed

to be descending into hell. And soldiers joined us

out of the fog. At five we reached a half-burnt house,

and my party of Gruda men called a halt. One came

up and restored my lost saddle-cloth. I covered my

good little beast and picketed him behind a wall, and

when I got in found that all the others were crowded

round a fire, and there was no room for me. At

seven the chill dawn broke. The peaks of the high

mountains showed above a sea of white mist, with

black smoke of the burnt houses hanging over it in

sluggish lumps. We descended a very steep gully

on foot, dragging our horses. I tumbled underneath

mine, and a Maltsor kindly took him in tow. So w^e,

in time, arrived back again at Gruemir, found an

empty house, and I crowded into it with a lot of the

Gruda. The indefatigable Tring unslung the old

petroleum can from her badger-shaped horse, and set

to work to boil the half-sheep that had been brought

WAR 223

along. I rubbed down the Houyhnhnm with a hand-
ful of hay, gave him a heap from a handy haystack,
and then laid flat on the ground to rake maize out of
an already looted maize-store both for him and for
myself. I did not think ever to sink so low as to
steal hay and corn, and made a vow, and kept it, to
go back after the war and pay the owners. The
Maltsors were very kind, and took my horse and
stabled him.

Had the Turks followed us up last night, they could
have finished us and gone through to Podgoritza,
probably. They did not, and so gave the Monte-
negrins time to replace the battalions which had
retired, by some of better stuff. There was sharp
fighting all day, and heavy firing on Tarabosh. It
was touch and go whether we should again retire.
I went out alone to see if I could get any news, and
was sprung on by two Montenegrin soldiers, who said
they were the guard, and had orders to arrest all
strangers. But three or four Maltsors came leaping
over the bushes, shouting, " She is ours; she is the
Englishwoman of the Kochaks (insurgents) "'; and
the guards, recognizing me by that title, laughed,
** All right,'' and told gaily that they shot all they
arrested — had shot a Scutarene the other day. He
had asked to see Sokol Batzi, and said he had a
message for him. " But we had no time, so we shot
him." " Perhaps he knew Sokol ?'' said I. " Ne
mari " (No matter), said they. And, as T learnt later,
all they did not shoot they imprisoned at Podgoritza,
sometimes heavily ironed, without any trial.

I wandered round talking to stray soldiers. Many
were barefoot; all complained of the " inteudanz."

224 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

They were furious with Bechir, too — blamed him for
the heavy losses of the two previous days; he knew
nothing. They swore he would be degraded in rank
as punishment. " We expected to go straight to
Scutari." Were amazed and dismayed to find the
plain fortified. I said I knew it was. " Our officers
know nothing," they said; "it is no use attacking
Scutari with them. We must wait till the Serb
officers come." Thus the men. And but a few wrecks
ago these officers had described the Serbs to me as
'* swineherds." The men seemed so demoralized I
could not believe they would ever storm Scutari;
and I did not then imagine the Serbs would come, as
I believed their objective was the ^Egean. If Scutari
could stand bombarding, all would depend on her
food-supply to hold out till peace were made.

Fighting was audible all day. By night came news
that the Turkish advance was checked; also that a
steamer had arrived on the lake with a bread ration
for the army. Tring's badger-horse was sent to fetch
some for us. The soldiers that marched by that night
looked comic, each with a loaf impaled on his bayonet.

We all discussed the situation. -One thing I was
resolved upon, and that was to go back to Padre
Lorenzo's and get my saddle-bags. They had been
locked up there while he was out with us, and I had
not had my clothes off nor seen a hair-brush for over
a fortnight.

The next question was whether there would be
anything more of interest to see. It was abundantly
clear that the Montenegrins could not get anywhere
near Scutari till they had strong reinforcements — if
then. The Maltsors were all sore and sick at the way

WAR 225

they were being treated, and already asking what
was to be the end. *' It won't be the Turk any more ;
that is certain,'' said a Franciscan to me. " But
what the tribes have fought for is freedom."

The tribes were in favour of returning to their
homes, and did so in detachments; and on Novem-
ber 2, with some of them, I rode back to the church
house at Baitza.

Turning a corner, we heard ear-piercing screeches,
as though all the cats of a town were making a night
of it. Five Montenegrin women were trying by force
to steal a horse from three Catholic Kastrati women.
The Montenegrins had him by the tail, and clasped
his hind-legs, and vainly strove to drag them back.
The little beast, with straddled feet firmly planted,
resisted stubbornly. The Albanian women held him
by mane and neck, remonstrating at the tops of their
voices. Up came an Albanian man, who laid his
hand on the horse's head; and the animal, recognizing
his master, followed so promptly that the Monte-
negrin women had no time to resist. They were left
lamenting, or rather cursing, loudly, while I and my
men, roaring with laughter, followed the horse and his
rightful owners. These explained that, though they
had acted as allies of the Montenegrins, nothing was
safe from these harpy women. One Catholic woman,
sister of a man I knew well, told that, when in her
hou.se alone, a party of Montenegrin women rushed
in on her. Three hold her down and by the throat,
while the others plundered her clothes-chest of every-
thing.

Thev were ready to tramp any distance for loot.
As a Bosnian volunteer said to me later: '" A Mnnte-

226 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

negrin woman will march 100 kilos to steal one shirt."
They went out with little bundles, ostensibly to carry
food to the soldiers, and returned with at least double
the amount of plunder, no matter how valueless. A
girl, come all the way from Nikshitch, was tramping
back with a bundle of tobacco, a huge iron chain,
three pots, and a coffee-mill.

Nor was all looting effected without bloodshed. A
man who was with the Montenegrins told me vividly
later how he had seen them enter a small Moslem
house not far from Tuzi. An old man was crouched
by the fire, with several women. None showed any
fear, for they were all harmless non-combatants. A
soldier with one blow cut off the old man's head.
They all fell on the screaming women and tore their
ornaments from them. One had a necklace which
the robbers thought was gold ; they tried to snatch it
from the man who had taken it, fought each other,
and finally broke the poor little ornament to pieces,
each man grabbing what he could, while the old man's
spouting blood hissed in the fire. Such are the
glories of war.

I rode on to the Franciscan's, revelled in a change
of clothes, and discussed the chances of war with him
all the evening. We decided that so long as food held
out there was no likelihood that Scutari would sur-
render. Unless strong reinforcements came, no im-
mediate developments were to be expected. It was
better, therefore, for me to return to Podgoritza, and
learn what the other Balkan States were doing.

CHAPTER XIII

THE GLORIES OF WAR

The ^laltsors next morning escorted me over the
Chafa Kishat and then the Houyhnhnm and I pushed
on to Podgoritza, after a determined effort on his
part to go either to his old home, the hospital at Tuzi,
or to the burnt Turkish kula on the frontier. It was
the evening of November 3 when we plodded wearily
into the town. Four, or at most six weeks, it had
been anticipated would see the end of the war and
Montenegro victorious. Almost a month had now
passed and the end seemed no nearer. Podgoritza
no longer talked of showing Servia and the world in
general how a war should be conducted.

Yanko Vukotitch had taken Bijelopoljeon October 12
and Berani on the 16th, and Vesho\dtch had taken
Plava and Gusinje. He had carried out his plan,
had blown up the Turkish border kula, and at once
fallen unexpectedly on the frontier Moslem villages.
The two small towns, having no military organization
and very little ammunition, surrendered almost at
once, though they were almost solid Moslem as to
population. (Plava contained but fifteen Christian
houses and Gusinje forty.) It was a case of armed
peasants each trying to defend his own, and against
regulars these have rarely a chance.

227

228 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

But the scheme of the three divisions of the Monte-
negrin army meeting at Prizren had already passed
into the Never-never Land, along with King Nikola's
dream of sitting there upon the throne of Stefan Du-
shan ; for the Serbs, to the surprise of Montenegro and
of larger and wiser lands too, arrived at Prizren first,
and took it. Meanwhile, the armies of Prince Danilo
and Mitar Martinovitch had done practically nothing
towards taking Scutari; they had shown only that
they could not rush it. If it were to be stormed, it
should have been done at once, without giving the
town time to fortify itself yet more strongly. It was
not yet — for lack of troops — effectually besieged.
The route to Medua was still open.

The knowledge of the Montenegrin officers was so
wanting that, though, just after I left, they succeeded
not only in regaining the ground they had lost, but
actually in occupying Bardhanjolt Hill, they failed
to recognize that it w^as one of the keys of Scutari.
When the heavy autumn rains set in a few days later,
they retired from it to seek a more sheltered spot.
Hussein Riza promptly reoccupied it, and swiftly
and skilfully made it a stronghold which played an
important part in the saving of Scutari; but this is
anticipating.

About Martinovitch's army, all that the Montene-
grins could tell me was that it had burnt a number
of Albanian villages across the frontier, but had had
no effect on Tarabosh as yet.

The King, afraid of the heavy resultant death-rolls,
gave orders that no more attempts at storming were
to be made till the arrival of reinforcements. Rain
fell in torrents, and the army of Prince Danilo settled

WAR 229

down to entrench itself in mud and water. Con-
stantinople, it was said, was about to fall, and we
were told that Prince Danilo was preparing to start
in order to take part in the triumphal entry which all
the Crown Princes of the Balkans were to make to-
gether. It was anticipated that Europe would order
peace so soon as Constantinople fell, and the allies
would then share the peninsula between them. Several
people expressed to me the belief that there would be
little more fighting.

So much for the political situation. In Podgoritza
the notable facts were, that the Italian and Austrian
military Red Crosses had arrived and installed them-
selves. The Italians had transformed the Italian
Monopol tobacco factory into an excellent hospital,
bringing not only bedsteads, bedding, and clothing,
but all necessaries for an operating-room and also
X-ray apparatus, kitchen necessaries, and a large
store of wine and provisions. As most of the stafi
had been in Tripoli or seen service in one of the many
earthquake catastrophes in Italy, they were thoroughly
practical, and I cannot speak too highly of their
efficiency, courtesy, and kindness. I was indebted
also for much help and kindness to the Austrian Red
Cross, but this was withdrawn shortly, for Austria
mobilized.

The most startling change in the town was that
D , the recently appointed Governor of Podgo-
ritza, had been arrested and marched off in irons, and
that Stanko Markovitch, of sinister fame, was once
again head of affairs. Some said he had intrigued

for D 's overthrow, with what truth I do not

know.

230 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

A change for the better was that Zhivkovitch, the
Eeuter agent, had left Podgoritza, so that it was
now possible to get off telegrams in time. I found
that my Ti7nes telegram of the taking of Tuzi had
been held back twenty-four hours while he was censor.

Finding, from a few copies that had turned up,
that the Daily Chronicle was a very different class of
paper from what I had imagined, I threw it over,
but continued to work for the Nation, Manchester
Guardian, and, occasionally. The Times.

With a view partly to getting details of how things
were going, T went to work for a time in the Montene-
grin hospital. The wounded, except those who had
the luck to fall into Austrian or Italian hands, were
crowded into three of the four barracks that formed
the Voyni Stan. The fifth block, which in peace-time
was the Commander's headquarters, served as depot
for the Montenegrin Eed Cross, and contained the
stores, kitchen, and operating - room. Incredible
though it may sound, these barracks, built but a few
years ago to contain 600 men or more at a pinch,
have no kind of latrine accommodation and no
washing arrangements of any sort.

A Montenegrin doctor was in charge, and extremely
jealous of all foreign aid (especially attempts at cleanli-
ness), but was forced to accept it, as Montenegro
possessed only two good surgeons, neither of whom
was at Podgoritza, and scarcely any properly trained
assistants. The Montenegrin ladies were all of too
high degree to do such dirty work. Briefly, the place
was a filthy hell. The floors were covered with
spittle and old mutton-bones. A squawking crowd
of dirty girls and women — the dregs of Podgoritza —

WAR 231

with red crosses on tlieir amis, flocked to steal anything
stealable. With prurient giggles they pushed and
shoved to get a glimpse of any wound they considered
exciting, and made dressing difficult.

When meal-times came, they stole the patients'
food. The soup came up mere cold water, and the
meat mostly bones. The patients flung the contents
of their ration cans on the floor, and yelled that as
the King had commandeered their sheep, they had
the right to decent food.

The patients' relatives came to share their meals,
insisted on passing the night in the hospital, and slept
in numbers between the beds. Referring to the
moral atmosphere, Ognjenovitch, the head of the
Montenegrin Red Cross, suggested playfully it should
be called the " Red Lamp." Nor would I myself
wear the badge.

The air, owing to this unnecessary crowd, was foul
and made yet fouler by the fact that the men, wounded
three weeks ago, were still in their bloody uniforms,
and in some cases had not had a change of sliirt.
Many had crooked limbs, as their unset bones had
united of themselves, and not one wound that I
saw had been properly cleaned at the beginning; but
into surgical details it is not my intention to enter.

Heavy rains fell. The Rivers Kiri, Drin, and Bo-
jana flooded wide, and the Montenegrin army could
neither unite around Scutari nor approach near to it.
Martinovitch's army, in spite of an Austrian protest
that Medua must belong to a free Albania, occupied
such as there is of it on November 17, and prepared
to march on Alessio, and, to the intense surprise of
many of us, the Serbs arrived over Miidita. They

232 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

attacked Alessio from one side, while Montenegio
attacked from the other. It surrendered, and was
considered by the Serbs their property. They had
marked out Medua as theirs also, to Montenegro's
extreme wrath, and there was much friction on the
subject.

The Serbs had come down from Djakova, which
the combined Serb and Montenegrin armies had
taken. Except at Flet, where the Moslem peasants
resisted them three days in a narrow defile, they
passed through without difficulty, as the Mirdites
were so short of ammunition their Abbot persuaded
them that to fight would be only to court massacre.
I have never understood why the fact that the Servian
army traversed the mountains was written up as a
marvellous exploit. By one route it is three and a
half days' march, if you do it slowly, as I did, and by
the other about four. A comical episode was that
though the Servian and Montenegrin officers met
after dark, a certain newspaper published a photo-
graph of their meeting. They were, in fact, induced
to meet again next day for the purpose. Such is
journalism.

That the Serbs would come Adriatic-wards had
never entered my head, nor had I ever heard it sug-
gested, and I was distressed and dismayed. Their
demand for Durazzo as a port was, and is, outrageous.
There were no " brother-Serbs to be liberated " there,
and by taking the Sanjak and uniting the Serbo-
Montenegrin frontiers, they had obtained access to
Antivari and Dulcigno, both far better ports than
Durazzo.

It was rumoured on the 19th that the King was in

WAR 233

Rijeka offering terms of surrender to some envoys
from Scutari, so I mounted the Houyhnhnm, who
was eating his head off, and we set out to get news.
Halfway I met the royal motor-car and reined him
up by the bank lest he, quite unused to such things,
should take fright. Being broken to artillery, he,
however, showed no interest in it at all. In him, on
the contrary, their Royal Highnesses were extremely
interested. The car stopped, and out they all jumped
— the Crown Princess, Princess Joseph Battenburg,
Princess Vera. " This," cried one of the Royal ladies,
" is your celebrated horse ! We have heard all about
it !" " Very good horse, your Royal Highness,"
said I. " I bought him in Tuzi." " What!" cried
she, "you bought it?" ''Twelve pound Turk,
Madam." " Oh !" she cried, deeply disappointed,
" we thought you took it. That you went straight to
Tuzi and took a horse from the Turks." " I took
nothing at Tuzi, your Royal Highness," said I. I
might have added, " I was the only one that did."
But Royal personages are unaccustomed to the chill
truth.

Scutari would not listen to terms of surrender, and
the Voyni Stan hospitals were all cleared out hurriedly
next day. Yanko Vukotitch had arrived with 10,000
men of his army. With these reinforcements it was
proposed to storm Scutari, and a rush of wounded
might result.

The Montenegrins were furious at the failure of
pourparlers. As I wrote at the time: " Their hatred
and ferocity are appalling. They do not even care if
the Moslem children are starved; they declare they
are going to stamp out the whole Moslem population.

234 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

The Maltsori are angry at the Montenegrin attitude,
and I foresee great complications in the future."

The Albanians at Avlona, under the guidance of
Ismail Kemal, hoisted the Albanian flag on Novem-
ber 28, and declared their neutrality and independence.
This made the Montenegrins angrier than ever. The
affair of the Austrian Consul, Prochashka, also com-
plicated matters. The Servian commander at Prizren
had prevented him from communicating with his
Government, and all sorts of tales were rife, but we
had as yet no authentic particulars. The Montene-
grins expressed a hope that his nose had been cut off,
so that he could never show himself in Vienna again,
and some actually believed this had been done.

The Serbs offered to help Montenegro take Scutari,
and their offer was refused, it is said, rudely. They
were, however, allowed to help blockade the town, for
the Montenegrins had not enough men to surround it
efficiently.

