in formality.

Consequently the Allies had some shadow of a moral right to the use of
Saloniki, but now that Sarrail was falling back, with every prospect
of his bringing the battle front down with him into Greek territory,
the diplomatic situation became extremely delicate. To add to the
confusion of the situation, it must be remembered that two or three
divisions of the Greek Army had been concentrated in the very district
through which the Bulgarians must pass, should they decide to follow
the retiring column of the Allies' troops. Here, then, was the Greek
dilemma; they had allowed, under formal protest, a pacific penetration
of their country in accordance with the agreement they had made with
Serbia, that the latter should be allowed to import armies, munitions,
and other military material over the Saloniki-Uskub railroad. This
agreement, Venizelos insisted, was binding on Greece, notwithstanding
the equivocations of the king. But when the French and British troops
retired, another situation was created altogether, because it was
scarcely likely that the Bulgarians would stop short at the frontier
of Greece, and more than likely that they would follow up their
advance and incidentally shell and destroy Greek property. Thus
Bulgaria would be doing what the Allies had very carefully avoided
doing: commit an act of war against Greece.

But fortunately for Greece, the Bulgarians did not continue the
pursuit, though the Greek Government waited anxiously to see what turn
events would immediately take. Sofia published the most reassuring
things about the friendliness of Bulgaria for Greece, though of course
Athens, being herself the seat of a Balkan nation, knew what value
such protestations of affection had. Greece had only to recall the
expressions of friendliness Bulgaria had uttered to Serbia less than a
week before attacking her.

Meanwhile the French and British had fallen back on an intrenched line
two or three miles to the south of the Greek frontier. This front
stretched from Karasuli, on the Vardar River, to Kilindir, on the
Doiran-Saloniki railroad, and was about fifteen miles in length. The
French were still on the left and the British on the right. The
British flank, in the east, was about thirty miles from Saloniki.
These lines were strongly intrenched and otherwise strengthened, for
it was not yet certain that the enemy did not mean to invade Greece.

In the early days of October, when the Allies had f