h the black gypsy thought
unpassable, but the Serbs were rather pleased to be inspected,
telephoned through to Uzhitza, and I rode on. An amusing sidelight
was the surprise of the gypsy at finding the same language both
sides of the border. "But they talk Bosniak!" he cried.

An aged peasant on horseback joined me and asked so many questions
about London that I thought he knew something about it till he asked
"Is it a free country?"

He was puzzled when I said, "Yes."

"But it is under Austria," he protested.

"No, no," said I, "it is a free country."

"Thank God," said the old boy, "and I believed it was under Austria.
Bogati--so many people are under Austria. But London is not."

In Serbia I found I had guessed right. "In spite of the horrible
curse, nobody seemed a penny the worse." Uzhitza was in high spirits
and reminisced my visit of 1902. They referred with triumph to the
murder of Alexander. Since that, everything had been going
splendidly. The army was everything and all possible money was to be
spent on it. If Alexander had lived he would have made an alliance
with Austria and have stinted the army. The army and Great Serbia
was the cry. They were all for Russia. As for the wretched Draga,
the ladies told me that she had received them at some function or
another with powder all over her face. Imagine having to kiss the
hand of such a fallen woman! (Fashions have changed now, or England
would be a female slaughterhouse.) All the officers killed in her
defence were stated to have been her paramours. Nothing was too bad
for her. King Petar was described as one who would never interfere
with the army. There was much enthusiasm over the resumed relations
with England. It was obvious that no one believed that the regicides
would really go; their departure was a mere matter of form. As for
the boycott, they laughed and told funny tales. A bride had ordered
her whole trousseau at Vienna. The wedding was fixed. But the
frontier was closed. Her girl friends gallantly went to Vienna in
their oldest garments; changed and came back, rather stout but
triumphant, clothed in the whole trousseau. As for export, by the
aid of France and England they would export to Egypt and Marseilles
via Salonika. The French artillery would come in by the same route.
French artillery they intended to have.

I was much interested, but as I had brought no baggage could not go
further into Serbia. The Mayor gave me a mounted gendarme as