Meanwhile, sick men came pouring in from Yanko

Vukotitch's army. Dr. K , a young Bosnian

doctor, well trained in Vienna, asked me to help him,
for most of the foreign Red CrossBs had come only
for the fun of gunshot wounds, and no preparation
of any kind had been made for the sick. Yanko's
campaign had, indeed, not been much more than a
walk-over if the report of Dr. Ilitchkovitch, the mili-
tary surgeon, were true, that they had only lost 300
killed. But now they were falling out in numbers
with enteric, dysentery, neuralgic and rheumatic pains,
and acute diarrhoea, caused by exposure and bad food.

When K and I went to their rescue, we found

that the Montenegrin doctor had pitched the lot

WAR 235

together in one filthy building, crowded together on
the floor on mattresses that oozed dirty rags. A
delirious case of smallpox howled in the midst. All
had been classed as dysentery, and were receiving no
nourishment but weak, milkless tea and opium.

K took over the fourth house of the Voyni

Stan for the sick, and he and his wife and two Catholic
Sisters and I strove to reduce it to some kind of de-
cency and order. Some of the men stank so that the
Montenegrin women, who were supposed to be look-
ing after them, would not go near them, and they
were in the last stages of misery and exhaustion.
All swarmed with lice, and the beds with bugs. The
Red Cross kitchen supplied no invalid diet. Milk
was all adulterated with dirty water.

K got Turkish prisoners to do the cleaning.

They slept in the attic, and were thankful to be under
cover. I did anything that needed doing, including
clipping lousy heads and washing lousy bodies with
petroleum out of the lamps, for lack of any other
remedy. Most of the men swarmed with them.
Dressing bed.sores, too, for some of the men had laid
on the bare earth a couple of weeks before being
brought to us, and were ulcerated not only on their
backs, but in some cases had been turned over after-
wards on their faces and had sores on thighs and ab-
domen as well. I cooked whatever invalid diet I
could invent, with milk and eggs which I bought
daily in the bazar, and Quaker oats and meat ex-
tract, which the Austrian Red Cross gave me. All
the cooking had to be done on my own two spirit
lamps, and a.s the town ran out of methylated spirit.
1 burnt the camphor spirit which was served out for

236 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

massage, and rubbed tbe rbeumatic men with oil of
mustard instead. They were mostly stone-cold up
to the knee through wading in snow.

We held about 140 patients, and as fast as any
were fit they were replaced by others. Incidentally
I learnt a lot about the war, for I had a great number
of men through my hands. They all gloried in their
bestiality, and related in detail their nose-cutting
exploits, imitated the impaling of a Turk upon a
bayonet, and the slicing off of his nose and upper lip,
and the shouted advice to the still living man: " Go
home and show your wives how pretty you are !"
All, with very few exceptions, had taken noses. An
old man of seventy had only taken two, but excused
himself on the grounds of having fallen ill at the
beginning. His son, with the Podgoritza army, had,
he said, done very well though, and so would he,
God willing, so soon as he was well.

They told, too, of how they had bayoneted the
wounded, " our remedy to cure Turks," and of how
they carried all the human fragments they had sliced
ofi to their Commandant. And they spoke foully of
Turkish women.

All the men who were not too ill to be past caring
had but one idea — to be well in time for the looting
and slaying in Scutari. A young Bosnian, down with
enteric, who had come as a volunteer to help " his
brother-Slavs," told, with disgust, of the looting of
Djakova, and particularized the hideous rapacity of
the Montenegrin women.

Dr. K , also an enthusiastic Slav, who had come

to help at his own expense, was sickened. A Eussian
surgeon, the only foreign doctor who had been allowed

WAR 237

in the Kosovo district, came to work with us for a
few days, and corroborated the men's statement that
they had scarcely left a nose on a corpse between
Berani and Ipek.

Some warm partisans of Montenegro have declared
that they do not see anything very horrible in the
mutilation of dead bodies, and if the dead alone had
been mutilated, we might dismiss it as the dirty trick
of a barbarous people; but the men's own account
was that they mutilated the wounded before giving
them a final bayonet prod. After the war I had this
corroborated by a young Moslem from Plava, who
came down to Scutari to beg surgical help. He told
that he and some dozen comrades were all shot down
in fair fight. As they lay bleeding on the field the
Montenegrins came round and bayoneted the lot,
who all succumbed but himself. He fainted. Later
he came to, tried to rise, and by so doing, poor wretch,
drew the attention of a Montenegrin officer and some
men. They fell on him, wounded and helpless,
hacked off his nose and upper lip, threw him down,
and gave him another bayonet stab, and left him.
Such is the superb vitality of these people, that in
the night he revived and managed to crawl to shelter
and friends, and recovered. Two surgeons examined
him in my presence at Scutari. The scars and the
bayonet stabs attested the truth of his story.

Great force had been used when mutilating. The
nasal bone was hacked right through between the
eyes, and the whole of the upper lip sliced away to
the corners of the mouth. The cheeks had retracted,
and a hideous hole, with points of bone sticking up
in it, yawned in his face. His exposed teeth and

238 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

gums grinned horribly, and for want of an upper lip
he articulated with difficulty.

Few, it is scarcely necessary to say, survived such
treatment. " Lady," I was told, " there were very
many — but the earth covers them."

To return to the hospital. The two Catholic

Sisters went out on strike and Mrs. K knocked up,

and I had all three women's work as well as my own
to do for four days, and we had about 140 patients.

Having promised to help K , I could not leave him

in the lurch, but I had it more and more upon my
conscience that by curing men to go back to the front
I was not only prolonging the war, but aiding and
abetting every kind of atrocity, and that I ought to
cease to do so.

At dinner at the hotel I, with the exception of a
Eussian Sister at the other end of the table, was the
only woman among a pack of officers, officials, and
Montenegrin doctors, and these discussed and joked
over the hideous doings. I had hoped and believed
that the Servian army was more civilized. A report
had come to me that an Albanian passing through
Podgoritza had declared that, in Kosovo vilayet the
ground in many places was simply strewn with the
bodies of women and children, that he had seen a
living foot protruding from the ground and waving
feebly, but had not dared to stop, as a Servian officer
was wdth him. As I was worked almost beyond my
strength I did not, I regret now, see this witness and
examine him, nor, in fact, attach much belief to the
report till a Servian officer turned up at the dinner-
table, and related, with glee, the valorous deeds of
the Serbs. " We have," he boasted, " annihilated

WAR 239

the Ljuma tribe." He described wholesale slaughter
of men, women, and children, and the burning of the
villages. The Montenegrins chuckled as they gobbled
their dinners. '' Why did you do this ?" I asked at
last. " When I was there the people received me very
well."

There was a shout of laughter. '' Go there now
and look for your dear friends. You won't find a
single one. They shot one of our telegraphists and
we sent enough battalions to destroy them." The
Moslem problem was to be " simplified." " When
the land is once ours," I was repeatedly assured,
" there will be no Moslem problem."

Of the Ljuma tribe very few survived. The de-
struction of the whole Albanian race was the avowed
intention of both Serb and Montenegrin. The com-
pany at the dinner-table varied from week to week;
but on this point was always agreed.

Meanwhile the Montenegrins had not dared another
assault, but the armistice declared at the beginning
of December at Tchatalja, was not observed, for
Hussein Riza had refused to accept a letter ^^Titten
by the German Minister at Cettigne, and conveyed
by Montenegrin hands, as orders which he could obey.

When the icy " bora," that raged and shrieked and
broke the hospital windows, dropped, we could hear
the heavy boom of guns now and again. Just before
Christmas a heartrending letter reached me from
Padre Camillo of Shoshi, telling me that the Shoshi
people were sheltering the unhappy Moslems burnt
out at Drishti, had till now fed them, but supplies
were running short, and if no help came thev must
starve. He prayed that 1 would write to King

240 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Nikola and beg him to have pity for the conquered,
and send either maize or money to help them. Maize
could still be bought from the up-country Christian
tribes.

I copied passages of the letter and sent them to
the King, without result; and, not to waste time, I
sent up some money at once. Later I sent more,
and after the war had the pleasure of being thanked
by some of the Drishti men, who said that the maize
bought for them by the Padre had saved their families.
But this is anticipating. When the Montenegrins
heard what I had done they were furious, but this I
only learnt later. They had hoped that all their
victims would starve.

Just before Christmas Dr. K , his wife, and

I took a day off to get a breath of fresh air. We
were all three very tired. They drove; I rode the
Houyhnhnm. At Tuzi, Gjurashkovitch, the newly
appointed Governor of Tuzi, joined us, and we went
across the plain to Nenhelm, or Hum, as the Monte-
negrins had already renamed it. Our plan was to

ascend the hill to get a view of Scutari, as the K s

had never seen it. From the hill-foot at the water's
edge came an infuriated caterwauling. A pack of
Montenegrin women had been forbidden to follow
the army. For some weeks past there had been tales
of theft. The Montenegrin women, having looted
everything portable from the enemy, had begun
plundering their own army. The women of one tribe
robbed the men of another, stole their greatcoats,
and even their shoes, while they were asleep, as some
told me, and had taken a whole lot of army revolvers.
Now that they were no longer needed to transport

WAR 241

loot, they were forbidden to come to camp any more.
It wsis a pretty scene — the yowling pack of women,
crazy for drink and the excitement of the camps,
striving to force a way on to the ferry barges, and the
men hounding them off with yells.

We climbed the hill, saw the wrecked fort at the
top, and had a clear view of poor Scutari. Gjurash-
kovitch spoke with glee of its speedy fall, and, point-
ing around, said: " What a lot of money we shall
make with all thi.^ fertile land !' " But it is all
private property, and already cultivated," I said.
I had not realized then that the Montenegrins meant
to expel the owners, as they had done after the last
war, and appropriate their property. He retorted
angrily: " What we take is ours to do as we like
with." I stared at Scutari, with sick fear as to what
would be the fate of my friends. And the distant
guns boomed.

Suddenly up leapt Gjurashkovitch with a roar.
" Cio back, you bitches — go back, you devils ! Send
those women back !"' The lady-pack had cea^sed
caterwauling, and was trying to sneak round the
shore of the lake. There was a rush, and they were
rounded up and headed back, and the row began all
over again. I tli<jught bitterly that these pef»ple
were pretending to Europe that they were carrying
civilization into Albania, and that there were folk at
home fools enough to believe it.

Dr. K struggled hard aguiii.-t the perpetual

stealing in the hospital. Kach hospital was pmvided
with a so-called " Kkonom," a Montenegrin who.se
duty was to see that all supplies ordered by the doctor
were sent up from the depot. One of our Ekonom<,

242 THE STRUGGLE FOB SCUTARI

a theology student, was descending the stairs, when
crash fell a hospital brandy bottle from under
his coat. I wished to report him at Cettigne, and
was met with a chorus: " It is all paid for by the Red
Cross money from abroad. Everyone helps him-
self. If the highest in the land do, why not we ?
If you report him, you must report everybody." It
was true. The lock was knocked off the linen-box in
the night, and most of the contents stolen. Of what
went to the wash some was stolen always. We
ordered thirty shirts from the depot; twenty-four
came. The depot swore it had sent thirty, the mes-
senger that she had brought all she received. Worst
of all, the attendants stole money from patients too

weak to protect themselves. K , at the end of his

patience, cried one day: " I wish to God they'd steal
the corrosive sublimate ; it is the only thing they have
not taken as yet !" He stuck to his task most
pluckily, insisting that his patients should have what
was necessary, wringing condensed milk, quinine
wine, and so forth from the Cettigne central depot,
and locking it up, and endeavouring that one or other
of our little European staff should always be on duty ;
insisting also on clean shirts and drawers for each
patient when he arrived. This was a very difficult
task, as the Montenegrins had been keeping all the
patients in the dirty uniforms they came in with,
and could never be made to see the necessity of treat-
ment or diet.

So long as K was in command, there were few

pickings for any of the employes, so they intrigued
against him, and forced him to offer his resignation,
which the Montenegrin Red Cross accepted at once.

WAR 243

They had already crowded out similarly, three or four
other foreign volunteers. We had done five weeks'
severe work together, and lost only seven patients,
of whom one was brought in moribund; one, an
enteric, was killed by his friends, who threw him
pomegranates and cheese through the window when
for a brief interval there was only a Montenegrin in
attendance; and a third who, in high delirium, sprang
out of the window and into the river. A Montenegrin
woman had been left with instructions not to leave him
a moment, and to shout for help if needed. She "only
went down to the door to speak to a friend, and was
quite surprised to find the patient gone." However,
both she and the pomegranate woman washed their
hands of all responsibility, and declared the results to
be the will of God.

It is a curious fact that no priest ever visited the
sick or wounded so far as I saw. On the other hand,
if a man showed sign of collapse, there was a perfect
rush of attendants to light candles round liim, and
they had to be chivied off, to make space to give
him the hypodermic injection necessary to pull him
round.

When K , under whom it had been a pleasure

to work, resigned, I resigned too; but K implored

me to stay on till a decent man arrived to take his
place. I held on, therefore, for a week under very
difficult circumstances till one of the Bohemian Red
Cross came from Cettignc. He, when I left, could
find no one to do the invalid cookery, and resigned
also. And the Italians, who had been reinforced,
took over the fourth house.

I was almost dead beat, for at the last I had been

244 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

cooking on the two spirit-lamps, and serving up to
eighty-five portions a day, as well as doing all manner
of odd jobs. So I slept for the best part of two days,
and then rode the Houyhnhnm out on the plain to
consider what I would turn to next. Christmas, both
new and old style, had come and gone drearily.
Scutari was still bravely holding out. The Monte-
negrins had proved their military incompetency.
Had not the Maltsors in August forced the Turks to
evacuate most of the frontier outposts, cut off Tuzi

EX IN TERRA PAX HOMINIBUS.

from all reinforcements, and then not only admitted
the Montenegrin army through their mountains, but
also aided largely in the capture of Dechich, and in
clearing the way for the advance of the army, I do not
for a moment believe the Montenegrins would have
arrived anywhere near Scutari — probably not even
have taken Tuzi.

Three months had passed since the firing of the
first shot, and, far from taking Scutari in four days,
they had nothing to show but Medua and Tuzi, and

WAR 245

a number of defenceless villages that had been burnt
and plundered.

All Europe knew that the Servian army was
superior to the Montenegrin. The Montenegrins were
intensely embittered, and spoke openly and angrily
against the King, and especially the Royal Princes.
The antidynastic party said freely that the Petro-
vitches were the bane of the land. Much anger was
expressed against Princess Xenia, who was said to
have undue influence with the Kinor and to arrange
the movements and positions of battalions, though
ignorant of military matters. A tale ran round that
a Serb officer, visiting the Montenegrin camp, had
said that in twenty-four hours he could make of any
of his privates a better officer than any in the Monte-
negrin army.

Meantime, the Peace Conference hargle-bargled in
London for weeks without result. The Montenegrin
delegates were Miouskovitch, the best of the three;
Popovitch, till lately Minister in Constantinople, a
man of no particular power; and Count Louis Voino-
vitch, an Austrian from Ragusa. He had been em-
ployed ten years ago to draft the Code of Laws for
Montenegro, and had left somewhat suddenly. Since
then he had done odd jobs for Servia and Bulgaria,
and was reputed to know the back of Balkan politic-;.
His sudden recall to Montenegro when war began,
and his selection as delegate, excited much comment
and jealousy. It was a tacit admission that Monte-
negro could not produce three home-grown politicians
fit to go to London. And the report current at
Ragusa and in Montenegro that the Count, if success-
ful, was to be rewarded by being made Governor of

246 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Scutari by no means allayed local jealousy. How the
delegates were getting on we had no information in
Podgoritza. One tale was that they were financed
by a French newspaper, anxious to support Slav
interests.

Without Servian aid the Montenegrins could never
have effectually shut in Scutari. As it was, Hussein
Riza made two successful sorties in December, and
revictualled the town with a quantity of maize from
the \'illage3 of Pistulli, Plesha, and Stajka. It was
unthinkable that Europe would allow Scutari to be
starved out by Servian aid, and then make a present
of it to Montenegro, who had shown herself in every
way unworthy. So furious had the conduct of the
Montenegrin troops made the Maltsors that they
even talked of attacking them and cutting them off
from Podgoritza. I begged them not to attempt it,
as it would bring down the Servian army and artillery
upon them, and result in a hideous massacre, as in
Kosovo vilayet. Some said even that would be
better than to be handed over to Montenegro by the
Powers. They held a meeting in the mountains, and
swore they would resist this with all their strength.
*' King Nikola," they said, " promised only last year
to get us a European guarantee for our national
rights, especially for schools and language. He be-
trayed us, and now the Montenegrins talk of nothing
but forcible Slavizing. We have not fought the
Turks for two years on the language question in order
to be forced to learn Servian. The army which pre-
tended to come as our allies to help us has com-
mandeered our hay and beasts, and not paid. We will
give no more."

