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About the Authors
Sally M. Jones is professor emeritus of accounting at the McIntire School of Commerce,
University of Virginia, where she taught undergraduate and graduate tax courses. Before
joining the Virginia faculty in 1992, Professor Jones spent 14 years on the faculty of the
Graduate School of Business, University of Texas at Austin. She received her undergradu-
ate degree from Augusta College, her MPA from the University of Texas, and her PhD
from the University of Houston. She is also a CPA. Professor Jones was the first editor
of Advances in Taxation (JAI Press) and the PriceWaterhouse Case Studies in Taxation.
She has published numerous articles in the Journal of Taxation, The Tax Adviser, and the
Journal of the American Taxation Association. Professor Jones is a frequent speaker at tax
conferences and symposia, a past president of the American Taxation Association, and the
2000 recipient of the Ray M. Sommerfeld Outstanding Tax Educator Award.

Shelley Rhoades-Catanach is an associate professor of accountancy at Villanova Univer-

sity and a CPA. She teaches a variety of tax courses in Villanova’s undergraduate, masters
of accounting, and graduate tax programs. Before joining the Villanova faculty in 1998,
Professor Rhoades-Catanach spent four years on the faculty of Washington University in
St. Louis. She has also served as a visiting faculty member at the Darden Graduate School,
University of Virginia, and at INSEAD, an international MBA program in Fontaine­
bleau, France. She received her undergraduate degree in accounting from the University
of Nebraska at Lincoln and her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. Professor
Rhoades-Catanach has published articles in numerous journals, including the Journal of
the American Taxation Association, Accounting Review, Issues in Accounting Education,
Journal of Accounting Education, and Review of Accounting Studies. She has served as
president, vice president, and trustee of the American Taxation Association and on the
editorial boards of the Journal of the American Taxation Association and the Journal of
International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation. She currently serves as co-editor of the
Journal of International Accounting, Auditing, and Taxation. Professor Rhoades-Catanach
is the 2010 recipient of the Ray M. Sommerfeld Outstanding Tax Educator Award.

Sandra Renfro Callaghan is an associate professor of accounting at the Neeley School of

Business at Texas Christian University. She joined the faculty in 1998 after earning her PhD
in accounting from Michigan State University. Her current research is primarily focused
on topics in taxation, executive compensation, and the Affordable Health Care Act. Profes-
sor Callaghan teaches tax and financial accounting courses both at the undergraduate and
graduate level and has earned numerous teaching awards including the Deans’ Teaching
Award and Neeley School of Business Alumni Professor of the Year. She has served in
various leadership roles, including president, with the American Taxation Association and
with the American Accounting Association Council. Professor Callaghan also earned a BS
from Texas Christian University and an MPA from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior
to earning her PhD, she was a tax professional with Ernst & Young.
A Note from the Authors

