in there unexpectedly because a _bora_, sweeping suddenly
down from the northwest, had lashed the Adriatic into an ugly mood and
our destroyer, whose decks were almost as near the water as those of a
submarine running awash, was not a craft that one would choose for
comfort in such weather. Nor was our feeling of security increased by
the knowledge that we were skirting the edges of one of the largest
mine-fields in the Adriatic. But the _Sirio_ had scarcely poked her
sharp nose around the end of the breakwater which provides the excuse
for dignifying the exposed roadstead of Antivari (with the accent on the
second syllable, so that it rhymes with "discovery") by the name of
harbor before I saw what we had stumbled upon some form of trouble.
There were three other Italian destroyers in the harbor but, instead of
being moored snugly alongside the quay, they were strung out in a
semblance of battle formation, so that their deck-guns, from which the
canvas muzzle-covers had been removed, could sweep the rocky heights
above and around them. A string of signal-flags broke out from our
masthead and was answered in like fashion by the flag-ship of the
flotilla, after which formal exchange of greetings our wireless began to
crackle and splutter in an animated explanation of our unexpected
appearance. Our hawsers had scarcely been made fast before a launch left
the flag-ship and came plowing toward us, a knot of white-uniformed
officers in the stern. From the blue rug with the Italian arms, which,
as I could see through my glasses, was draped over the stern-sheets, I
deduced that the commander of the flotilla was paying us a visit.

"You have come at rather an unfortunate moment," he said after the
introductions were over. "Last night we were fired on by Jugoslavs on
the mountainside over there," indicating the heights across the harbor.
"In fact, the firing has just ceased. There must have been a thousand of
them or more, judging from the flashes. But I hope that madame will not
be alarmed, for she is really quite safe. They are firing at long range,
and the only danger is from a stray bullet. Still, it is most
embarrassing. On madame's account I am sorry."

His manner was that of a host apologizing to a guest because the
children of the family have measles and at the same time attempting to
convince the guest that measles are hardly ever contagious. I relieved
his quite obvious embarrassment by assuring him that Mrs. Powell m