WAR 247

Accordingly, when tlie [Montenegrin troops fell on
the Catholic village of Mazreku, seized cattle, and
looted the church, the Catholic tribesmen opened fire,
and seventeen Montenegrins were killed and wounded.
The Montenegrins, alarmed lest a large body of tribes-
men might descend upon them, paid up full damages.
The Mazreku men cashed the notes at once in Pod-
goritza, and remarked: " In future, if only a hen is
stolen, we shall open fire."

The desire of the Orthodox Montenegrins to stamp
out not only Mohammedanism, but Catholicism, was
shown by cutting off the noses of images of the saints,
and by using a crucifix as a mark to fire at, throwing

MONTEXEGBrS OPANKE.

down the Host from the altar, and similar outrages
in more than one church, and made the Catholic
Maltsors furious.

Thus did the Xew Year begin. It was bitterly
cold. Misery and hatred spread over all. Enterics
came in at the rate of ten a day, and overflowed into
most of the hospitals. News from the front was that
the soldiers were in rags, and often barefoot, and were
demoralized by long waiting in the trenches. A move
must be made, or they would lose their nerve. Yanko
telegraphed for seven more battalions, and it was
recognized that Servian aid must be accepted, i
st\\\ hoped Europe would save Scutari, and gave all

248 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

my energies to helping, not the butchers, but the
victims.

The prisoners were in an indescribably wretched
state. Thirty Moslem women and children were
crowded into an upper room of a dismantled, half-
ruined house. The windows were broken, and the
icy wind whistled through the broken floor. Bedding
or covering they had none, and a daily ration of dry
bread was all they received to live on. The misery
of the poor little children touched even the gendarmes
on guard, and they begged me to give help. Police
Captain Vrbitza, whom I knew well, gave me per-
mission, and told me that their husbands and brothers
had all been taken prisoners at Drishti for trying to
defend their village, and that, when on the way to
Podgoritza, had unfortunately tried to escape. For
this they had all, he regretted to say, been killed. I
subsequently learnt that they had not been killed in
hot blood at the time, but that a few days later they
had all twenty-six been put in a row by order of
Prince Danilo, and shot down. Some of them were
mere boys. " I Biri Kralit," the King's son — i.e.,
Prince Danilo — gained an unenviable reputation in
Albania. Brigadier Bechir, who was with him, was
nicknamed the Montenegrin Nero.

The unhappy women had followed after their
arrested men, and believed them to be in prison,
and no one had as yet undeceived them. They had
been well-to-do peasants, and their sufferings were
piteous. Sobbing bitterly, they embraced me and
prayed for leave to see their men. Food and clothing
I gave. Fortunately, I had just received a bale of
excellent native-shaped garments from England, and

WAK 249

I supplied a pan of charcoal to keep off the cold.
One thing more they begged — some soap. They were
used to plenty of clean clothes, and had no means of
washing. I went to Stanko Markovitch and begged
he would either find better quarters for the poor
creatures or allow me to do so. He made endless
promises, and did nothing. I wished to leave Pod-
goritza, to visit the other side of the lake, but was
begged by the town Moslems, for the sake of the
prisoners, not to go. I thought of the outcry a few
months ago, when thirty Serb women and children
were prisoners in Berani, and I appealed again to
Stanko, speaking of the poor things as " widows and
orphans." His snaky eyes contracted with anger.
"They are not!" he cried. "Their husbands are
rebels in the mountains. Some Albanian has told
you that lie !" " Captain Vrbitza told me the facts,
and asked me to help the women," I said. Stanko
was furious, but dared not deny the truth, and after
much trouble I had the whole paity transferred to a
decent place in the Moslem quarter, where the neigh-
bours looked after them and the Government allowed
them a meat ration.

The other inmates of the prisoners' house were like-
wise in a terrible plight. A number of sheds at the
end of the yard were filled with Catholic and Moslem
Albanians, caught by the soldiers for no particular
reason that I could learn. Many were heavily ironed ;
all were half naked, shivering, and emaciated, re-
ceiving just enough bread to keep them alive, and
sleeping on the damp earth with no covering. A
cartload of firewood, shirts, and some lumps of cheese
and strings of onions lightened their sufferings, an<l

250 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

after the war I met more than one in Albania who
thanked me warmly.

There was even a lower depth of misery. Up under
the roof of the half-ruined house were about sixty
Moslems — men, women, and children. They were
from the Berani district, and had fled before the
Montenegrin army at the very beginning of the war.
Over the mountains, through snow, hither and thither,
they had wandered, flying now from the Monte-
negrins, now from the invading Serbs. They had
eaten or sold such few beasts as they fled with, had
begged food, eaten grass and dead leaves. Thirty of
the party had died on the way of misery. Finally,
they were taken prisoners by the Serbs near Durazzo,
and handed over to the Montenegrins as prisoners.
Now, shut in this wind-swept attic, smallpox had
broken out among the children. The cases, luckily,
were few and slight. The whole party was supposed
to be isolated, but some managed generally to get
out and beg in the town, for they were perishing of
cold and hunger on the dry-bread ration allowed
them. I supplied these poor creatures with fire and
food. One family I remember vividly. The mother
told how her three little girls all died on the way.
One got wet through crossing a river, and died of
cold next day; the two others had died of hunger.
She believed she had been flying for a whole year
from the soldiers, and had lost all count of time. I
said the war had only lasted four months. "I do
not know," she said; " it seems like years." So soon
as the children were well they all had to leave and
tramp back to their burnt homes. Their gratitude
to me was most touching. " You are the only person

WAR 251

who has been kind to us," said the man. " I did not
know Christians could be so good." They kissed my
heart, and the woman swore sisterhood with me. I
gave them opanke (sandals) for the march, but I fear
they must have returned home only to be left to
starve, that their land may be given to a Christian.

Some members of the French Red Cross turned up
in search of stores, and told of the Montenegrin
cruelty to the conquered. A crowd of terrified
Albanian women and children, two wounded, had
arrived one wet night, drenched and exhausted,
flying from a burning village. The Montenegrins
refused them help or even shelter. The French took
pity on them, put them into an empty stable, and
began to make some tea. A Montenegrin soldier
came and kicked over the pot, saying that such
beasts should have nothing. The Montenegrin doctor
had refused to help a wounded Albanian, and the
French had rescued him, and so forth. A dree tale
of the woe of the conquered.

In Podgoritza, when maize was given to women
whose men were at the front, Catholics applied in
vain, and received insults instead of help. It was
reported and believed that the battalions of Albanians
who were Montenegrin subjects were purposely put
in the most dangerous positions, and Podgoritzans
amused themselves by visiting the shops of Catholic
tradesmen and describing to them the manner in
which their relatives in Scutari would be massacred
so soon as the town fell.

A youth in officer's uniform sat next me one day
at table, and boasted that in two years no one would
dare speak Albanian in Scutari. I pointed out that

252 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

the Albanians had been under the Romans, the
Byzantine Empire, the Bulgars, the Serbs, and the
Turks, and still spoke their own language. " Do you
suppose," I asked, '' that in two years Montenegro
can effect what all these have failed to do in over a
thousand years ?" He could not reply. But some-
one else said that if Europe would give Montenegro
a large piece of Albania, they would soon settle the
Albanian question by destroying every Albanian in it.
I afterwards discovered that the language-suppressing
youth was one of the Petrovitches — a relative of the
King.

It may be recollected that little more than a year
before Prince Danilo, interviewed by the Morning
Post about Albania, had declared: " It grieves my
heart to see the uncultured mountaineers die for the
liberty of having their own schools for their own
children."

Nor was I long left without proof that the Monte-
negrins, as well as the Serbs, had begun the work of
extermination. A cheerful voice hailed me one even-
ing under the trees, and up came Yanko Vukotitch's
young friend, whom I had met at Yanko's the night
before they left Cettigne together to begin the war.
He had been all through the campaign as Yanko's
secretary, and was now appointed secretary to the
Prefect of the newly annexed town of Bijelopolje.
" Come and have dinner at the Balkan Hotel with
me, and I will tell you all about it," he cried. The
only stiff fighting had been, he said, at the taking of
Bijelopolje. " After this, the power of the Albanians
was broken. We killed quantities; they could not
escape." He made no concealment of Montenegro's

WAR 253

hope of getting rid of all the Moslems and resettling
the land. His pitilessness was disgusting. " For
example," he said, " we have killed every man of the
Riigova tribe. We overpowered them, and then
made every one of them pass under the sword. I
assure you not one remains." I expressed strong
disgust for the cold-blooded slaughter of helpless
prisoners. " But they are beasts," he cried — " savage
animals. We have done very well." Of the fate of
the women he professed ignorance.

This slaughter was planned deliberately, for I pos-
sess a letter from a friend, describing a conversation
with Prince Danilo in September, before the war, in
which he said of the Rugova Moslems: '* We have
sworn to exterminate them !" banging the table.

Everywhere, according to the secretary, they were
dealing out " justice." The children of the slaugh-
tered would be sent to Serb schools, and Slavizing be
effected quickly. He spoke bitterly of the bother of
having to do with people who spoke Albanian only,
and said the language must be suppressed as fast as
possible. He had been all over the country with the
Serbs and Yanko. " And what of the Prochaska
affair ? Have the Austrians exaggerated that ?" I
asked. He laughed aloud. " Exaggerated I" cried he
joyfully; " it is not possible to exaggerate it. On the
contrary, Austria will never dare to tell the truth.
She would be laughed at by all Euro2:)e, and be forced
to declare war. What was done to him ? Oh ! the
Servian officers played fine tricks on him. Every
kind of indignity, all that you can imagine that is
most dirty, was done upon him. They spat in his
face, he was rolled on the ground. He will never tell

254 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

what was done to liim." He roared with laughter.
" And the Austrian flag, too. If you had but seen
it !" " Is it true," I asked, " that he was also shut
up ?" " Of course he was — for days. I swear to
you, Austria will never publish the facts." " But
why was this done ?" " Because he invited a lot of
dirty Albanians to his Consulate." " But a Consul
has the right to invite whom he wall to his house.
Moreover, Europe had entrusted Austria with the
protection of the Catholic Albanians, and he repre-
sented Austria." " Very well, this has taught Austria
that one has no more need of her Consuls. The day
of Austria is over."

It is noteworthy that he brought no accusation
against Prochaska of having fired from the Con-
sulate, as did the Serbs in defence of their treatment
of him ; and as the rest of his tale was true, his version
of the Prochaska affair is probably true, too.

At the beginning of February came the news that
Hussein Riza Bey was dead — shot, said some, by dis-
contented soldiers. Others accused Essad Pasha.
This delighted the Montenegrins, and preparations
for a big attack were made. Sokol Batzi received
orders to summon 4,000 Maltsors, and advance with
them. The King promised them three days' free
looting and "go as you please " in Scutari if they
would help take it. But scarcely any turned up.
Not one man of all the big Klimenti tribe, and but
thirty from Hoti, and a few others. Those who did
come were given tw^enty francs apiece and a supply
of cartridges, with which nearly all of them retired
at night to their mountains. " Old King Nikola is
an awful liar," said one of them, telling me the tale

WAR 255

after the war. " So are you !" said I. He laughed
delightedly. "Yes, I know, my sister; but I lied
better than he !"

On February 7 bombarding was plainly audible,
and Podgoritza was in a state of nervous tension.
The combined attack had begun. I applied for leave
to go again to the front, but before it arrived Stanko
Markovitch said to me sarcastically: "You had
better wait for leave to enter Scutari. We took
Bardhanjolt this morning, and the Serbs took Ber-
ditza. In four days we shall be in Scutari." I could
not resist saying: " Yes, so I heard in October."

There was a wild rush of excitement, followed by
an ominous silence. Officially, there were no news at
all. Late at night the Albanians spread rumours of
a huge Montenegrin catastrophe, and, tremulous with
hope, whispered: "God will never let these devils
storm Scutari."

The 8th dawned, and the town was dumb all day.
At sundown I saw the Montenegrin doctor, Radulo-
vitch, sending carriages and stretchers down to the
steamer port on the lakeside. " How many wounded
are there ?" I asked. " Forty-eight," said he.

All night long I heard the constant rumble of the
motor lorries as they rushed from port to town and
back, and went out early to find the wounded pouring
in in a ceaseless stream. The Montenegrins had
talked for months about storming Scutari, and, as
usual, made no preparations. The scenes that follow
defy description. A number of the foreign doctors
had left; the hospitals were blocked with the sick.
The wounded, many of whom had had no food for
three days, and had not had their wounds properly

256 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

dressed, were thrown in heaps on the dirty floors of
every drink-shop, empty house, and shop. Bedding
there was none ready, save nine mattresses I
had had made, and some blankets I had received
from England. Men almost too weak to stand, just
recovering from enteric, were turned out into the
streets to make room, and crawled about begging
shelter, driven pitilessly from every door, for the
Montenegrins are terrified of infection.

I had not intended giving more help to the wounded,
but under the circumstances could not refuse, though
my permit for the front had come. I worked under
Radulovitch. Everything was lacking. I tore up a
bale of old sheets from England for bandages, and
hacked box-lids into splints. The first afternoon my
nail-scissors and my corrosive sublimate were our only
outfit. The next few days passed in a mad rush.
Wounded poured in daily till it was said there were
at least 1,500 in the town, but I never knew the
precise figure. Cettigne, too, was crammed. A row
of Montenegrin women squatted at the top of the
street, and hurled themselves on each motor lorry as
it arrived, and we had to bar them out by force from
our temporary hospitals, for the men were all on the
floor, and in looking for one, the women tumbled over
a dozen.

AVe went from house to house, dressing seventy in
one, fifty in another, and shouting through windows,
" Has a doctor been here ?" to any wounded inside.
Numbers were overlooked, and were in a stinking
state when found. Many volunteers returned from
America were furious at " being thrown like dogs on
the ground," and demanded beds and shirts. All

WAR 257

raged against their officers, whose ignorance had, they
said, brought about this debacle. The Montenegrins
had been cut up at Bardhanjolt, and the Servians
smashed at Berditza. Montenegi"0 alone was beheved
to have lost 5,000 killed and wounded. The men
related that the Serbs had arranged to bombard
Bardhanjolt for a certain time, and that when they
had dislodged the Turks, the Montenegrins should
rush the height and occupy it. The Montenegrin
officer had stupidly ordered his men to charge too
soon, and rushed them straight into the Serb fire.
The Serbs, seeing the Montenegrins falling under their
fire, ceased. The Turks, relieved from bombardment,
drove the Montenegrins back down the hill, killing
them in heaps. Three battalions were cut to pieces.

It took two more bombardments and charges before
the place was taken. Some eyewitnesses gave a
horrible account of the Berditza blunder, which the
soldiers declared also to be the fault of Montenegrin
officers, who had misinformed the Serbs. Orders and
counter-orders were given, with the result that at
dawn the Serbs found themselves at the mercy of the
big guns of Berditza, were bogged in the muddy
plain, fell in heaps in the ditches, and lost about
1,000 men " struggling in the mud helpless as birds
in bird-lime."

At Bardhanjolt, they complained, there was no
doctor but a Montenegrin one, who had gone to look
on, and had not even a bandage with him. No
foreign doctors were ever allowed on the field. " Xo
wonder," said some of the ** Americans," " for the way
the Turkish corpses were stripped and mutilated was
disgusting!" One man told thatThe had helped

258 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

bury some Montenegrin corpses at Bardhanjolt which
had lain unburied since the attack in October. Their
clothes were intact. " Had they been Turkish
corpses they would have been stripped and cut up !"
he said bitterly. " What can you expect ? Look
at the way our Red Cross is conducted." They
related, as indeed I had heard before, that no organ-
ized search for wounded was ever made. If a man
had friends, they cut boughs, tied them with their
sashes, and carried him to the nearest field hospital.
If not, and he were too badly wounded to walk, he
died. Many, they vowed, had died of cold at
Bardhanjolt.

Those Montenegrins, I found, who had left their
native land quite young, w^ere horrified at the savagery
they found. Those, on the other hand, who had left
it when well over twenty, had not absorbed civiliza-
tion, and reverted at once, and told of their mutilating
prowess with glee. Only in Martinovitch's army was
it forbidden, according to the men. And there the
foreign correspondents, military attaches, and Red
Crosses were freely let loose.

The immediate effect of the debacle on the Monte-
negrins was that they were crazed with thwarted
blood-lust. Instead of respecting a foe who had
bravely resisted for nearly five months, they were
furious, and talked loudly of their right to butcher
every man, woman, and child in Scutari. They
would make a house-to-house visitation at night, and
next day the Powers might protest as much as they
pleased — it would not bring the Albanians to life
again. And they would burn the town to the ground.
The Serb newspaper Piemont favoured this scheme.

WAR 259

Even the postmaster, when I went to cash a contri-
bution to my relief fund, said, " You need not keep
any of this for Scutari. You wdll find no sick nor
wounded there. We have got a remedy for them;"
and he imitated bayoneting. A lot of them chuckled
over their beer. " It will be a second St. Bartholo-
mew's night," said one. " Worse still, Sodom and
Gomorrha !" said another. The destruction of prop-
erty was of no consequence. " We want the land
and position — not a lot of dirty Albanians. Europe
will give us a million to build a fine modern town like
Cettigne !"

