ship and I would have obeyed them."

Koch had undertaken that if it turned out that they were unaware of the
ship's transference to the Yugoslavs he would kiss them both. He did so,
and allowed them to communicate with Italy by wireless.

Never, says Koch, will the unpleasant taste of those kisses leave his
mouth. The men were officers; their words could not be doubted. But as
they must surely have been in Venice for at least a day or two before
October 31, it seems extraordinary that they did not hear, via Triest,
of what the Emperor Charles was doing with his navy. If only they had
perfected their invention and learned to swim a trifle sooner there
would be no shadow cast on their achievement, but the Yugoslavs--who had
never seen any sort of Italian naval attack on Pola during the
War--could not be blamed for thinking that the disappearance of their
_Viribus Unitis_ would be viewed with equanimity by the Italians....
With regard to the other vessels, it was arranged in Paris that they
should proceed, under the white flag, to Corfu with Yugoslav commanders;
but this was found impossible, as they were undermanned. Part of the
fleet arrived at Kotor and was placed at the disposal of the commander
of the Yugoslav detachment of the Allied forces which had come from
Macedonia. A serious episode occurred at Pola, where on November 5 an
Italian squadron arrived and demanded the surrender of the ships. The
Yugoslav commander succeeded in sending by wireless a strong protest to
Paris against this barefaced violation of the agreement. The Italian
commander, Admiral Cagni, likewise sent a protest, but Clemenceau upheld
the Yugoslavs. They were absolutely masters of the ex-Austro-Hungarian
fleet; it rested solely with them either to sink it or hand it over to
the Allies in good condition. The Yugoslavs did not sink the fleet,
because they wished to show their loyalty to, and confidence in, the
justice of the Allies. They never suspected at that time that the ships
would not be shared at least equally between themselves and the
Italians. But in December 1919 the Supreme Council in Paris allotted to
the Yugoslavs twelve disarmed torpedo-boats for policing and patrolling
their coasts.

HOW THE ITALIANS LANDED AT POLA

Admiral Cagni was invited by the Yugoslavs to enter the harbour of Pola.
But for two and a half days he hesitated outside and heavily bombarded
the hill-fortress of Barbarica, which had been abandoned. At last h