ver, was shrunk like a concertina inside his great
coat.

The lorry dropped us just before the first broken bridge. Then we had to
leave the road and face mud slush, climbing for hours. We had picked up
various friends--a courtly old peasant who was very worried to hear that
Kragujevatz had fallen, and feared for the invasion of Montenegro; two
barefoot girls, who asked Jo all the usual questions, and an
American-speaking Serbian man who had trudged from Ipek, the first
refugee on that road from Serbia. He was very mysterious, and contrary
to the usual custom, would not tell us about himself nor where he was
going.

He was very anxious to stand us drinks, but curiously enough, every one
refused. The professor had started before us, with a Greek priest. When
we passed him he lifted his hands deprecatingly, "Teshko."

Our hopes of arriving before dark were as usual crushed. The dusk found
us still floundering in the mud on wayside paths. It began to pour. The
hills above us became white--a straight line being drawn between snow
and rain--and our guides wanted us to spend the night at an inn two
hours before we reached Jabooka. But it looked very uninviting--we
remembered the cheery hostess of Jabooka, the woman who came from "other
parts," and knew a thing or two about cleanliness. Every one agreed to
go on. Willett was rather better, so we forged ahead in the downpour
and the dark, splashing through puddles and singing everything we knew.
Our Albanian guides chuckled and chanted their own nasal songs in a
different key as an accompaniment.

Far away we saw a tiny light--Jabooka. We stretched our legs and hurried
along, but alas! the inn room was full. There was the professor, his
face shining from warmth and well-being, crowds of men in uniform, some
fat travelling civilians: faces looked up from the floor, from the
corners, faces were everywhere, wet boys were steaming in front of the
fire, while the hostess and a girl were picking their way as best they
could in the tobacco smoke with eggs and rakia.

Full; even the floor! and we were wet through. The professor had
announced that we were staying at the dirty inn away back. Oh, the old
villain!

He came forward, saying in an impressive voice that a major had taken
the inn.

"Bother the major," said Jo. "Something must be done."

The professor smiled. "There _is_ another inn."

There was nothing for it. We had to go to the inn across the road, glad
enough to