When I heard the doctor telling the men they must
get well quickly to assist in this and enjoy fat Turkish
" bulas " (married women), I threw up helping to cure
them, after first telling them that there was no hurry.
Europe would never let them have Scutari.

Some members of the Italian Red Cross stopped me
in the street, and said: " If you want to do a really
humane thing, help the Nizam prisoners; their con-
dition is a scandal. ' ' Numbers of them were employed
in forced labour in the town making shoes for the
army, and road- making. But some 1 ,500 were camped
out on the plain near Docle. I filled my saddle-bags
with shirts and rode thither. The sentry challenged
me, but I said I had come for the sick, and he let
me pass. I found a military surgeon, Ruzhdi Bey,
an Albanian, with a few medicine bottles on a rock,
doing what he could for a number of half-naked,
emaciated men in the last stages of misery who filed
past. Many had nothing but a lagged coat and
trousers split to the knee. In tents they lay on the
damp ground dying slowdy of cold and misery. Their

260 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

greatcoats and blankets had all been looted. The
wretched Asiatics were in the most pitiable state.
Ruzhdi Bey turned and said to me : '' What is the
good of giving this stuff " — pointing to the bottles of
tonic — " when they have neither shirt nor blanket V
He begged for at least twenty-five blankets for men
who must otherwise die.

I supplied Ruzhdi with all the clothing I could
collect. This, too, angered the Montenegrins, though
I was unaware of it at the time. They had not meant
that the state of the prisoners should be known.
When they found that I knew it, they transported the
sick into dirty hovels in the old town, and then invited
a German doctor, who was in Cettigne, to inspect the
camp, and obtained from him a certificate of the
health of all, and accused me afterwards of lying.
Unaware of this at the time, and not imagining that
any human being could object to the relief of such
suffering, I visited frequently the quarters of the sick
Nizams. A painful scene indeed ! Dark foul rooms
crowded with little Anatolians and a few Albanians.
I remembered seeing them march in but four months
ago in the fiush of youth and strength. Now the
wretched Asiatics, yellow and shrivelled with cold,
held out lean paws like monkeys, and stared at me
with hollow eyes, imploring, with chattering teeth,
for a garment that would keep out the cold. Nearly
all were barefoot, and their bare breasts, on which the
ribs stood out like grids, were raw with scratching,
for the place was alive with vermin. Of the 1,500, the
Turkish doctors reported that in all 700 fell ill and at
least 200 died. Fighting and wounds are the least
terrible part of war. Tons of sentimentality are

WAR 261

lavished on the hero who has had a Mauser bullet
through his calf and is fit for the front in ten days.
It is to those that drop in the track of war, and rot
with hunger and misery, that pity is really due.

A piteous appeal came to me from the people of
the village of Vlandje, burnt by the Montenegrins at
the very beginning of the war. I found them all
quartered in the outhouses of Moslem families at
Tuzi. Most of them had used all of such little stores
as they had saved, were living on Moslem charity,
and were very miserable. I gave them tickets to
obtain flour in the town.

It was March, but still bitterly cold. My friend of
last year, the little priest of Summa, came with two
Summa men, all in great misery, to beg some clothes.
Summa, up in the mountains, was untouched by war,
but cut off from all trade and in wretched plight.
Mindful of his last year's hospitality, I gave the poor
man a blanket as well as clothing. Outside the hotel
he was arrested by the police, and taken before Stanko
Markovitch, who threatened him that if he was ever
caught asking help of the Englishwoman again, he
should be hanged. Another priest who had asked
for flour for his flock was similarly treated. And
police at the entrance of the town, searched the
wretched Vlandje people for flour tickets, and
destroyed the few that they found. The others
luckily had taken their flour. All these people were
non-combatants and in great want; there was no
political capital to be made at all, and some of them
were actually Montenegrin subjects. I went straight
to Stanko to ask why charity was forbidden. He
had not expected this, as he was accustomed only to

262 THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

underhand dealing, and shuffled and lied miserably.
Montenegro was so rich it was unnecessary — but there
was little in the land but paper- money — he feared the
people would be pauperized, and so forth. Finally
his object was clear — if I would give him the money,
he would distribute it. Knowing the family reputa-
tion for embezzling, I declined, and said I would
inform England of Montenegro's extreme wealth,
and see that no more relief money was given her.
This upset him much, and in order to be safe against
any hanky-panky I transferred the whole relief fund
from the Montenegrin Bank to London.

Much information on the subject was brought to
me. Podgoritza blamed Stanko for being such a fool
as to have let his policy of starving out the Moslems
and Catholics be seen. " She will certainly denounce
it not only in England, but in America." And as
Stanko aspired to be Governor of Scutari, this upset
him considerably.

As I had had news from a reliable source that the
representatives of the Powers had impressed very
strongly upon the Montenegrin Government that the
much-talked-of destruction of Scutari must not take
place, that in no case would Montenegro be allowed
to retain it even if it fell, and that it was hoped that
peace was about to be signed, I decided to wait and
watch events.

Meantime the Montenegrins turned the screw down
on the civilian prisoners. It was rumoured one night
that Ruzhdi Bey, the doctor, contrary to the rules
of the Geneva Convention, had been taken to Dani-
lovgrad and there imprisoned.

At 7.30 next morning, as I was writing in my bed-

WAR 263

room, came a tap at my door, and a small voice, in
French, cried: " Open, in God's name !" In tumbled
in his pyjamas the little old Kaimmakam of Tuzi — a
most unlucky man. He had taken on the office for
a month, while Mihilaki Effendi went on leave to be
married. In the interval war was declared, and he
taken prisoner. He was quartered in the hotel, but
beyond an occasional " Bon jour, monsieur," I had
had little to do with him. Now he rushed in like a
hunted animal, crying, " Save me, mademoiselle !"
fumbled in his breast, and pulled out £T540 in gold
and a draft on the Ottoman Bank, and a crumpled
paper with addresses. " Take it," he said. " Last
night they arrested Ruzhdi Bey. To-day I have
heard they will lock me up, too. It is the money they
are after. They will rob me. They must not have
it ; it is for my poor vdie. If they kill me, you must

send it " He explained the addresses. " If not,

you will be able to find me later." He turned to go.
" But, monsieur — such a large sum — I must give you

a receipt " " Non, non," panted the little man,

" they would find it and take the money from you.
And you are English; a receipt is not necessary. Ah,
they are coming I" A heavy tramp sounded on the
outdoor staircase. Like a rabbit the Kaimmakam
bolted, and dashed into the lavatory. He was met
on emerging by a gendarme, and conducted to his
room. I was left thunderstruck with a pile of Turkish
money. It was too much to carry on me, and I
feared to leave it in my room, so I conveyed it in a
safe place beyond Montenegrin reach. The Kaim-
makan was kept close prisoner. I felt anxious. His
door was open one day, so I strolled up and asked the

264 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

gendarme a question. The poor Kaimmakam was
sitting hunched up on his bed. " Are you ill?" I
asked. " No, no, not ill," he said. " I may not
speak to anyone." Some five weeks later, when he
was released by the German Minister, I gave him
back his money at the German Legation, and he told
me what had happened. " I was not ill that day,
but black and sore all over my back. The police said
to me : ' You have two thousand francs ; you must
give it to us.' They searched my room and my clothes
all through. They were very angry, and said they
would make me give it. They came and beat me
three times. You have saved me." Quite unnerved
by what he had gone through, he overwhelmed me
with thanks, and left the country before dawn under
German protection. Anxious as to Euzhdi Bey's
fate, I asked the German Minister to make inquiries
at once. He replied next day that the Montenegrin
Government declared the report of Euzhdi's imprison-
ment to be untrue.

I met Euzhdi, however, six months later, and learnt
that he had been shut up for over two months without
bedding or covering, had never been told why, and
had been prevented from communicating with the
German Legation.

The Government's declarations were frequently
inaccurate. It is said that upon one occasion, when
the King made a more than usually unprobable
statement, the representative of one of the Great
Powers replied politely: " Your Majesty is celebrated
throughout Europe as a — poet !"

CHAPTER XIV

THE FALL OF SCUTARI

Meanwhile the Montenegrins, having failed, in spite
of all their boasting, to take Scutari, strove madly
to convince Europe that Scutari was their birth-
right.

Few Montenegrins had ever been there, and had
not the faintest idea that it had far better shops
and hotel accommodation than their capital Cettigne.
They ought to have known, for in that very capital,
if you wanted a decent meal at a reasonable price, you
had to go to the iVlbanian Restaurant ; if you wanted
hair-cutting or a shave, to the Albanian hairdresser;
if you wanted groceries, to one of the two Albanian
grocers, and so forth, all of whom had relatives in
Scutari.

So ignorant for the most part were the Montenegrins,
that they even believed that Scutari — the Scodra of
the Romans — was founded by the Serbs, and were
furious when told that it was the seat of a Christian
Bishop at least two hundred years before the pagan
Serbs entered the Balkan Peninsula.

Statements of the most absurd kind were pahned
off in the form of interviews on journalists who were
quite new to the land, and who were therefore, as is
the custom, entrusted at a critical moment with

265

266 THE STKUGGLE FOR SCUTAEI

supplying reliable information about it. King Nikola,
in one of these, was said — probably with truth — to
have asserted that the churches in Scutari were old
Serb ones, whereas they were all nineteenth century
— and late at that — and all, except one, are Roman
Catholic.

" Scutari was torn from us by the Turks V howled
Montenegro. As a matter of fact, it was sold to the
Venetians in 1396 by the last of the Balsha Princes
(whose sympathies were certainly not Slav, for they
made alliance with the Albanian chieftains, and
together with them, fought Marko Kralyevitch, the
great Serb hero). And from the Venetians the
Turks took it almost a hundred years later, in 1478.
As the Petrovitch Dynasty did not come into being
as rulers, till two centuries later. King Nikola's asser-
tion in the same interview that the bones of his
ancestors rest in Scutari seems — poetic ! More especi-
ally as he bewailed the loss of the Herzegovina in 1908
for a similar reason.

In plain fact the Serbs ruled Scutari from 1050 to
1080, and lost it to Byzantium; and then again from
1180 to 1360 it was included by the Nemanjas in their
Great Servia. Two hundred and ten years in all —
against all time. They did not succeed in Slavizing
it, though contemporary record shows that they
strove to do so by force, and they left no trace
behind. Historically England's right to Calais is
better.

Having now failed to take the town by storm, they
yowled about historic rights. They wished the
Powers to allow the Serbs to take it for them, and to
make them a present of it. All day and every day

WAR 267

the children sang, with monotonous iteration, in the
streets :

" Hish, hash, hosh;
Ours is Tarabosb.
One, two, three.
In Scutari are we."

The population quite forgot that they had begun
war " to liberate their brother-Serbs ''; and when The
Times correspondent adverted to this fact in an
article, were deeply hurt.

Unmindful of the King's original proclamation,
they now cried that Scutari and the destruction of
Albania had been their object. The throne of Dushan
at Prizren was forgotten. Scutari was to be their
capital — Scutari, an almost solid Albanian town,
with a population nearly eight times that of Cettigne.

Some even declared that no such things as Albanians
existed. All were Slavs, who out of '' pure cussed-
ness " had elected to speak Albanian and turned
Catholic ! Kovachevitch the Professor of Nose-
cutting, declared to an admiring audience that he
could prove it by anthropological reasons. " The
Albanians,'' said he, " burn the yule-log. This is a
purely Servian custom, therefore," etc. " On the
contrary," said I, " the yule-log is an old English
custom. And your favourite St. George is our patron
Saint. It is evident we have the right to occupy
Cettigne, shut your schools, and force you all to
speak English. You are clearly Slavized English."
The Professor, who with his friends had agreed that
" if our rule is strict enough, the Albanian tongue
will be killed in a year," was speechless with wrath.

A few were more humane. An artilleryman, back

268 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

on a few days' leave, told me that working the guns
now was sickening. '' First we have to fire a shell
into the Christian quarter to frighten the people.
Then the officer watches through his glass which way
the crowd of women and children runs, and then we
have to fire a big shell into the middle of them. I'm
sick of shooting at women and children !"

Then came news that the Powers, after endless
squabbling, had decided that Scutari should be
Albanian, and drawn a rough and most unjust and
unfortunate frontier, by which the two gallant tribes
Hoti and Gruda, which had borne the brunt of the
fight for freedom in 1911, were awarded to Monte-
negro. Solid Moslem and Albanian districts, such as
Gusinje and Djakova, were also handed over. The
tribe-lands Montenegro did not yet dare to touch.
In Gusinje and Djakova she at once began a policy of
extermination. The full details I only learnt later.
At the time I was informed by one of the " Press
censors," but " not for transmission," that numbers
of executions were going on in Gusinje. '' Wholesale
slaughter of all who resist us is the proper course."
The Moslems were given the choice of baptism or
death, and large numbers of men were martyred.
The women were driven into the churches, " like
sheep," and baptized. Those who objected were
violated by the soldiers. Moslem villages were plun-
dered and burnt. The deep snow on the passes pre-
vented the escape of any burdened with a family.
Many were slaughtered. An Orthodox Slav, a native
of the district, was made Governor, and allowed to
wreak private vengeance. From Djakova came even
worse reports. The Montenegrins were striving to

WAR 269

forcibly convert both Moslems and Catholics. Padre
Luigi PaHtch, the plucky little Franciscan I had met
more than four years ago in Djakova, refused to make
the sign of the Cross in Orthodox fashion and abjure
his faith, and was stripped, beaten, and finally
bayoneted to death. Nor was he the only Catholic
martyred. Some fled to the mountains, others were
terrorized into submitting to Orthodoxy. Austria
intervened sharply. Had she not done so, in the
words of a Catholic refugee, " there would not have
been a Catholic left in the district." The Monte-
negrin excuse was that as there were only one hundred
Orthodox families in all Djakova and none in the
immediate neighbourhood, they were forced to be
severe, or they would have been hopelessly out-
numbered. The guilt of handing over this Albanian
district to be butchered, rests primarily with Russia.

There is a well-known Montenegrin ballad which
describes how, in the seventeenth century, the Monte-
negi'ins on one Christmas Eve celebrated " peace on
earth and goodwill to men " by massacring every
Moslem in their land who would not consent to
baptism, and this was held up as an example to follow.

Huge Serb reinforcements were now said to be on
the way, and Montenegro declared that if she might
not hold Scutari, she would at least, with Serb guns,
batter it to the ground. Petar Plamenatz chuckled
over the report that the Scutarenes were starving,
and said: " The more starve the better for us." I
remembered his pious horror last year, when he assured
me of the incurable barbarity of the Turks.

The Albanian residents of Podgoritza were in a
state of mental torture painful to witness. Why the

270 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Great Powers, having spoken, did not enforce their
words, they could not understand. One whom I
knew well called me in mysteriously, and with drawn
blinds showed me a heap of fowls' and lambs' bones.
Taking up a bladebone, he asked: " Did you ever see
the like of that before? " There was a large white
opaque spot upon it. It meant, of course, he said, a
death. But so large a spot as this was unheard of.
It must mean the death of someone very great, and
its position indicated that it would occur shortly.
" Heavens !" thought I, " does this mean they will
kill King Nikola !"

News came in, to my deep regret, that Yanina had
fallen, and was in the hands of the Greeks. Its loss
was reported to be owing to the treachery of a certain
Greek at Corfu and Ismail Kemal, who had advised
the population not to rise — until it was too late, and
the Greek army was upon them. Immediately after
this came the death of the King of Greece. The
fulfilment of the tale of the bones made a profound
impression. The Montenegrins persistently believed
the murderer to have been instigated by the Bulgars.

I went up to Cettigne to be near tlie headquarters
of news. On March 26 fell Adrianople. This made
the Montenegrins quite mad. They alone, though
they had begun the first, had made a bloody and
miserable failure. The banner, the band, and the
white charger were tired of promenading from one
point to the other waiting to triumphantly enter
Scutari.

The Powers prepared a collective note, but Russia
impeded its delivery as long as possible. During the
delay Montenegro hoped that she would take Scutari,

WAR 271

and once in, keep it. If Austria objected, the com-
bined Servian and Montenegrin armies would take
Vienna. 1 frequented the drink-shops, and tried to
help make a peaceful settlement, by telling everyone
that it was a waste of blood and money to persist in
their folly. And a loss of honour, too. They replied
that the King and Princes had already promised the
best houses and posts in Scutari to their officers and
friends.

On Friday, March 28, at three o'clock, the collective
note was handed in. Peace was to be made at once,
and the Montenegrin army withdrawn. Montenegro
gave no reply, and at dinner at the hotel young
Tomanovitch, the King's aide-de-camp, asked loudly:
" Have you heard the latest joke ? The Powers have
told us to retire from Scutari." But no one responded.

