With the Serbs in Macedonia

A CALAMITOUS CITY 41
she must save. She clung to him and would
not be denied, so, moved by pity, he took her
back himself.
''
''
Hurry he said, and waited
Hurry !
!
outside amid the rush and roar of the oncoming
flames, scorched by the heat and wondering if
they would ever get back.
She dashed into her dingy house.
''
Poor wretch, it must be money — her life's
savings," he thought.
Then she came out— with a common china
vessel in her hand, a vessel without even a
handle. For this I have the word of a Major of
the Church.
Probably it was money that she had gone
back for, poor demented thing, and in her panic
she had forgotten what she wanted and
snatched up the first thing that caught her
eye.
It was obvious now that the centre of the
city was doomed, and that the water-front would
go with the rest. Officers staying in the hotels
began hastily to pack their things, and wondered
where they would finish the night. The
manager of one of the most crowded hotels,
resigning himself to the inevitable, doled out
parting tots of whisky free of charge — '*
the last
"
drink you will have in my hotel, gentlemen !
His unconcern was superb. He knew his hotel