identity when I found
myself on the broad rock terrace in front of the church, with the fierce
sunlight beating on my upturned face, and, looking downward, saw far
below me the rippled blue of the open sea.

RUPERT'S JOURNAL--_Continued_.

_June_ 3, 1907.

Another week has elapsed--a week full of movement of many kinds and in
many ways--but as yet I have had no tale or tidings of my Lady of the
Shroud. I have not had an opportunity of going again in daylight to St.
Sava's as I should have liked to have done. I felt that I must not go at
night. The night is her time of freedom, and it must be kept for her--or
else I may miss her, or perhaps never see her again.

The days have been full of national movement. The mountaineers have
evidently been organizing themselves, for some reason which I cannot
quite understand, and which they have hesitated to make known to me. I
have taken care not to manifest any curiosity, whatever I may have felt.
This would certainly arouse suspicion, and might ultimately cause
disaster to my hopes of aiding the nation in their struggle to preserve
their freedom.

These fierce mountaineers are strangely--almost unduly--suspicious, and
the only way to win their confidence is to begin the trusting. A young
American attache of the Embassy at Vienna, who had made a journey through
the Land of the Blue Mountains, once put it to me in this form:

"Keep your head shut, and they'll open theirs. If you don't, they'll
open it for you--down to the chine!"

It was quite apparent to me that they were completing some fresh
arrangements for signalling with a code of their own. This was natural
enough, and in no way inconsistent with the measure of friendliness
already shown to me. Where there are neither telegraphs, railways, nor
roads, any effective form of communication must--can only be purely
personal. And so, if they wish to keep any secret amongst themselves,
they must preserve the secret of their code. I should have dearly liked
to learn their new code and their manner of using it, but as I want to be
a helpful friend to them--and as this implies not only trust, but the
appearance of it--I had to school myself to patience.

This attitude so far won their confidence that before we parted at our
last meeting, after most solemn vows of faith and secrecy, they took me
into the secret. This was, however, only to the extent of