England put in a severe protest as to the way the
civil population was being shelled. The British Vice-
Consul was wounded, for the Montenegrins, believing
that the Consuls were urging the Scutarenes to resist,
were shelling the Consulates. Every one of them was
hit, and so were several houses near them.

I went down to Podgoritza, and found the people
furious against England. A crowd of officials at the
post-office shouted to me: " We will take Scutari with.
the last drop of our blood, and then avenge ourselves
on Austria by marching into Bosnia." " How can
you when you've shed the last drop of your blood ?"
I asked; and it made them madder than ever. On
my return journey to Cettigne I lunched at an inn at
Rijeka, and heard the talk. " Servia's plan is the
best. She puts all these gentlemen (the Albanians)
to the sword. She has cleaned a lot of land."

272 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

On April 2 Montenegro replied to the collective
note, and refused obedience. Montenegro was in
hysterics, and the King talked of " setting all Europe
in a blaze." It was about then that he started his
operations on the Vienna Bourse. By causing suc-
cessive scares over Scutari and adroitly buying and
selling, he was currently reported to have made a very
large sum before the Scutari question was settled.

THE RESULT OF LIVING NEAR THE BRITISH CONStTLATE.

Meanwhile he spread official reports of victories
which never took place, about " five out of the eight
forts of Tarabosh have been taken," and so forth.
In reality there never were eight forts. And what
really happened that day was that the Montenegrins
lost some 500 killed and wounded over taking and
losing again two trenches.

I wrote at the time: '' The folly and conceit of these
people is sickening. All the foreign Red Crosses

WAR 273

ought to witlidi-aw, and cease to aid and abet useless
slaughter."

On April 5 the combined fleets arrived off Antivari,
and Vice- Admiral Burney sent a note to the Monte-
negrin Government ordering the cessation of hos-
tilities. The Serbs, too, were ordered to withdraw.
Some of their reinforcements had arrived, but not all.
An Italian who had been with Martinovitch's army
described a heated discussion between the officers as
to the advisability of a massacre at Scutari. Many
were in favour of it; but Martinovitch, to his credit,
was opposed.

On the 11th the blockade was announced. This
effectually prevented more Serbs from arriving. They
had not more than 15,000 men, and would not risk
another defeat. The wounded Serb artillery officer
in the hospital announced angrily that he had official
orders that the Serbs were to withdraw. He had
been displaying Serb humanity by shooting, for fun,
a little pet dog which happened to be passing the
hospital. 1 was not sorry that he was to have no
chance of practising on Albanian children.

The Tsar had made a severe and most uncompro-
mising speech, bidding Montenegro remember that
she could not exist without Russian support, and must
clearly understand that the Scutari episode was closed.
The Correspondence bureau telegi-am which contained
this was not put up till late, and then with the Russian
note snipped out — a most childish proceeding. The
Montenegrin delegates in London made a last effort
by publishing quite monstrous statements, one of
which was that there were 26,000 Serbs in Scutari.
We asked Ramadanovitch, who was acting as Mini.>ter

274 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

of Foreign Affairs, if this were true. " Jamais de la
vie !" he replied. " Who has said so ?" " Popo-
vitch." " Popovitch ! Mon Dieu ! what does he
know ? He has never been there !"

On April 20 the Montenegrins, who had given no
answer to the Powers' note sent by Admiral Burney,
announced they had lost the papers, and could they
have another copy ?

In a long talk with Jovitchevitch, the late Consul
in Scutari, he expatiated on the brutality of the
Serbs, asserted that in the Ljuma tribe they had
slaughtered men, women, and children, and that I
should be horrified when I saw the destruction they
had wrought in the villages round Scutari. On the
21st early, the news spread that a boat with a white
flag had come out of Scutari the night before to
parley. The Montenegrin frontier was at once closed,
and, contrary to all international law, foreign subjects
were forbidden to leave. The foreign Ministers were
even forbidden to send cipher telegrams to their
Governments. This most high-handed and quite
illegal proceeding, caused the Austrian military
attache to start at once in his motor for Cattaro. At
Nyegushi the motor was stopped by obstructions on
the road. He proceeded on foot, and was stopped on
the frontier. The Legations made a joint protest
against these outrageous proceedings, and at 3 p.m.
the frontier was opened. In spite of all these pre-
cautions more than one correspondent got his news
through.

News from Podgoritza came that Moslems from
Gusinje were telling piteous tales in secret, in Moslem
back shops, of the reign of terror going on there ; that

WAR 275

Moslems were being flogged with knotted cords and
threatened with death to enforce their conversion to
Christianity. One man, weeping bitterly, told of his
forced baptism, and of how the fezzes were snatched
from the Moslems' heads, and they were forced to
wear the Montenegrin cap as badge of their sub-
jection. The Hoti and Gruda men had long since
cast away those given them at the beginning of the
war. They had now just learnt that Europe had
given them and their lands to Montenegro, and were
in a fury of despair.

If the fleet had but landed a few men to show
Montenegro that the Powers were in earnest, the final
catastrophe might have been spared. They could
have entered Scutari, and taken possession of it in
the name of the Powers, and Montenegro would never
have dared fire on them. But there they stuck, doing
nothing, and Montenegro believed they would con-
tinue to do nothing. After the last war a combined
fleet had forced the cession to Montenegro of Dulcigno,
a wholly Albanian town, much against the wish of all
its inhabitants. This time it was more creditably
employed in saving one.

But, if only for his Stock Exchange transactions,
Nikola meant to get inside the town. I was anxious
beyond all words that the Powers should move. The
endless day dragged on, and from the ominous
silence it was evident that some hanky-panky was
going on behind the scenes.

*****

Crash ! A loud report woke me. " Good God !"
was my first flash of consciousness, " they have
thrown a bomb at the palace !" For an attempt on

276 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

the King was not impossible. I leapt out of bed.
" Bom — bom — bom !" the shots dunned out a salute
from the hill by the monastery. Sick in my soul, I
knew that Scutari had surrendered. In five minutes
everyone was in the streets. It was 2.15 a.m. With
a desire to tell someone, I telegraphed the news to the
Manchester Guardian, and returned to the Palace. A
small crowd — for Cettigne was half empty — gathered
outside the Palace. The King and the Princesses
stood on the balcony.

The crowd even at this moment sang " Let me see

— N. ifTC '

king's palace, cettigne.

Prizren !" Six months of war had not inspired a
song about Scutari. Revolver shooting began, and,
with shouting and singing, went on till daybreak.
Sleep was impossible. I turned out at 6.30. The
streets were full of drunken men, revolver in one hand
and brandy-bottle in t'other, reehng, firing haphazard,
and making vain attempts to dance the kolo.

The fall of Scutari was a knockdown blow to me. I
had hoped to the last that the Powers would play up.
All they did now was to announce that the blockade
was extended to Durazzo. The Montenegrins said:

WAR 277

" How funny !" In order to gull Europe into the
belief that Scutari had been finally stormed by the
victorious Montenegrin army, official " news " was
given to a number of correspondents that there
had been a huge battle, and that several thousand
^lontenegrins were wounded. In truth, not a shot
was fired. Official information with any semblance
of truth was not to be had.

In fact, Scutari was in sore pHght. People were
dying at the rate of thirty or forty a day. There was
little for the soldiers, who had been reduced to one
bread-biscuit a day, and several battalions had
demanded surrender. The Turks had almost ex-
hausted their big-gun ammunition, and the Serb guns
were now in position to batter the town to pieces.

Peter Plamenatz drew up very good terms for
Essad Pasha, and he accepted them. Exactly how
good they were we shall possibly never know. That
he was in communication with Prince Mirko secretly
for some time previous, has leaked out. In the
published terms Essad was to retii^e at once with all
his army and all arms except the big guns, and as
much military gear as he could carry. The Monte-
negrins undertook to give him food for the march,
and undertook also not to molest the civil population,
to respect their religious rights, and to take care of
the wounded.

Some wag — it was said to be Prince Petar — dressed
a donkey in black, labelled it *' Neue Freie Presse,"
and instructed some little boys to drive it to the
Austrian Legation.

Everything was in wild confusion. A Te Deum
was arranged — and put off. I walked outside the

278 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

town to avoid meeting any of the Royal Family, for
I had nothing agreeable to say to them.

In the late afternoon one of the Crown Princess's
perianiks brought me a note. Her Royal Highness
had greatly admired my water-colour sketches —
would I bring them round that afternoon to show to
the rest of the Royal Family, who desired to see them.
I felt sorry that Her Royal Highness should have
stooped to so poor a trick for luring me to an inter-
view ; but the idea that on the morrow of the fall of
Scutari the Montenegrin Royal Family should have
been suddenly inspired wdth a craving to inspect
sketches which they could have seen at any previous
time, was too much for my sense of humour.

A sense of humour is, after all, life's chief disinfect-
ant. And in spite of the sordid circumstances, it was
with a grin that I extracted the sketches from the
bottom of my trunk, and gave them to the perianik
with a note, in which I regretted that, owing to the
fact that the drawings were already packed up, I had
had to keep Her Royal Highness waiting. I hope the
Royal Family enjoyed them.

s^k^^.

TITE CITADEL, gCTTTARI.

CHAPTER XV

SCUTARI

The fall of Scutari had a mixed effect on the Foreign
Legations at Cettigne. France and Russia, to whose
mlful retarding of events, King Nikola's coup was
undoubtedly due, rejoiced openly.

" You cannot," said someone to me, *' get over
le fait accompli f" "Except by accomplishing an-
other,'' said I.

Others among the Ministers were furious, and all
knew that it entailed arduous and responsible work,
and were proportionately serious. One thing only
had the Powers achieved. They had by their very
strong representations made Montenegro understand
that no violence must take place in Scutari. Any-
thing of the sort would mean an immediate occupa-
tion of Cettigne by Austrian troops and a landing of
a combined force. The authorities in consequence
allowed only their more civilized battalions to take
possession of the town, and policed it largely with
Slav volunteers from abroad.

Prince Danilo entered the citadel of Scutari on
April 24, hoisted the ^lontenegrin flag there, and

279

280 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

received the keys from Essad, who, with the Turkish
troops, at once marched off to Tirana. But no state
entry into town was made. The King was to make
this later.

On the 25th, with Mr. Loch of The Times, I went to
Scutari, greatly anxious as to the state of my friends.
We took two large sacks of bread and several cases of
other food.

Poor Scutari, that I had left nine months ago, was a
miserable sight. The people were half dazed with terror
and starvation, and were terrified lest they should
be left in the hands of Montenegro. " If we had but
known help was near," said many, " we might have
held out a day or two longer. We heard there
were ships, but day after day passed and no help
came, and we thought they must be Greek or Bulgar
ships with more troops." The populace was, in fact,
completely in the dark as to what had happened.
The Montenegrin soldiers had already begun telling
the Catholics that they would soon have to learn to
cross themselves properly.

Shattered houses and wounded people corroborated
the indignant statements of the Consuls and the
Archbishop, that the civil population had been
specially selected for bombardment. The schools,
churches, hospitals, and Consulates had all been
aimed at, rather than the citadel or barracks. All
had been struck, and some wrecked. It was im-
possible that all should have been hit accidentally.
The British Consulate had attracted heavy fire. Not
only had it been struck and Mr. Summa wounded, but
both the house opposite and that alongside were
completely destroyed. The cathedral was a wreck

WAR

281

of its former splendour — the roof riddled, the sacristy
and tower burnt out, and great pits blown in the floor
by shells. Forty — fifteen of which were of the largest
calibre — w^ere fired at it. Nearly two thousand
persons had been refuged in it with all their goods,

rS'TERIOR OF SACRISTY AFTER BOMBARDMENT.

believing it safe, and fled in panic. Several were
wounded, and many lost all their gear in the flames.
The convent, too, was wrecked, and two nuns killed
and one wounded.

Poor old Marko and his family were alive, thanks to
the Archbishop's brother, who had fed them. But

282 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

they were ill and shaky; so were many others. In
the poorer houses they lay on the ground in the last
stages of misery. Tortoises, frogs, hedgehogs, dande-
lions had all been used as food. During the last
twenty-eight days few rations had been given out.
Many had eaten more or less poisonous plants (especi-
ally the very acrid root of a kind of arum), or had
tried to make bread with linseed, both of which had
caused acute diarrhoea. I saw a man drop and die in
the street, and I fed a skeleton child.

The Montenegrins had given flour to the heads of
the Catholic and Moslem communities, and this was
distributed free the first few days. People waited
in long lines at the depots.

So far, all food-supplies were in Montenegrin hands,
and nothing could be imported. I fed all my friends
and neighbours out of my stock.

Poor old Marko was in despair. His orchard had
been taken over by the Turkish military as a site for
barracks, and four wooden ones had been erected.
The Bimbashi, on leaving, gave Marko a signed letter,
stating that all things left in his orchard were his
property, to compensate for the damage done.

But the Montenegrin troops had poured in, and
when I arrived were looting hard, tearing down the
barracks, smashing glass and tiles, yelling like a pack
of wild beasts. I ordered them off, and as they re-
fused to obey, went straight to the camp and com-
plained to the officer that his men were behaving
worse than the Turks, and making a very bad im-
pression on the populace. A sentry was put on, but
shortly withdrawn. Back came the men and began
again. Poor Marko, afraid to speak, was almost in

WAR 283

tears, as his goods disappeared. I sent them off a
second time, and threatened to go to the General
about it.

Petar Plamenatz was appointed Governor of
Scutari, and arrived. It was April 28. The Mon-
tenegrin kavas met me in the street and said that
Petar wanted to see me at once. I went straight to
the Montenegrin Consulate, where he was established.
" I fehcitate you," said I. '' During the war you
told me that this was the position you aspired
to. You have reached it." Petar looked harassed.
"What!" he cried; ''you — you who know the
difficulties of the situation, felicitate me ?" '' The
greater the difficulties the greater the honour if you
succeed," I said. " Mon Dieu ! mon Dieu !" cried
Petar, " what can I do ? I drew up all Essad's
terms — arranged the whole terms of surrender. I
believed it would be the crown of my Hfe, and that I
should be able to retire from pubhc life, with my
career honourably terminated!" Petar being well
under forty, the idea of his career being terminated
struck me as funny. I threw out no suggestions. " I
have sent for you," he continued, " to beg your help."
(" The devil you have," thought I.) " I beg that
you, who understand these people, will take a house
here and remain to assist me." I said that I hoped
to stay on for a bit, but had no fixed plans as yet.
" The situation," said Petar, " is very complicated."
'* Very," said I. " What would you advise me to do
about the Maltsori ?" " Nothing," said I. " Do not
interfere with them in any way — unless you wish
trouble. They all hate you." " I am of that opinion.
We are agreed." Then, suddenly and passionately:

284 THE STEUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

" You — you — you — a little word from you — only a
word — these Maltsors will follow you. Speak for us
a word — one little word — I beg you — I implore you."
A whirl of recollection buzzed by me. For the
third time Montenegro was begging me to pull it out
of a hole. Not two years ago I had been called upon
to help Montenegro to drive the betrayed Maltsors
back across the frontier. Now Petar cringingly,
abjectly prayed I would help whistle them to the
Montenegrin heel again. I do not think I ever felt
such a contempt for any living being as I did for Petar
at that moment. " All is in the hands of the Great
Powers," I said (hoping they would act speedily).
" What am I ? I can do nothing." " You under-
stand, of course," said Petar, wincing at the mention
of the Powers, " that we have taken Scutari, and shall
remain here ?" " Perfectly," I replied. " I have
already heard it frequently." " And that we shall
leave the very last drop of our blood here rather than
retire." " Perfectly. I have already heard this for
several months." Petar winced again. '' Can I
count upon your assistance ?" he asked. " Unless I
am assured that exactly similar ju'stice is employed
towards Moslems, Catholics, and Orthodox alike, you
cannot. It is a point upon which I feel very strongly.
So far during the war I have seen nothing but foul-
ness, corruption, and cruelty. You are probably not
aware of the conduct of Stanko Markovitch at

Podgoritza. He wished to starve " " Ah, mon

Dieu ! mon Dieu !" cried Petar; "you can have
no idea how I regret that. Will you distrust me
because of the conduct of a beast, an anmial, like
Stanko ?" "I have heard of what has happened in

WAR 28e5

other places also. And you must admit that Stanko
is the Governor of the largest town in Montenegro.
If such is the justice of a large town, what kind of
justice is to be expected in the distant parts ? I have
heard enough about that." Petar was desperate. He
opened a drawer and took out papers. " See," he
said, "you yourself shall appoint the officials here."
He asked me to recommend a dragoman who could
speak Serb and Albanian. They were very scarce, in
spite of the " 26,000 Slavs " reported by Popo\dtch.
We selected two. He started on the Judges. There
was only one very good one in Montenegro, according
to Petar. We appointed him — on paper. " You
understand," said Petar, '" that we shall treat with
perfect justice all those who are on our side. To the
others we shall show no mercy." " Perfectly, as you
have been doing in Djakova already," I said. " Have
you anything to suggest ?" he asked. " It would be
well, I think, if until more order is established, the
Capitulations and a certain amount of European
control should be in force." " We will tolerate no

interference " began Petar. " It is not worth

chscussing," said I, " since, after all, all is in the hands
of the Great Powers." Petar made one more effort.
" Have you anything to complain of in the way of
justice now ?" '' Certainly. The soldiers are looting
old Marko like wolves." I obtained a signed order
that this should cease. " Had I permission, too, to
cross the Drin and go to the assistance of the villages
that had been burnt and plundered by the Serbs ?"
He flew into a passion. '' Xo villages," he declared,
" have been burnt or plundered by the Serbs. The
Albanians have told you that lie." " Jovan Jovit-

286 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

chevitcli, lately Consul here, told me. He said it
was a scandal." Petar was upset. " And I wish to
know if it is permitted to feed the sick and starving
in the town, or will they, if they accept help, be
threatened with hanging or imprisonment, as they
were at Podgoritza ?"

