"I lost him," he answered.

We climbed for three hours then waited, blocked. A military motor had
stuck deeply in the mud and the wheels were buzzing round uselessly, so
we helped to dig her out. Every one's inside cried for breakfast, and
when at last we found a swampy plain, Whatmough and Cutting flung
themselves upon an old tree trunk and cut it up for firewood.

We always had "company" to these picnic meals, hungry soldiers, mere
ragbags held together by bones, crept around us and learnt for the first
time the joys of curry and cocoa.

As we came round the corner into sight of the town a large block of
temporary encampments stretched away beyond the river to our left.
Beyond them was a flat plain on which was a large tent with a red cross
painted over it. High behind the town towered a grey hill on which was a
white Turkish blockhouse, for though where we were driving had always
been Serbia, Rashka lay just on the boundary. We drove into a narrow
street, presently coming to a stop where two motor cars blocked the
way.

The Commandant from Kragujevatz, who had promised transport to all
English hospitals, was standing on the road. He seemed very flustered
and bothered lest we should want him to do something for us. We assured
him we wanted nothing except bread, for neither we nor our drivers had
had bread for three days. The colonel shrugged his shoulders and made a
face.

"You might get it perhaps at the hospital."

Another officer, in a long black staff coat, laughed. He pulled a hard
biscuit out of each pocket, looked at them fondly and pushed them back
again.

"I've got mine anyway," he said. "Bread is ten shillings a loaf if you
can buy it."

Annoyed by the colonel's manner Jo began to mount her high horse and
became blunt. He was instantly suave.

He seemed dismayed at our idea (to which we still held) of going to Novi
Bazar before Mitrovitza to see if really no route existed there.

"Impossible," said he; "bridges are broken between Rashka and Novi
Bazar, and there is no route through the mountains from there."

We remembered that the country had been under Turkish rule there years
before, and guessed that probably the Serbs had not yet been able to
exploit new and lonely routes. At every side in the streets were faces
we knew, the head medical this and the chief military that.

Our personal carts went off in charge of the corporal, who was looking
for bread from the Government, for of course all