to take advantage of the first opportunity which presents
itself to take it away from her rival. When I was in Bucharest a cabinet
minister concluded a lengthy exposition of Rumania's position by
declaring:

"Within the next two or three years, in all probability, there will be a
war between Jugoslavia and Italy over the Dalmatian question. The day
that Jugoslavia goes to war with Italy we will attack Jugoslavia and
seize the Banat. The Danube is Rumania's natural and logical frontier."

This would seem to bear out the assertion that there exists a secret
alliance between Italy and Rumania, which, if true, would place
Jugoslavia in the unhappy position of a nut between the jaws of a
cracker. I have also been told on excellent authority that there is
likewise an "understanding" between Italy and Bulgaria that, should the
former become engaged in a war with the Jugoslavs, the latter will
attack the Serbs from the east and regain her lost provinces in
Macedonia. A pleasant prospect for Southeastern Europe, truly.

While we were in Bucharest we received an invitation--"command" is the
correct word according to court usage--to visit the King and Queen of
Rumania at their Chateau of Pelesch, near Sinaia, in the Carpathians. It
is about a hundred miles by road from the capital to Sinaia and the
first half of the journey, which we made by motor, was over a road as
execrable as any we found in the Balkans. Upon reaching the foothills of
the Carpathians, however, the highway, which had been steadily growing
worse, suddenly took a turn for the better--due, no doubt, to the
invigorating qualities of the mountain atmosphere--and climbed
vigorously upward through wild gorges and splendid pine forests which
reminded me of the Adirondacks of Northern New York. Notwithstanding the
atrocious condition of the highway, which constantly threatened to
dislocate our joints as well as those of the car, and the choking,
blinding clouds of yellow dust, every change of figure on the
speedometer brought new and interesting scenes. For mile after mile the
road, straight as though marked out by a ruler, ran between fields of
wheat and corn as vast as those of our own West. In spite of the fact
that the Austro-Germans carried off all the animals and farming
implements they could lay their hands on, the agricultural prosperity of
Rumania is astounding. In 1916, for example, while involved in a
terribly destructive war, Rumania produced more wheat th