He knew this was true, and, visibly anxious, said,
parole d'honneiir, I was free to help whom I pleased.
He was plausible, imploring, defiant, and abject in
turn. When he wound up with the remark, '' Though
the task is difficult, you must at least admit. Mademoi-
selle, that in all Montenegro I am the only man truly
capable of undertaking it," I almost laughed aloud.
For this was meant for a hit at Louis Voinovitch.
I undertook to assist him on the terms of strict
justice — if he remained — and said " Good-bye." Nor,
as Fate ordained, did I ever speak with him again.
The most remarkable thing in the interview was,
perhaps, that he had not dared to deny a single one
of my charges.

The time passed as a sort of nightmare, and seemed
endless. No news was admitted to the town. No
letters could be either sent or received safely unless
by the hands of some correspondent or other foreigner,
coming or leaving. Montenegro meanwhile worked
feverishly to get the populace somehow, by threat or
promise, to sign papers stating that they wished to
belong to Montenegro. The people, terrified, knew
not what to do. They did not want to be Montenegrin,
but the ships of the Powers lay inactive, and all hope
of help was dying. Perhaps the Powers after all
were yielding to the fait accompli. The Archbishop
made a plucky stand. He was oftered higher re-

WAR 287

muneration as a Montenegrin subject if he would get
the Catholics to sign, and refused, saying that such a
thing must not be said in his palace. More than one
well-known patriot had to fly by night and lie hid, and
escaped only just in time, for the soldiers came to
arrest him next day for telling people " not to sign, and
the Powers would save them." Montenegro made, too,
an attempt to set the Moslems against the Catholics.
The place swarmed with spies. No one dared speak.
I busied myself wholly with relief work. Two most
able assistants, Miss Buxton and Miss Robertson — a
trained nurse — arrived. Alone I could not have
tackled the work. The Austrians and Italians had
each a relief ship waiting, but were not allowed to act
till the political situation was cleared. I obtained
sacks of dried beans from peasants who came down
from the mountains which war had not touched.
We made house-to-house visits all the morning, feed-
ing up dying people with the condensed milk and beef
extract I had brought; and held, in the afternoon,
an out-patient department for the less ill, and dealing
out rations of beans and rice to the starving. The
weather was intensely hot, and the work among the
stuffy, dirty hovels and crowds of people very ex-
hausting. Crowds of soldiers swarmed into the town.
The drink shops were crammed. It was an anxious
time. Tradesmen began to complain that the soldiers
pilfered. No news came. I met Voivoda Vukotitch,
the Queen's brother, on the Bojana bridge. " How
long are you staying here ?" he asked. " I am
waiting to see the King's State entry," said I. He
looked uncomfortable. " Is it fixed ?" I asked.
" No," said he.

288 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

I felt happier. The Powers were doing something,
at any rate. And on May 3 General Martinovitch,
who was Military Commandant, hurried off to
Cettigne. We struggled on with our mass of patients,
the greater part of whom revived with careful feeding
and a few simple di'ugs. News came that on the 14th
the British Admiral and representatives of all the
other Powers would take possession of the town.

It w^as too good to be true. I had been hoping and
fearing for Scutari through the long grey winter
months, and now in the heat of early summer the
hopeless year crawled on and on. I dreaded lest
even at the last moment the Powers, to gain some
private ends, would allow this population to be
martyred like the Djakovans and the people of
Gusinje. Wholesale massacre such as that reported
from Prizren and near Monastir might follow later.

At the very last, when the Montenegrins knew they
must leave, they took a mean revenge. The town
was swarming with Montenegrin women as well as
men, and it is they who are beUeved to have set fire
to the bazar. This is always closed at night, and
almost all tradesmen return home to the town. It
was patrolled entirely by Montenegrin soldiers. Fire
broke out at three points at once a little after mid-
night, and began, moreover, in the richest part of the
bazar. Some bazar-men who discovered the fire
were prevented by the soldiers from giving the alarm
till it was well alight. It was then impossible to
arrest the flames till quite half the bazar had been
destroyed. I went to see what was happening. The
crowd of Montenegrins, oflicers and all, were laughing
— as pleased as Punch. The shopkeepers near the

WAH

289

fire tried vainly to save their goods, the gieater part
of which were looted by the Montenegrins. As the
Montenegiins boldly denied that they were guilty,
and blamed the Austrians among other people, I
made inquiries at Plavnitza and at Podgoritza, and
found that any amount of loot had been brought in
there, and that people were boasting of it. There
could be no doubt of Montenegro's guilt. Xo such
fire had taken place for thirty years, and it was the
final blow which criLshed many a poor Scutarene who

O^fJe^

EVlMlJ ! ILL liCEM BAZAK.

hoped, with reviving trade, to make up for the losses
of the war. A rumour flew through the town that
the Montenegrins meant to burn tliat too next night.
But this I did not believe they would dare do. And
on May 14 they began early to trail over the bridge
and out of the town.

It was a beautiful summer day. The river ghttered
in the sun. Down by the bend, the launch came in
sight. Nearer and nearer. The populace had pie-
pared Albanian banners and wished to strew roses at

290 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Vice-Admiral Burney's feet, but were forbidden, to
their bitter disappointment, to make any sign of joy
at all. The launch passed under the bridge over
which the retreating Montenegrins were tramping.
" Look at those great fat Englishmen," said one,
pointing to the sailors. " I wish we had a Govern-
ment that fed us like that."

The launch drew alongside the ramshackle Custom-
house. The Admirals landed along a plank, were met
by some of the 3Iontenegrin authorities, and went up
to the town. The anguish and tension of six long
months was over. Scutari was saved.

PART IV

THE HARVEST OF WAR

" Have ye fled in the sickly dawn, before it was yet too late.
With a child in your arms new-born, leaving cripples to find
their fate ?
Our altars were foul with blood when we came to the homes
we'd fled,
Smelt the reek of oui' kinsmen's blood; thanked God that the
dead were dead." — Aubrey Herbert.

CHAPTER XVI

THE HARVEST OF WAR

The war was over. There are people, I believe, wlio
still imagine that war brings forth fine qualities. To
me it had appeared only as a sort of X-ray, which
showed up pitilessly all that is most base, most foul,
and most bestial in human nature. The very few
acts of kindness or generosity which I had witnessed
were those of kindly individuals whom war had not
corrupted (they would have been equally generous in
peace-time), and in no way compensated for the fact
that in the sacred names of Liberty, Civilization, and
Christianity, the ^lontenegrin people, blood-drunk,
lust-drunk, loot-drunk, had reverted to primitive
savagery — and in so doing had lost the very small
idea of discipline they had acquired. Judging by
their talk, they proposed to live in future as a maraud-
ing army. Never fond of work, they declared that
they had conquered enough people to do the work for
them, and looked forward to a life of something like
slave-driving. A marked result of war was the com-

293

294 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

plete manner in which the Royal Princes had lost their
prestige. Seldom, perhaps, in the history have three
Princes so thrown away an unique chance of gaining
fame and popularity. Prince Petar stuck pluckily
to the camp and suffered considerable hardship.
Of his two elder brothers, the less said the better — if
only half the contemptuous remarks of the soldiers
were true.

And with bitter ingratitude (for with all his faults
King Nikola is the maker of Montenegro, which
without him would never have obtained so much
European recognition) the pro-Serb party talked openly
of speedy union with Servia. The Petrovitch family
would be sent to join the Obrenovitches. Some went
even further as wipers out of dynasties, and proposed
to assassinate as well, King Ferdinand, and construct
the Great Servia of Dushan's days. It was poor
stuff. I quote it only to illustrate the blood-lust
raised by war.

There is but one thing more terrible than war, and
that is the time that follows immediately afterwards ;
it is then that the war's innocent victims — those who
have escaped sudden and merciful death by shot and
shell — crawl back to the blackened ruins of their
homes to face a slow and cruel death from cold and
starvation. To the help of these it was urgently
necessary to go.

Miss Buxton and Miss Robertson took over the
relief work in the town until the arrival of the Austro-
Italian relief ships made further work there on our
part unnecessary, and I started to ride round the
country districts.

If maize could be sown before June 26, there was yet

THE HARVEST OF WAR 295

chance of a harvest. The land beyond Drin, wasted
by the Serb army, was my first care. Jovitchevitch
had in no way exaggerated the devastation. Into the
details of each ruined district I will not enter. Even
misery a thousand times repeated monotonously,
becomes boring.

So effectually had the houses been destroyed in
many places, that nothing remained but a heap of
stones, and re-roofing was impossible. To add to the
difficulty, the invading troops had, in some instances,
felled so much timber for winter fuel that even for the
building of hovels there was scanty material.

Accompanied by local headmen, who came to fetch
me, I rode to each miserable district, summoned the
heads of the houses, and distributed, in cash, a sum of
money with which to buy seed-corn or other seed, or
a sheep or two, as folk thought best. The season
proved a better one than usual, and all whom I w^as
able to help in time, reaped good harvests. Those
who sold vegetables to the international forces occupy-
ing Scutari did good trade.

But the destruction proved to be far more widely
spread than I had any idea of to begin with. Miser-
able, half-starved people began to flock in with im-
ploring messages that I would go farther and farther
afield.

Of the places near Scutari the most wretched was
Drishti, the home of the women prisoners at Pod-
goritza. This most beautiful and rich village, once
a bower of silvery olives, was a blank desolation. Xot
only had every olive-tree been felled for fuel by the
Montenegrins, who camped hard by, but even the
roots had been stubbed up. The neat market-gardens

296 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

with their ingenious irrigation system, that lay along
the river- bank, were wiped out of existence. Half the
houses were burnt. All were plundered. And when I
visited the place, the wretched survivors were smitten
with smallpox, and thirteen sick persons were all
crowded in one cavern. In some other places all the
fruit-trees upon which the people depended for a liveli-
hood were felled. Places that I had known well-to-do,
with fat fields of maize and flocks of sheep and goats,
where the peasants had had plenty to eat and drink,
and fine embroidered clothes and silver chains to
wear on a feast day, were desert wastes, almost un-
recognizable.

Women crouched in hovels made of a few sticks
leaned against the ruined walls of their house, and
cooked leaves and grass for the children. Many were
half naked. I was glad, indeed, that I had saved ten
bales of the clothing sent me from England, and only
wished they had been a thousand.

Some districts were so large it took me three days of
ten or twelve hours to ride round them and assist
them and return to Scutari. In all, I visited near
Scutari some 1,022 burnt-out families. The most
piteous thing of all was that few of the unhappy
victims had any idea why this ruin had fallen upon
them. Women with starving children would ask:
" Why did the Great Kings (the Powers) let the
soldiers come and rob us and kill us ? We were doing
no harm. And they took our goats, and our sheep —
everything, everything. And when my husband
tried to save the sheep, they shot him. Our house is
burnt. We are starving on the highroad." Why,
indeed ? It would be impossible to make these poor

HlRNT HorSE AT (iKIZHA.

jyf.Aj|iM*^^

HiKNT or I Cim.iiKKN A I Skikk/.i.

THE HARVEST OF WAR 297

creatures understand that the Great Powers were
actually priding themselves on having " localized the
trouble." " Are we not good ?" they ask. " Our
little hands have not torn each others eyes. We
have only sat round and watched these people being
slaughtered." The Moslem women of Albania, watch-
ing their childi'en die of cold and hunger, are too
ignorant to understand the noble self-restraint of the
Powers. And the Powers now were treating Albania
very badly. They neither appointed any Govern-
ment nor recognized any local one, and people knew
not to whom to look. They were for the most part
terrified of offending Europe by recognizing any
native as head of Albania. But local headmen were
keeping excellent order.

The patience with which a whole people, placed in
a most difficult and almost unprecedented position,
went on with their daily affairs quietly has not been
sufficiently recognized. While I was riding about the
burnt districts I was always unarmed, was frequently
with men I had never seen before, and everyone knew
I had at least £T200 in gold in the bag at my belt.
Men by the wayside would call out by me: " Where
are you taking the money to-day ? Come to our
village next." But no attempt of any sort was ever
made either to take it from me or to force me to change
my route. I often wondered whether similar sums
could be safely carried through England supposing
all pohce withdrawn and the Government entirely
done away with.

The news that someone was giving relief near
Scutari spread, and from districts four and five days
distant came men with yet more horrible accounts of

298 THE STEUGGLE FOE SCUTAEI

suffering. These were from Puka, and were in the last
stages of want. One man I recall who was dressed
only in a couple of sacks. Many of this district must
have died of want in the following winter, as funds were
not forthcoming to help them adequately. They
were the victims of wanton outrage. The misery of
the homes wrecked actually in the course of war, was
perhaps a necessary consequence of that noble pas-
time. The misery of those wrecked in vengeance
when war was over, cannot be excused on these
grounds.

The Servian army, when ordered to evacuate,
avenged itself most cruelly upon some of the unhappy
districts through which it passed. Puka especially
suffered. At Flet-Puka the people, when the Serbs
arrived in November, 1912, offered resistance and
lost nine men. The Serbs forced a way through, and
burnt twenty houses, but otherwise did no damage.
But in April, when they returned and the men of the
village were away in the mountains, the soldiers fell
on the helpless inhabitants, killed fifty-two persons,
of whom the majority were women and children, and
burnt and plundered the rest of the houses.

Miserable people from Arzi told of even worse things
there. When passing through the village in Novem-
ber the Serbs had merely disarmed the people, who had
not resisted. But when the troops returned in April,
they amused themselves by bleeding some of their
defenceless victims to death. " Not quickly, as you
do sheep, but slowly. They made little cuts on the
wrists and the elbows and on the necks so that they
should be a long time dying." Some women, with
hideous and vivid pantomime, described the manner

THE HARVEST OF WAR 299

of the cuts and how the Serbs had danced round the
dying victims and imitated tlieir last shudders.
Told, too, how an entire family had been massacred,
except one girl, who was hidden under the bodies of
the others, and emerged, blood-soaked. The four
women who told this were Moslem widows, whose
husbands had been killed. I fear that it was all true,
for the details were corroborated by others from the
same district. A Catholic boy, for example, told with
horror of the slaughter. We asked, " Did the Serbs
put the people in a row and shoot them ?" " No, no.
Far worse than that. They cut them here and

here " He pointed to the spots and gave the same

account of bleeding.

Nor were the Serbs themselves ashamed of their
exploits, for a Serb officer told a doctor I know, that
he had helped to bury people alive in Kosovo vilayet.
And the terror which the people had of the Serbs told
a tale too. Though ordered by the Powers to
evacuate, the Serbs kept a considerable force in Mir-
dita, and several guns aimed towards the Abbot's
house for about five months after they had declared
officially that they had withdrawn. Nor did they
take any notice of Vice-Admiral Burney's order to
go. They were connected by outposts and by tele-
graph with Prizren, so were in a position to pour in
troops at any moment, which caused the greatest
anxiety among the villagers.

Other victims came, survivors of ^Montenegrin per-
secution in the Gusinje and Djakova districts. In
August I rode close up to this frontier, and heard
from refugees, accounts which abundantly confirmed
those w^hich the Gusinje men in April in fear confided

300 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

to the Moslem shopmen of Podgoritza. One man
can lie; three or four can arrange to tell the same
tale. But when widely scattered people are met and
questioned quite separately, at different times and in
different places, and their accounts agree, there can
be no reasonable doubt that the tale contains a large
proportion of truth, even when the exaggerations
caused by terror are allowed for.

