of some French ladies who came to the
Albanian coast on the _Citta di Bari_ towards the end of 1915 with 2000
kilos of milk, clothing and medical supplies for the Serbian children
who had struggled across the mountains. These ladies write that after
the torpedoing of the _Brindisi_ their own crew ran up and down without
appearing to see them; the crew had life-belts, those of the ladies were
taken away. Ultimately they succeeded in having themselves put ashore,
and the _Citta di Bari_ fled in the night without landing the stores.
And in Albania, the ladies say, one witnessed the "stoic endurance of
the noble Serbian race, of which every day brought us more examples. In
that procession of ghosts and of the dying there was no imploring look,
there was no hand stretched out to beg." ... The Yugoslavs may have
known what happened to Lieutenant (now Captain) Binnos de Pombara of the
French navy. This officer, in command of the _Fourche_, had been
escorting the _Citta di Messina_ and, observing that she was torpedoed,
had sent to her, perhaps a little imprudently, all his life-boats and
belts. A few minutes later, when he was himself torpedoed, the Italians
did not see him; anyhow they made for the shore. De Pombara encouraged
his men by causing them to sing the Marseillaise and so forth; they
were in the water, clinging to the wreckage, for several hours, until
another boat came past. The next day at Brindisi, when he met the
captain of the _Citta di Messina_, this gentleman once more did not see
him; but the French Government, although de Pombara was a very young
man, created him an officer of the Legion of Honour.

AN ELECTRICAL ATMOSPHERE AND NO PRECAUTIONS

There was thus a certain amount of tension existing between the military
and naval services of the Yugoslavs and those of Italy. Other Yugoslavs
were apprehensive as to whether the Italians would not demand the
enforcement of the Treaty of London. But the United States was not bound
by that agreement, which was so completely at variance with Wilson's
principle of self-determination. One presumed that, pending an
examination of these matters, the disputed territories would be occupied
by troops of all the Allies. But unfortunately this did not turn out to
be the case. France, Britain and America stood by, while the Italians
and the Yugoslavs took whatsoever they could lay their hands on. As the
Yugoslav military forces had to come overland, while the Italians had
c