n, unable to struggle forward another yard, would, as he fell to the
ground, hastily unbuckle water-bottle and cartridge-cases and hand them
to an advancing comrade with a cheery word, "Go on and good luck, my
lad," and then as often as not he would lay him down to die with
parched lips and cleaving tongue.

I was myself, at the pressing and personal invitation of King
Constantine, the first to visit Nigrita, where the Bulgarian General,
before leaving, had the inhabitants locked into their houses, and then
with guncotton and petroleum burned the place to the ground. Here 470
victims were burned alive, mostly old folk, women, and children.
Serres, Drama, Kilkis, and Demir Hissar (all important towns) have
similar tales to tell, only the death-roll is longer. Small wonder that
these stories of ferocity are not given credence, for they are
incredible, and it is only when one studies the Bulgarian character
that one can understand how such orgies of carnage were possible.

The scope of this article does not permit me to describe in detail the
minor battles and operations between the 6th of July and the 25th of
July; suffice it to say that the rapidity of the Greek advance upon
Strumnitza and up the valley of the Struma forced the Bulgarians to
beat in full retreat toward their frontier, leaving behind them all
that impeded their flight. Military stores, guns, carts, and even
uniforms strewed the line of their march, and they were only saved from
annihilation because the mountains which guarded their flanks were
impassable for the Greek artillery. By blowing up the bridges over the
Struma the impetuosity of the Greek pursuit was delayed, and it was in
the Kresna Pass that the Bulgarian rear-guard first turned at bay. The
pass is a twenty-mile gorge cut through mountains 7,000 feet high, but
the Greeks turned the Bulgarian positions by marching across the
mountains, and it was near Semitli, five miles north of the pass, that
the Bulgarians offered their last serious resistance. It was a
wonderful battle. The Greeks, at the urgent request of the Servian
General Staff, had detailed two divisions to help the Servians. On the
west bank of the Struma they pushed the 2d and 4th Divisions gently
northward, while in the narrow Struma valley (it is little better than
a gorge in most places) they had the 1st Division on the main road with
the 5th behind it in reserve; on the right, perched on the summit of
well-nigh inaccessible moun