the
ignorant crowd which believed that by following these leaders they
would regain Dibra and other districts finally refused to come to
terms.

Mr. Lamb also made a vain attempt to obtain the names of these
leaders, and they obstinately refused to come into Durazzo to
discuss terms with the Commissioners and the Prince. Nor would they
permit any delegates to come. The Mirdite and Maltsor reinforcements
who arrived were all reluctant to fight. "We are not in blood with
these people," they said, "Why should we fight them?" We had a
number of the enemy wounded in our hospitals along with our own men.
They were most grateful for the care bestowed upon "them, and bore
no ill-will at all. It was sadly true that these poor people were
being killed and wounded, offered as human sacrifices at the altar
of the rival ambitions of the Entente and the Central Powers.

The Breslau, since notorious, and a Russian warship now arrived.
There were many Germans, both military and civilian, in the town,
and the Germans and English worked together in the hospital. The
surgeon, from the Russian warship, claimed the right to work in the
English hospital as a member of the Entente. But as he proposed to
give an anaesthetic to a man whose arm we had promised not to
amputate, and then to take it off, we got rid of him in spite of his
protests that a promise to "an animal like that" did not count.

I took my meals very often with the Germans, and we discussed often
the danger caused to Europe by the Anglo-Russian Alliance. I said
that though I believed Russia was heading for war I was sure we
should not support her, and we drank to a speedy Anglo-German
alliance. They were disgusted with Wied's folly, and said the Kaiser
had been reluctant to appoint him, but had been over-persuaded by
Carmen Sylva. They took me on board the Breslau, where I was
received with great cordiality, and the captain, who took me on to
the bridge, said his ship for her size was one of the fastest.

On Sunday, June 28th, I was having tea with Mr. and Mrs. Lamb, when
we saw Admiral Troubridge climbing the hill towards us. He came into
the house very hot, and said almost at once: "I have come to tell
you our wireless has picked up a bit of a message. The Archduke
Franz Ferdinand has been murdered at Serajevo. Just that!"

My first idea was: "They have done what they said they would last
year. They have begun in Bosnia."

I said to Mr. Lamb: "This means war, doesn't