With the Serbs in Macedonia

THE SERBIANS 249
friends, now that Serbia's future is in the hands
of the Allies. They are waiting with trustful
hearts to see what we are going to do for them.
Heaven forbid that I should be thought to
want to paint them as a race of wistful angels.
There were black sheep among them as among
all flocks. But, taken in the mass, nobody could
help liking them or fail to have faith in them.
And one of the most appealing traits about
them is the fact that they are by nature givers
rather than takers. Do something for a Serb
and he wants to do something for you. Among
them that most doubtful of virtues, gratitude,
really does seem to exist. They proved this in
a hundred ways. There they were, in eclipse,
dependent upon the Allies for everything. One
might naturally have expected them to take all
they could, and let it go at that. But give a
Serb anything, and he must immediately give
you something in return to show his appreciation.
So, having nothing else to give, he gave
himself, freely and ungrudgingly.
One of the best examples of this was the
Serbian Royal Orchestra. Under Major Bini-
tchki and Captain Raindla, the Court orchestra
of sixty instrumentalists had retreated through
Albania with the rest of the Army, losing all its
valuable instruments on the way. Somehow
or other fresh instruments were got together,