Principles of Taxation for Business and Investment students in the same way they trained their employees.
Planning is a unique approach to the subject of taxa- In doing so, they created a compliance-oriented para-
tion. This text is designed for use in introductory tax digm. In today’s world, this traditional paradigm is an
courses included in either undergraduate or graduate anachronism. Business students don’t need to learn
business programs. Its objective is to teach students to how to generate tax information. Instead, they must
recognize the major tax issues inherent in business and learn how to use tax information to make good busi-
financial transactions. The text focuses on fundamental ness and financial decisions.
concepts, the mastery of which provides a permanent
frame of reference for future study of advanced tax top- A Paradigm for the
ics. Unlike traditional introductory texts, Principles of
Taxation for Business and Investment Planning down- Introductory Tax Course
plays the technical detail that makes the study of taxa- Principles of Taxation for Business and Investment
tion such a nightmare for business students. Traditional Planning provides a paradigm for meeting the educa-
texts are heavily compliance oriented and convince tional needs of tax students in the 21st century. This
many students that the tax law is too complex and spe- paradigm is based on three postulates:
cialized to be relevant to their future careers. This text
attempts to do just the opposite by convincing students ∙ Postulate 1: Students should learn the tax law as
that an understanding of taxation is not only relevant an integrated component of a complex economic
but critical to their success in the business world. environment. They should be aware of the role
Principles of Taxation for Business and Investment taxes play in financial decision making and should
Planning has its origin in the 1989 White Paper titled understand how taxes motivate people and institu-
Perspectives on Education: Capabilities for Success tions to engage in certain transactions.
in the Accounting Profession, published jointly by the ∙ Postulate 2: Students should comprehend the tax
Big Eight public accounting firms. The White Paper law as an organic whole rather than as a frag-
expressed disenchantment with the narrow technical mented collection of rules and regulations. They
focus of undergraduate accounting curricula and called should learn general tax rules rather than the myr-
for scholastic emphasis on a broad set of business skills iad of exceptions that confuse rather than clarify
necessary for professional success. The Accounting the general rules. They should appreciate how the
Education Change Commission (AECC), operating general rules apply to all taxpaying entities before
under the aegis of the American Accounting Associa- they learn how specialized rules apply to only cer-
tion, embraced the philosophy reflected in the White tain entities. Finally, they should learn how the law
Paper. In September 1990, the AECC published its applies to broad categories of transactions rather
Position Statement No. One, titled Objectives of Edu- than to a particular transaction.
cation for Accountants. This statement reiterated that ∙ Postulate 3: Students who learn fundamen-
an undergraduate business education should provide a tal concepts have a permanent frame of refer-
base for lifelong learning. ence into which they can integrate the constant
Despite these calls for reform, many undergraduate changes in the technical minutiae of the law. The
tax courses are taught in a traditional manner based on rapid evolution of the tax law results in a short shelf
a paradigm developed a half-century ago. In the mod- life for much of the detailed information contained
ern (postwar) era of business education, the first gen- in undergraduate tax texts. Yet the key elements of
eration of tax teachers were practitioners: accountants the law—the statutory and judicial bedrock—do not
or attorneys hired as adjunct faculty to initiate students change with each new revenue act. Students who
into the mysteries of the newly enacted Internal Rev- master these key elements truly are prepared for a
enue Code of 1954. These practitioners taught their lifetime of learning.

viii
 The authors know that traditional paradigms die coverage and which can be covered in less than a week.
hard and educational reform is difficult. Neverthe- Instructors may even decide to omit chapters that seem
less, we also believe that change in the way college less relevant to the educational needs of their students.
and university professors teach tax is both inevitable Business students who complete a one-semester course
and worthwhile. Our responsibility to our students is to based on this text will be well prepared to function in
prepare them to cope in a business world with little tol- the modern tax environment. If they are required (or
erance for outdated skills or irrelevant knowledge. Our may elect) to take a second tax course, they will have a
hope is that Principles of Taxation for Business and solid, theoretical foundation on which to build.
Investment Planning is a tool that can help us ­fulfill This is the twentieth annual edition of Principles of
that responsibility. Taxation for Business and Investment Planning. Adopt-
ers of the text will certainly have many excellent sug-
Using This Text in a First- gestions to improve the next edition. We welcome any
and all comments and encourage fellow teachers to
Semester Tax Course e-mail us with their input (smj7q@virginia.edu, ­shelley
Principles of Taxation for Business and Invest- .rhoades@­villanova.edu, and s.callaghan@tcu.edu).
ment Planning is designed for use in a one-semester Sally M. Jones
(15-week) introductory tax course. Instructors can
Shelley C. Rhoades-Catanach
choose which of the 18 chapters deserve a full week’s
Sandra R. Callaghan

ix
Changes in Principles
of Taxation, 2017 edition

Chapter 1
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 2
- Updated federal deficit and national debt data on page 25.
- Updated data in example on page 39.
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 3
- Added new Learning Objective 3-1.
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 4
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 5
- Added five new Application Problems.
- Added discussion of IRS Publications and their status as secondary authority on
pages 101 and 102.

Chapter 6
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 7
- Added five new Application Problems.
- Added new Tax Talk on page 174.
- Updated passenger automobile limitations on page 181.
- Updated for law changes related to the Section 179 deduction on pages 182 and 183.
- Updated for law changes related to bonus depreciation on pages 184 and 185.

