With the Serbs in Macedonia

INTO THE BREACH ONCE MORE 103
of it quietly for a moment— ^the path they
might have taken and the path they took,
among the snow and the goat tracks and the
precipices and the bitter winds, without food or
proper clothing, staggering, staggering on. And
then with quickened pulse and a thrilling heart
let us acknowledge them for all time as among
the salt of the earth !
Arrived at the littoral, dreaming
of food and
rest under the protection of the Allies they had
served so loyally, they found only another
disappointment awaiting them. There was a
British Mission and a French Mission and an
Italian Mission, and all of them did their best,
and the British Mission, under General Taylor,
made particularly strenuous efforts to feed and
clothe those foot-sore, exhausted, and halfdemented
heroes. But the curse of too late was
over everything. There had been no time to
make efficient and sufficient arrangements. The
original plan had been that they should rest and
reorganize on the Albanian littoral. But it was
discovered that the coast was unhealthy, that
supplies could not be obtained locally, and that
the enemy was threatening ; there were, in
fact, all sorts of difficulties and complications,
including the Italian attitude, and the long and
short of it was that this remnant of the Serbian
Army was compelled to move on the Way of