With the Serbs in Macedonia

THE SIMPLE LIFE 219
breakneck trip, with magnificent panoramas
of wood, stream and mountain unfolding them-
selves at every turn of the winding track.
The idea in starting so early was to get most
of the travelling over before it became really
hot. But even so the heat was appalling, and
in spite of General Routine Orders Sam Browne
was not worn very long, and dry and dusty
lips were wetted at cool mountain streams whose
water had neither been chlorinated nor boiled.
On reaching the camp in the forest we were
at once regaled with ''
Slatka." This is not
as it
nearly so formidable or intoxicating
sounds. It consists of a spoonful of preserved
figs or cherries, followed by a glass of clear,
cold spring water. The sweet syrupy preserve
seems to make the water doubly refreshing.
The man who invented ''
Slatka " was un-
doubtedly an artist of the palate. The Serbians,
by the way, drink a great deal of water.
After surveying the enemy's position, we
watched the Serbian woodmen at work. One of
the surprises of modern warfare is the realization
of the amount of timber required. Here they
were shaping stakes for ''
the wire,'' cutting
props for the trenches, poles for telephonewires,
baulks for bridges, *'
uprights " of various
thicknesses, and planking of all sorts of descriptions
for sheds, bridge-repairing, dug-outs and