Chapter 8
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 9
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 10
- Added five new Application Problems.
- Updated Schedule C, Form 1065, Form 1120-S, and Schedule K-1s to 2015 versions.

x
 Changes in Principles of Taxation, 2017 edition xi

- Updated discussion of payroll and self-employment taxes for changes to inflation-

adjusted Social Security tax threshold on pages 288 through 292.

Chapter 11
- Added five new Application Problems.
- Updated filing statistics in Tax Talks throughout.
- Updated Form 1120 and Schedule M-3 to 2015 versions.
- Revised discussion of Tax Freedom Day on page 344 to reflect current statistics.

Chapter 12
- Added five new Application Problems.
- Updated filing statistics in Tax Talk on page 368.

Chapter 13
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 14
- Revised and expanded Learning Objectives.
- Updated coverage of standard deduction, exemption amount, individual tax rates, earned
income credit, and alternative minimum tax to reflect 2015 inflation adjustments.
- Updated Volpe family examples throughout chapter to include 2014 Form 1040 (pages 1
and 2 and Schedule A).
- Reordered subtopics under Computing Individual Tax beginning on page 435.
- Updated Itemized Deduction Worksheet and Exemption Amount Worksheet to reflect
2015 inflation adjustments.
- Added four new Application Problems and one Tax Planning Case.

Chapter 15
- Added two new Tax Talks on pages 471 and 479.
- Updated examples on pages 461 and 462 to include 2015 Form W-2 and Form
1099-MISC.
- Updated coverage of Employer-Provided Plans beginning on page 478 to reflect 2016
inflation adjustments.
- Updated coverage of Individual Retirement Accounts beginning on page 483 to reflect
2016 inflation adjustments.
- Expanded discussion of rollovers to IRAs beginning on page 488.
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 16
- Added new Tax Talk on page 533.
- Updated Exhibits 16.1, 16.2, and 16.3 to include 2015 Form 1040, Schedule B,
Schedule D, and Schedule E.
- Updated coverage of the gift and estate taxes beginning on page 529 to reflect
2016 inflation adjustments to annual gift tax exclusion and lifetime transfer tax
exclusion.
- Revised Appendix 16–A to include 2015 Form 8949 and Form 1040, Schedule D.
- Added five new Application Problems.
xii Changes in Principles of Taxation, 2017 edition

Chapter 17
- Added new Tax Talk on page 554.
- Added five new Application Problems.

Chapter 18
- Added new Tax Talk on page 599.
- Updated and expanded audit coverage discussion in example on page 589.
- Added five new Application Problems.
 Required=Results

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Key Features

The content and organization of this text are highly compatible

with the Model Tax Curriculum proposed by the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants. According to the
AICPA, the introductory tax course should expose students to
a broad range of tax concepts and emphasize the role of taxa-
tion in the business decision-making process. Under the model
curriculum, students first learn to measure the taxable income
from business and property transactions. They are then intro-
duced to the different types of business entities and the tax
considerations unique to each type. Individual taxation should
be one of the last topics covered, rather than the primary focus
of the course. Because Principles of Taxation for Business and
Investment Planning reflects this recommended pedagogical
approach, the text is ideal for courses based on the AICPA
Model Tax Curriculum.

PART ONE Part One consists of two chapters that familiarize

students with the global tax environment. Chapter
Exploring the Tax Environment 1 describes the environment in terms of the
legal relationship between taxes, taxpayers, and
1. Taxes and Taxing Jurisdictions 3
governments. Definitions of key terms are developed,
2. Policy Standards for a Good Tax 23 and the major taxes are identified. Chapter 2
considers the tax environment from a normative
perspective by asking the question: “What are
PART TWO the characteristics of a good tax?” Students are
introduced to the notions of tax efficiency and tax
Fundamentals of Tax Planning equity and learn how contrasting political beliefs
3. Taxes as Transaction Costs 49 about efficiency and equity continue to shape the tax
environment.
4. Maxims of Income Tax Planning 73
5. Tax Research 97 Part Two concentrates on developing a methodology
for incorporating tax factors into business decisions.
Chapter 3 introduces the pivotal role of net
present value of cash flows in evaluating financial
alternatives. Students learn how to compute tax
costs and tax savings and how to interpret them as
cash flows. Chapter 4 covers the maxims of income
tax planning. The characteristics of the tax law that
create planning opportunities are explained, and the
generic techniques for taking advantage of those
opportunities are analyzed. Chapter 5 provides a
succinct overview of the tax research process and
prepares students to solve the research problems
included at the end of each chapter. The chapter
explains the six steps in the tax research process and
contains a cumulative example of the application of
each step to a research case.

