With the Serbs in Macedonia

174 WITH THE SERBS IN MACEDONIA
for a hundred kindnesses— and now we had to
leave them at a moment's notice, without even
time for a farewell.
Our road
It was a hot, long, dusty journey.
lay through the hills— it always did— ^but the
hills were glorious in their new spring suits, and
the surface of the road was a revelation of what
resolute industry can accomplish in war time.
Lake Ostrovo looked particularly beautiful as
we passed by that old friend. This district,
indeed, would be well worth touring if only
there were places en route for a tourist to
rest at.
At Verte Kop we left known ground for new.
We found ourselves in a stretch of country
better wooded and more fertile than we had
seen for many a day. The new military road,
though somewhat serpentine in places, had a
positively wonderful surface for Macedonia ;
the hills were green ; there were water and
trees everywhere, and the whole country-side
was sprinkled with well-cultivated maize-fields
and mulberry orchards. A light railway ran by
the side of the road, crossing and recrossing it
again and again. The munition and supply
dumps and the horse transport camps were all
located in mulberry orchards, the trees of which
served as most efficient screens from prying
aeroplanes. There seemed something strangely