Briefly, so soon as the Powers drew that most un-
fortunate frontier in March " without considering the
ethnographical question," the Montenegrins began
to rearrange that question to suit themselves. " When
the officer Veshovitch came to Gusinje with the Mon-
tenegrin soldiers, he said: ' Do not be afraid. We
have come to set you free. We shall not hurt you.'
And until he left in about a month's time all was
quiet. Then there came two Brigadiers, and an
Orthodox of Gusinje was made Kapetan. He began
a search for arms. Those who had none — and many
were unarmed — said so in vain, and were flogged most
terribly. This began about St. Nikola (in December) .
And the Montenegrins began shooting people, and
robbing them, and stealing their 'cattle. But we
still hoped things would be better, and did not wish
to lose our lands; and there was deep snow on the
passes, so that it was impossible to go with a large
family of children. Then the Montenegrins began
to go against our religion. This was in March. Four
battalions came and surrounded the whole Gusinje
district. They first took the hodjas and asked,
' Will you be baptized V and when a man said ' No,'
dan-dan he was shot dead. Nearly all were shot.
Then they took Bairam Zechir, a headman, and 150

THE HARVEST OF WAR 301

others — all Moslems of Gusinje, Martinovitch, and
Plava, and the neighbouring villages — and took them
away as prisoners, and on the way shot them all in
Chafa Previsit (a pass). They shut all our mosques,
and put guards at the doors, and forbade anyone to
pray as we Moslems do; and if anyone was seen
praying through a window, he was shot. It is im-
possible to tell the misery that has fallen on us.
They forbade our women to go veiled, and tore the
veils ofl' them, and insulted them. Bairam Zechir
and his comrades were the first headmen shot for
reUgion. But then they took men here or there,
twenty or fifty at a time, and shot all who refused
baptism." The number of persons thus shot was
variously estimated. The lowest figure given was
500, the highest about 600. It should be noted that
the man who gave 500 had succeeded in flying from
the district before those who gave a higher estimate.
A considerable number, when they saw how things
were going, managed, in spite of the snow, to escape
to the mountains of Gashi and Krasnichi. But few
who had large families could do so. Some men left
their wives and childi-en — " for war is not made on
women" — but these were driven to church "like
sheep " and baptized. The remaining population,
seeing it was a case of death or baptism, gave way
on the advice of a hodja, who told them that their
hearts would remain Moslem, and that God would
pardon them. An old man who steadfastly refused
baptism was seized by the soldiers, who forced a lump
of pork in liis mouth, and bound it so fast with a hand-
kerchief that the man was suffocated. A number of
women were outraged. " But of this, ' said one

302 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

man, "it is hard for us to speak. It is such a
disgrace."

" At Cherem, a Moslem village, very bad things
were done. Three men from this village had turned
' komit,' had fled to the mountains, and one day fired
on some Montenegrin soldiers. They did not try to
capture the assailants, but went to the village and
captured twenty-seven innocent persons, and shot
them all. In two houses every male was killed. The
women were then told they must be baptized. They
said: ' You have killed our men; leave us our religion.'
The soldiers outraged all, both girls and women, and
afterwards they were all forcibly baptized. In four
other houses the women were all burnt in the houses
after the men were shot. This was all in revenge for
the three men who had fired on the soldiers. All
these people were innocent."

Persons were also killed slowly, as were those at
Arzi by the Serbs, not by cuts, but by a multitude of
small bayonet thrusts all over, till they died of loss
of blood. In the neighbourhood of Ipek and Berani
the former revolutionary leader Avro Tsemovitch,
the half-drunk hero I had seen at Andriyevitza, was
reported to have instigated and committed horrible
atrocities. The Albanian mountains were full of
these unhappy Moslems, and the tribes of Gashi and
Krasnichi were giving them food and shelter. I
could do but little to aid them, as my fund was almost
exhausted.

As for Montenegrin intolerance of Catholicism, an
eyewitness described to me the plundering of the
church of Mazreku. The order was given by one of
the Royal Family of Petrovitch. In spite of the

THE HARVEST OF WAR 303

priest's remonstrances, Montenegrins, both men and
women, struggled to get a bit of something out of the
church. The crucifix and tabernacle were taken, the
missal destroyed, and private houses were entered
and robbed of their pictures and images of saints.

Not satisfied with their attack on the Moslems in
March, the Montenegrins, while I was still in the
mountains in August, fell on the Moslem village of
Vuthaj. I was waked early on the 21st by a man
just in, with the news that the soldiers had attacked
the village before dawn, broken in the doors, seized
the sleeping inmates, and driven out many with
bayonets, and either shot or bayoneted them on the
road. He himself had seen eight bodies, full of
bayonet wounds, and had fled to save his life. Most
of the survivors fled to the Albanian mountains.
Their property was some of the most fertile land in
the district, and for this reason they were raided.

Among Balkan subjects, Ferdinand of Bulgaria
was the only one who spoke the truth in his proclama-
tion of war. It was, he said, to be a war of Cross
against Crescent. The massacres of Adana and the
resultant misery pale, before the scarlet horrors com-
mitted wholesale in cold blood by the so-called fol-
lowers of Christ. The Orthodox Church, with her
Jewish pogroms in Russia and her Balkan exploits,
now holds the world's record for religious savagery.

The Montenegrins, I learnt later, had pursued a
similar pohcy after the war of 1877. The Moslems
were then forcibly expelled from Podgoritza, and
their houses in the old town burnt, as well as the
bazar. When riding round on relief work, I came
across a district, Buza Ujit, entirely peopled by refu-

304 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

gees, who had then fled from Podgoritza, and their
descendants. The Catholic Maltsors, their neigh-
bours, had, however, come at the beginning of the
war, and occupied their houses for them, so they told
me, and had cried to " i biri Kralit " (the King's son)
to spare them. As Montenegro then still wished to
be on good terms with the Maltsors, the Buza Ujit
people were thus saved from a second time experi-
encing ]\Iontenegrin methods.

When I had heard the horrors of the Gusinje dis-
trict, I found that there were about a thousand
refugees from the Djakova district, where similar
horrors were being enacted. Great misery, too, was
and is caused by the frontier-line, drawn " without
considering the ethnographic question." It has been
drawn between large districts and their only market-
town, the learned frontier- drawers having, it appears,
forgotten that a town and its surroundings necessarily
form an organic whole, and are interdependent. By
giving Djakova to the Montenegrins, the whole of the
Nikaj, Merturi, Gashi, Krasnichi, Tropopoja tribes,
and parts of Puka, are deprived of any place where
they can either buy or sell. Djakova was founded by
emigrants from Merturi and Berisha, and never was
a Serb town. The luckless mountain men, when war
was over, tried to go as usual to market. Some were
flogged, and others shot. A four or five days' tramp
to Scutari is their only alternative. The Serbs
were supposed by Europe to have performed an
heroic feat when they marched over these same moun-
tains in the winter. The Powers have condemned
the unhappy peasants to make a similar march when-
ever they wish to buy some maize or lamp-oil.

THE HARVEST OF WAR 305

Moreover, Montenegro is so sparsely populated that
she has not people enough of her own to populate
these regions which she has devastated. Djakova,
Ipek, Plevlje, and Bijelopolje, have been awarded to
her, each one bigger than — in some cases twice or thrice
as big as — her capital Cettigne; and the small towns
of Berani, Gusinje, and Plava as well. So much for
the results of war in the north.

In June, I made a journey on the Houyhnhnm down
south, through Alessio, Delbinishti, Durazzo, Pekin,
Elbasan, Struga, Ochrida, Pogradech, Kortcha, Berat,
Fieri, and Avlona, and thence returned by boat to
Scutari. Of this journey it is not my purpose to
speak much; space forbids, and much of it belongs
rather to the new era than to the old one. It con-
firmed, were more confirmation needed, the misconduct
of the invading armies ; for only in those parts which
no foe had penetrated were there no tales of outrage.
The whole land was in a state of suspense, awaiting
the help of Europe, and praying for the speedy arrival
of a Prince who should put a stop to the intrigues,
inspired largely from abroad, which threatened them.
The greatest distrust was felt for Essad Pasha. He
alone was possessed of artillery and an armed force,
and, it was feared, would make an attempt to gain
power for himself. It was rumoured also that he was
receiving money from abroad.

Tranquillity reigned everywhere, and the local
governors were administering primitive and effective
justice. One picture is burnt into my memory.
It was the passing of the Turk. Through Durazzo,
as the sun was setting, came a miserable little pro-
cession. Pallid men in khaki rags, their bare feet

306 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

dangling limp, clung to the saddle-bow, and sat with
pain the lean horses that bore them. Others, a shade
less ill, limped after on foot. It was the last dying rem-
nant of the Turkish army. The transport which was
to fetch them had not arrived, and as the light died
away they went out to pass the night on the bare
ground by the shore. If the Turk had abused his
power, he had paid for it. I shall never see anything
more tragic than the dumb misery of those few sur-
vivors of a military Power which had once made all
Europe tremble.

Ochrida in the hands of the Serbs was another

tragic sight. I had known it well, ten years ago,

when I first did hospital work for the wounded, and

more than half expected to meet my own ghost as I

walked through the melancholy streets. Then the

Bulgars had just been crushed after a most fierce

insurrection; but they did not look half so hopeless

and sad then as now, when they had been " freed "

by the Serbs. They had given their blood and goods

in the hope of union, not with Servia, but with

Bulgaria. Some few who recognized me said there

was more misery than ever. The once busy Moslem

bazar was largely closed. What had become of the

large Moslem population, nearly all Albanian, I do

not know. The Bulgar school was closed. The

streets, newly inscribed with the names of Serb heroes,

were silent except for the Serb troops which pervaded

them.

Rumours of the second, and most disgraceful, Balkan
war filled officers and men with excitement. Not
satiated with Albanian blood, they thirsted for that
of their allies.

THE HARVEST OF WAR 307

At Pogradech, a little Albanian town at the foot of
the lake, all the shops were shut in order to celebrate
the anniversary of Kosovo, which did not interest the
Albanians at all. They asked when the Serbs were
going, and begged for union with Albania, but were
cautious of speaking. When leaving, I went to the
han to pay for my horse- forage, and, as change, was
offered Serb coins. " Do not give me Serb money,"
said I, for I was going into Greek-held territory. In
an instant popular feeling blazed. '' Ha ! she won't
have anything Serb ! Bravo ! bravo !" I was
alarmed lest trouble should arise, but the company
was solid Albanian.

When I was in Kortcha its fate was still undecided
by the Conference in London. It was a-bristle with
Greek soldiers, and there were freshly painted Greek
inscriptions all over the town. It was in Kortcha,
ten years ago, that I had first been inspired to help
the Albanian people to become a nation, by the enthu-
siasm of the patriots whose acquaintance I made
there. From Kortcha, too, during the Young Turk
reorime, and before it had started forcible Ottoman-
izing, I had received Albanian papers and joyous
reports of the way pupils were flocking to learn in
the Albanian school. Now things were very different.
A curiously interesting light was thrown on the way
in which political movements are worked and dust
thrown in the eyes of Europe. On entering the town,
the Greeks had at once ordered that Greek and not
Albanian should be spoken, and exiled or imprisoned
many who had the courage to declare themselves
Albanian. There were some 6.000 soldiers in the
town, and the population was helpless. While I

308 THE STRUGGLE FOE SCUTARI

was there a " National Meeting " was got up by the
Greeks. The bazar was closed; the Greek priests
made house-to-house visits, ordering all persons to
attend. The women and children were even bribed
to do so by being told that some English people had
come to speak to them — a statement which can only
be described as a shameless lie. Neither I nor my
companion had any intention of speaking at a political
meeting. Nor, in spite of this attraction, did a very
large number of persons attend; but the Conference
of Ambassadors in London was informed that the
whole population of Kortcha wished for Greek rule.
In that case one wondered why they had not got up
a mass meeting themselves, without the help of Greek
soldiers at the street corners to point the way, and
priests to tell them what to say. Many small towns
all over the world could doubtless be made to say
they wished to be Zulus, if an overpoweringly large
force of that race were in occupation, and no help
at hand. The very large majority of the inhabi-
tants of the district were Moslem, and had no desire
to become Greek subjects. The whole thing was so
obviously a "put-up job" that it' weakened such
sympathy as I had for the Greeks, and filled me with
a certain contempt that they should have stage-
managed it so badly. A number of persons, on
the other hand, sent messages to us, and said they
did not desire to become Greek subjects. As in
Montenegro, so here, the desire of the conqueror was
to exterminate or drive out the Albanian population,
especially the Moslem portion.

At Moskopol, a small Vlah town, on the return
journey, Greek efforts were highly comical. A number

THE HARVEST OF WAR

309

of persons were sent up overnight and instructed how
to act. On our arrival, they rang the church bells
and came prancing out to welcome us " to a Greek
town." It was exactly like the scene of " peasants
rejoicing " when the curtain goes up at a comic
opera, and terribly overacted.

If the Powers, to gain some private ends of their
own, do not force the Greeks to evacuate, they will
sign the death-warrants of a large proportion of the
population.

To arrive at Berat, a free Albanian town, after all

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, AVLONA.

this was like coming up for a breath of fresh air.
Berat, gay, jolly, and full of life, was crowded with
pack-animals and peasants come to market. The
contrast between it and Greek-ridden Kortcha was
most marked. Berat's one anxiety was that Europe
should send a Prince quickly who should protect
Albania from further aggression.

Avlona was full of refugee Moslems who had fled
from Greek persecution. They reported much pil-
laging and cruelty. Avlona was then still the seat of
Ismail Kemal's temporary government, but Avlona,
like Berat, begged for the Prince to come quickly.

310 THE STRUGGLE FOB SCUTARI

There were signs that Essad, jealous of power, would
shortly begin to make trouble, and the long-drawn
delay of the Powers to fulfil their promises was
causing deep anxiety.

The international forces were not allowed jurisdic-
tion beyond ten kilometres from Scutari, and the
people knew not whom to obey. Had the Powers
allowed the international troops to each occupy
separate districts and rule till the Prince's arrival,
much difficulty and trouble might have been spared.
Instead, almost a year was allowed to pass between
the Powers' decision to create a fresh Albania and
their recognizing a ruler of it ; and time was given for
the plans of rival chiefs and of the most interested of
the Powers themselves to be matured.

CHAPTER XVII

LAST WORDS

I RETURNED to Scutai i ill July, and worked till the
middle of September, struggling to enable some, at
least, of the war victims to face the coming winter.
The distress was more widely spread than I had
imagined. It was now too late to sow, and I had
almost no money. This the poor people could not
believe, and the scenes which ensued were indescrib-
ably painful.

I sent messages in vain up-rountry saying that no
more help could be given. Women whose starved
breasts had no more milk for the shrivelled baby
came and threw themselves at my feet, and wept and
cried: " If you will not help me, throw my children
into the river; I cannot see them starve." I remem-
bered Petar Plamenatz saying with a grin: " The
more starve, the better for us !"

I prepared to leave the country, as I could do no
more, believing that though in outlying districts
there would be deaths from starvation, yet our fund
had saved a considerable number. And 1 hoped that
England would send money to rescue others. The
need was great, but not unconquerable.

Then came the final catastrophe. The Serb troops,
when withdrawing from Albanian territory in the

311

312 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

neigtboiirhood of the Debra frontier, looted, as they
went, the horses and flocks. The owners resisted,
and were shot, and forty-two headmen were taken
prisoner to Debra. The Serb force was small. The
whole population rose in a body, and though a number
were armed only with sticks, hatchets, and similarly
primitive weapons, they drove the Serbs from the
place and rescued the prisoners, all of whom were
bound and condemned to death, but as yet only a
few killed.

Ignorant of European politics, the luckless people
hoped that the frontier would be redrawn and
their town given back to them; but a large Serb
force poured down upon them and took terrible
vengeance.

I received an urgent telegram to hurry to Elbasan
at once with " first-aid " material. As the fund was
exhausted, this was not easy. The Italian Consulate,
however, gave me three cases of material, and I
started. Three and a half days took me to Elbasan
via Tirana; but on the way I already met with
refugees.

Next morning, even before the dawn, they were
streaming into the town, and I watched them with
dull dismay. Hundreds of women, dragging little
children, and bent under the bundles of bedding they
carried, filed in. There were some Gypsies and some
Bulgarians, but the bulk were Moslem Albanians.
The men, fine specimens of humanity, bore themselves
bravely even in their misery as they tramped by.
Almost all were unarmed. I remember a woman
who showed her cut feet. She had tramped with her
three children from the Gostivar district near Uskub.

THE irAKVKST OF AVAR 313

It liad taken six days — " The children went so
slowly."

All told the same tale. Their villages had been
set on and burnt by the Serb troops who were on the
way to Debra. 1 was Ejiven the particulars of twenty-
seven villages in all. In some iastances the troops
had set fire to the village and surrounded it, and
driven back with the bayonet those who had not had
time to escape. In making such inquiries, one mu.st
always allow for the exaggeration which is inevitable
when people are terror-stricken and have tied for
their lives, and must always hope that some of those
reported slain wmII have survived; but even if the
tale of horror were divided by ten, it left an awful
record of '* what man has done to man." Moreover,
on my return journey I met a mass of people at
Tirana who had fled from the same districts, and they,
separately questioned, gave almost precisely similar
accounts. Nor when the old hodja of Rechan broke
down and wept, when he told that he was one of five
men who had escaped alive out of eighty, and that he
had heard the shrieks of the women burning in the
hoases, could one doubt that he was speaking the
truth.

