Between the bare cliffs and the sea the miserable men and boys and
women were compelled to plod towards the south. One hundred and fifty
thousand survivors were eventually carried by the Allies to Corfu.

THE SHADOW OVER MONTENEGRO

These had been busy days for Nikita and his sons. A royal order was
issued to the Montenegrin military and police authorities, commanding
them to prevent the population from giving or selling any provisions
to the Serbian army. "Ne bogami, svetoga mi Vassilija ne!" ["Goodness
gracious, no! And by St. Basil, no!"] was the phrase which greeted the
Serbs;[98] and when they remonstrated with the Montenegrins for
demanding eleven Serbian dinars in silver for ten Montenegrin
perpers--the exchange was at par, but the people were acting under
orders--"If I had ten sons I would give them to King Peter," was the
usual reply, "but money is money." Yet the Austrians were not as
grateful as they might have been. Nikita was intending, after the
annihilation of the Serbs, to conclude a separate peace with Austria
and to rule, as an Austrian satrap, over an enlarged territory. But
they ignored his aspirations; they did not take into account that he
had been so kind to them at Lov[vc]en and elsewhere. They swarmed over
his country--this time he was not play-acting when he showed his
indignation--and the deceived deceiver was forced to fly. On January
10, Lov[vc]en had fallen. A characteristic telegram:

Ku[vc]a mi gori,
Ku[vc]i mi trebaju--

["My house is burning, I want the Ku[vc]i"] was sent by Nikita to his
best fighting men, the Ku[vc]i, whom he had left in reserve at
Danilovgrad. When General Gajni['c] received this he marched all night
with his brigade and reached Cetinje in the morning. Nikita met them
and announced that, after all, he did not require them. He would
conquer without them. And Lov[vc]en fell.

That Adriatic Gibraltar, which rises gaunt and sheer to some 6000
feet, was entrusted by Nikita to his youngest son, Prince Peter, a
young man of marvellous vanity. He used to deny, after the surrender
of Lov[vc]en, that he had consorted at Budva with Lieut.-Colonel
Hupka, the former military attache at Cetinje, whom the Austrians
brought specially from the Italian front for this purpose. The
well-known patriot, Dr. Machiedo of Zadar, who happened to be confined
during the summer of 1915 by the Austrians in the fortress of
Gora[vz]da, which lies above Kotor, read in the telephone b