In the face of all this misery, 1 was helple-s. The
local authorities allotted some money for relief work,
and formed a committee. All the money that I had
with me I had already spent on the refugees at
Elbasan. I rode away from the siirht of nii^ory which
1 could not aid.

In Scutari I was met with more bad news. The
Serbs and Montenegrins had cros-sed the Albanian
frontier, an«l had entirely burnt all the houses of the

a=:

314 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Gashi and Krasnichi tribes. This was in vengeance
for the fact that these tribes had been sheltering and
feeding the wretched refugees from Gusinje and Dja-
kova. Moreover, a number of Moslem villages in
the neighbourhood of Prizren and Djakova had also
been burnt; horrible outrages were reported by the
survivors. In one village the girls had first been
captured and handed over to the lust of the soldiery,
and afterwards thrown into the burning village.
Such was the account of the refugees.

From places four days' march away came hapless
creatures to beg aid. I remember a man who came
with his wife and three boys from a village in the
Prizren district. He told that all had been quiet
there ; it was far from the trouble at Debra. Someone
brought word that the Serb army was approaching.
*' I said to my brother, ' Let us fly,' for I knew what
the Serb soldiers were like. He had a little shop, and
said: * No; why should we ? We have done nothing.'
But I was afraid, and took my wife, and my two boys,
and his boy, and went up the mountain. Soon we
saw our village burning. The people who escaped
told me my brother was dead. I did not know where
to turn for help. I heard of you. I am ashamed to
beg; I did not think I should ever have to do it, for
I have always given hospitality." His wife burst into
tears when I said I could only give food for a day or
two.

I left Scutari and returned to England after three
years and six months' absence. But the tale of
misery has gone on, and the agents who are struggling
with it have been unable, through lack of funds, to
lelieve more than a limited number. In the high

THE HARVEST OF WAR 315

mountaias the burnt-out people of Ga-^hi and Kras-
nichi are reported to have died at the rate of twenty
a day. And the hitest letters (April, 1914) tell that
the Greeks, in evacuating part of the South Albanian
district, have burnt and pillaged eleven Moslem vil-
lages in the Kolonia and Frasheri districts; that they
have organized bands of raiders to resist Albanian
occupation; that Greeks and Cretans, led by Greek
officers, have been plundering and slaughtering; and
that 5,000 more destitute refugees are crying for help.

As an Albanian patriot truly wrote: " Yes, the
Allies fought side by side simply for the devastation
and extermination of our nation. The world must
surely be amazed that nations calling themselves
Christian can, through greed and anger, commit such
barbarities."

So much for the past. I have set down briefly a
few of the things which I have seen and heard. Of
the future it is impossible to propliesy. In the
Balkan Peninsula it is usually the unexpected which
takes place. The one thing that can be said witli
certainty is that no permanent solution of the Balkan
question has been arrived at. The ethnographical
questions have been ignored. A portion of each race
has been handed over to be ruled by another which
it detests. Servia has acquired a population which
is mostly Bulgar and Albanian, though of the latter
she has massacred and expelled many thousands.
Bulgars have been captured by (Jreeks, Cheeks by
Bulgars, Albanians by Greeks, and not one of these
races has as yet shown signs of being capable to rule
another justly. The seeds have been sown of hatreds
that will grow and bear fruit.

316 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

At least a generation must pass before the actual
loss and waste of property can in any way be made
up for. This has been so gi^eat that were it not for
heavy loans each of the late Allies would be hope-
lessly crippled. They are at the mercy of such of the
Powers as finance them; and meanwhile more than
one of the said Powers stands expectant, ready to
snap up the pieces should a second break-up take
place.

I \ 1) I : X

Abdil Hamid. .">. s. lu. 11. M
Albania. 13. '2irK 'J.ll. '^41. '2:>'2. 'JUT
Albanian comniittco. .%4, {\S

language. 65. 72. I'JO. 1311. 240.

251.207
Bchools, 13. 10. 55. 00. 73. 132.
13l>. 240
Alossio. fA). 95. 114. 231
America. 08
Andrivovitra. 38. 107 tt mtq., 174.

lh"2. 3l>2
Archbi»li()j) (of Scutari). 01 cl «tq.,

10. 90. 120. 141. 140. 280
Arms. 18. 72. 150
Austria. 12. 17, 40. 122. 120. 154.

177.253,254.271
Austrian ConBulato. 14. 133. 1.18. 177
Autonomy (for Allmnia). 23. 152. 155
Avlona. 135. 148. 234. 309

Balkan States, 6, 88. 150. 100. 209.

22i>
Bardhanjolt. 210. 228, 257
Batar. 17. 22. 2H8. 30M
Bechir (Brigadier). 195. 127. 224.

248
Bodri Pa8ha. 19
lioranj. 27. 105. 108. 171. IS4. 227.

237. '2M. 302
Berat. 3<K".. 34J9
B«Ha. IH. 120
Blazho lioHhkuvitch. 37. 41. 43, IJIi.

151. 1K3. 180. 189
Blockhouhoa. 25. ItU). 1<'.9. 173
Bomb affair. 20. 135. 175
Bourchier (Mr.. «.( The Ttmes), 53. 57
Bmm ' ■ •' inh). 32
Bnti~! • nt. 14. l.'.O. 172

Vi. 124. 120. 133. 147.

UMl. 271. 2>M»
Bulftaria, 13. M. 103. 127. 150
BulKam. 0. 8. 118. 140. 208. 262.

270. 312. 315

Burning of villagos, 26. 29, 35, 53.
."iO. 90. 92 ft *,q.. 112. 100. 108.
194, 209. 221. 2h.->. 295, 313

Catholics. 12. 17. 19. 02. 140. 208.

225. 247. 249. 251. 2.''>4, 202, 20<1.

209. 284. 304
Cottigno. 17, 20. 42. 03. 08. 71. lO.'i.

174. 181. 1S5. 193. 243. 2.VS
Cholera. 75. i>2
Comet. 14. 18

Constant inoj)li'. 10. 19. 5<», llo. 229
Constitution (Turkish), 3, 5, 7, 12,

107. 110
Correspondents, 33, 36. 63, 57. 07.

75
Crane (Mr., of Chicago), 50 ct scq..

119

Danilo (CYown Prince of Monto-

nepro). 21. 05. 184. 1S9. I'M. 2in.'.

20<>. 229. 248. 253. 279. 304
Dochich. 24. 1(^. 170. 187. 1h9.

190. 193. 214. 218. 244
])ed Soko. 115. 177. 184
Desecration of churches. 20, 50. 91.

170. 247
Djakova. 08. 105. 232. 230. 208. 28H.

2l»9. 305
Iijavid Tanha. 14. 27. 171. 184
DriHhti. 92. 2:{9. 24s. *J<M
Dukagini. 18. 27. 44. lo5. I.V.. 2<H

Rlbasan. 13. 20. 158. 305. 312
Kimad Pawha. 10. 110, 184. 264. 277.

280. 2H3. 34>5. 310
KurojMv 57. 59. tV4. 129. 109. 259
Kun>iM'nn gunrantf*'. t\'.\. 04. 73
Kuru[>ean intorwntiun. 20^. 273

I-Vmnc*. 279

Fr»nrii»c»ni«. 79. 2»rJ. 2«i7. 225

Krxmticrs. 25. 40. l.'.O. 173. '2t\s. •J74

317

318 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Gani Bey, 10

Garibaldi, 19, 40, 60

Gelosh Djoko, 30, 134, 141, 220

German Legation, 260, 264

Graves (Mr.), 137 et seq., 140, 142

Great Powers, 5, 8, 17, 70, 87, 164,

174, 258, 262, 260, 268, 270. 275,

279, 284. 297
Greece, 13, 150, 270
Greeks, 6, 109, 270, 280, 307, 315
Gregovitch, 75, 157
Gruda tribe, 18. 27, 72, 163, 177,

203, 213, 222, 208, 275
Guns (Montenegrin), 26, 166, 169,

201, 202, 207, 210
Gusinje, 175, 227, 208, 274, 299

et seq., 305

Hadji Avdil, 137, 140, 146

Heat, 33, 50, 82, 287

Hodja, 20, 68, 69, 301

Hospital, 14, 33, 164, 182, 191, 197,

229, 230 et seq., 235 et seq., 241
Hoti (tribe). 18, 26, 45, 73, 163, 254,

268, 275
Houyhnhnm, 198, 201, 203, 212,

219. 221, 227, 233. 240, 244
Hussein Riza Bey, 99, 110, 120, 122,

126, 130, 144, 228, 239. 246. 254

Immeubles. 125, 139

Indemnity (for burnt houses), 58,

103, 104, HI, 123 et seq.
Insurgents, 25, 46, 68, 158

(terms ofEered to). 58, 72, 74,
125
Interviews, 65, 252, 265
Ipek. 144, 175. 220, 237, 302, 305
Isa Boletin, 105, 170
Ismail Kemal Bey, 20, 54, 68, 158,

270
Italy (her policy), 97, 122, 149, 151
(warwith), 94, 107, 110, 116

Journalists, 12, 52, 61, 107, 192,

232, 265
Jovitchevitch (Montenegrin Consul),

136, 152, 197, 274

Kastrati, 27, 73, 90, 147, 193, 225
King Ferdinand (of Bulgaria), 17,

181, 303
King Nikola (of Montenegro). 17, 21,
33. 41. 63. 70. 72. 75, 103, 120,
135, 154, 162. 178, 181, 185 et seq.,
197, 228, 240, 245, 246, 254, 266,
270. 272. 275, 276

King Peter (of Servia), 17
Klimenti, 27, 49, 73, 254
Kolashm, 158, 102, 183, 163
Komits, 18, 124
Kopliku, 28, 62, 203, 205, 209
Kortcha, 103, 158, 305, 308
Kosovo (vilayet), 12, 68, 153, 150,

183, 238, 246, 299
Kralitza (my title), 37, 50, 107, 201
Kulas. See Blockhouses

Language. See Albanian language
Letter (to Sir E. Grey), 55, 61
Ljuma, 239, 274
Looting, 198, 204, 206, 208, 214,

218, 225, 240, 247, 254, 282, 285,

289

Macedonia, 17, 150

Maize, 30, 41, 52, 76, 95, 138, 147

240, 246, 294
Malaria, 95, 116
Maltsia e madhe, 18, 110, 128, 155,

103, 209
Maltsors, 19, 28, 54, 62, 107, 127,

132, 140, 150, 154 et seq., 176,

182, 188, 192, 201, et seq., 209,

216, 222 et seq., 244, 254, 283
Marko, 11, 95, 101, 119, 208, 281,

285
Martina j, 31, 76, 79, 82
Martinovitch (General), 60, 71. 119.

163, 181, 208, 281, 285
Massacres, 168, 181, 253, 288, 298,

302
Medua, 11, 100, 151. 228. 232, 244
Mihilaki Eflendi, 74, 80, 135. 152
Mirash Lutzi, 34, 80, 111, 123
Mirdites, 14, 17. 59, 110, 126, 130,

143.210 .
Mirko (Prince, of Montenegro), 21,

180, 217, 222
Mobilization (Montenegrin). 38. 07,

151, 175
Mojkovach, 158, 101, 108. 185
Montenegro. 11, 17, 18, 21, 28, 38.

42, 61. 66, 75, 97, 120, 130, 149,

155, 160. 166. 177, 193, 197, 218,

252

ontenegrin army, 38, 58, 193, 200,

208, 221
.loslems, 4, 6, 12. 19. 42, 93. 110,

117. 120. 130, 134, 137, 163. 204,

218. 232. 238, 301 et seq.
Mosques. 6. 26. 130, 176
Mutilation, 153, 161, 171. 176. 184,

193, 197, 236. 257

INDKX

319

Nationalist Altiaiiiann. 'J3. IM
Nevinsuii (Mr.). IMl, l»7. liKt
Nixttiu*. IK». "JT. lUO. 2.'i'J

Officers (Yountt Turk). 7. 12. <JT

UrtL...... ., ._ ...; _. ,. ......

303
Ottomunization iforciMci. S. I.t. If.

•40. 107

Parliamont (Turkish). 5. 14U. U.i.

103. 107
Peaco. 02. 70. 1»1. 173
I'otar (I'rinco. u( .Montenegro). 21

1H7. 2<».'>. 277, J'M
I'olrovittb. >«•«« lioyal Family
I'latutMiatz ^.Juvun;. 171. 174. 20.>.

210. 212 ft Btq.
Plamoiiati (PoUr). 103. 107. IIH.

125. 133. 13.-.. 20y. 2H3. 311
Plava. 175. l'J7. 227. 301
Podgoritia. 20. 24. 30. .'>0. 02. •«.

132. 152. 100, 170. 1S3. 227. 251.

271
Popovitch (Ilia). 107
Pojwvitch ( Mont«n<>grin Miitistor),

20. 135. l.V). 274. 2H5
Pronk Pasha. 14. 17. .V.). 143
I*res8 censors. \HS. I'Hi, 230. 2«i8
Priiicessoe (.Montoni'grm). 21. 191.

233. 270. 27S
Primmors. 29. 105. 171. 195. 223.

235. 24S rl trq.. 2.VJ e/ /ir^.

Prizron. IM. Ih3. 184J. 22.S. 2.34.

207. 270. '2SH. 314
ProchashkA (Austrian Consul). '2V,

253

Queen (of the mountainB), 37. 1<'1.

107. 201
Quinine. 90. 114

Red Cross. 191. 229 ri atq.. 234. 242.

■i;\ i:,'* r.s

. 141
...OH.

lo.'>. 3u3. :;12. :ii.'>

R«|iof work 31 1<M w ..,/ . 1 ij. 174.

Si"
Hill -ro).27. 38.

i . . . . 1 .1 < I . .1

(promisotl by Austria). 133
Hon>.' \\t
Kov tlrin). 21

..\.,, j.-.n

H'.t. 103. 129. \:*\,

^^inldrwljliri H^y ( I'ltrki-h Minister).

149

.■» ii""i-. <>, i.>. 1'. J. r' ill. 132
Scutari (AlWania). 1». II. 13. 71. 89.
I «"■ >■" •'■' '-' _'MH. 212. 258.

- , • ,;.j

.Sorvia. 17. Us. 131. 172. 175. IKl.
227. 294

1 army. 238. 240. 257. 273.

:«Ml. .(1 I ,/ A,q.

129.103.175
■^i 7. .35

.^k L . .;. 73. 94. 113. 193.

220
Sla%izing (forcible). 240. 253. 209.

275. 30<J t/ »tq.
Sokol Batzi. 33. 40. 72. 2n3. 221.

•223. 254
.Soothuavors. 14. 1H4. 270
Stanko Slarkovitch. 30. 4li. .'^4, 1^3.

229. 249. 2»11. 20()
Sultan. 11. .'><>. 102. 113. 139
8umma (Monsieur). 111. 124. 147.

280
Summa (trilw). 93. 2G1
I

Tarabo«h. 11. 148. 183. 197. 20<'..
223. 228. 272
, Taxes. 10. 110. 139
I TtrntJi (The). 52. 57. 71. 841
; Tourgouil Pasha. 25. 02. M. 71. I'^'.t.
I 220
I Toptani. 10
Trio|.Khi. 20. 34. 3s. 44. 51
Turkov. 4. 3H. 120. 140. 149. lt,3
Turkish army. 38. 67. 109. 117. 174.

300
Turkish Consulate. 39. 07. 73. 151
Turkish (;ovommpnt. 4. 37. 02. 120.

101. It>4
Turks. 28. 77. 144. 148. 300
Tun. 10. Oy. 72. SO. 108. 135. I<M.
197. 220

I'nion and I^rof^reas (Committee of).
14. I3.'>. 140. 143

\,.li ..( S.ut^ni, 19. 89. III. 128.

le). 160. 166

320 THE STRUGGLE FOR SCUTARI

Vienna, 13, 177, 234, 272
Voinovitch (Count L.), 245, 286
Vukotitch. See Yanko V.

War (declaration of), 187

(preparation for), 38, 42,

164, 175, 183
(with Italy), 95, 110, 116,
220
Women (Montenegrin), 195,
204, 208, 225. 230, 236,
288

66,

131,

198,
240,

Wounded, 29, 32, 152, 164, 191, 205,
216, 256

Yanko Vukotitch (General), 21, 24,

27, 29, 37, 43, 67, 71, 74, 77. 123,

164, 171, 174, 182, 252
Young Turks, 3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 59. 81.

117, 146
Young Turk (methods), 7, 8, 16, 34,

89, 92, 109, 145

Zhivkovitch, 188, 190. 230

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Durham, Mary Edith

The struggle for Scutari

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