xv
Part Three focuses on the quantification of business
taxable income. Chapter 6 covers the computation of
PART THREE
income or loss from ongoing commercial activities, with The Measurement of Taxable Income
special emphasis on differences between taxable income
and net income for financial statement purposes. Chapters 6. Taxable Income from Business Operations 125
7 and 8 explore the tax implications of acquisitions and
7. Property Acquisitions and Cost Recovery Deductions 165
dispositions of business property, while Chapter 9 is
devoted to nontaxable exchanges. 8. Property Dispositions 209
9. Nontaxable Exchanges 251

Part Four teaches students how to calculate the tax on

business income. Chapter 10 describes the function of sole
PART FOUR
proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, and S corporations The Taxation of Business Income
as conduits of income, while Chapter 11 discusses
corporations as taxable entities in their own right. Chapter 10. Sole Proprietorships, Partnerships, LLCs, and
12 builds on the preceding two chapters by exploring the S Corporations 283
tax planning implications of the choice of business entity.
Chapter 13 broadens the discussion by considering the
11. The Corporate Taxpayer 323
special problems of businesses operating in more than one 12. The Choice of Business Entity 361
tax jurisdiction. This chapter introduces both multistate
and international tax planning strategies. 13. Jurisdictional Issues in Business Taxation 387

Part Five concentrates on the tax rules and regulations

unique to individuals. Chapter 14 presents the individual
PART FIVE
tax formula and acquaints students with the complexities The Individual Taxpayer
of computing individual taxable income. Chapter 15
covers compensation and retirement planning. Chapter 14. The Individual Tax Formula 423
16 covers investment and rental activities and introduces 15. Compensation and Retirement Planning 459
wealth transfer planning. Finally, Chapter 17 analyzes the
tax consequences of personal activities, with particular 16. Investment and Personal Financial Planning 501
emphasis on home ownership.
17. Tax Consequences of Personal Activities 551

Part Six consists of Chapter 18, which presents the

important procedural and administrative issues
PART SIX
confronting taxpayers. It covers the basic rules for The Tax Compliance Process
paying tax and filing returns, as well as the penalties on
taxpayers who violate the rules. Chapter 18 also describes 18. The Tax Compliance Process 585
the judicial process through which taxpayers and the IRS
resolve their differences.
Appendix A Present Value of $1 611
Appendix B Present Value of Annuity of $1 612
Appendix C 2016 Income Tax Rates 613

xvi
 Chapter Four
Key Learning Tools
Maxims of Income Confirming Pages

Tax Planning Chapter 4 Maxims of Income Tax Planning 77

Learning Learning Objectives

After studying the
Because the deduction is shifted from the entity with the low tax rate to the entity with
thishigh
chapter, youthe
tax rate, should
cash be able with
outflow to: respect to the expense decreases by $19. But the

Objectives shift
LO 4-1. Describe theactually increases
difference Entitytax
between H’savoidance
cash outflow bytax
and $49. Entity H would never agree to this
evasion.
strategy unless it derives some indirect economic benefit from the tax savings.
LO 4-2. Explain why an income shift or a deduction shift from one entity to another
The chapters begin with Constraints
can affect onflows.
after-tax cash Income Shifting
Because income-shifting transactions involve transfers of value from one party to another,
learning objectives that LO 4-3. Explain how the assignment of income doctrine constrains income-shifting
they usually occur between related parties. After the income shift, the parties in the aggre-
strategies.
preview the technical gate are financially better off by the tax savings from the transaction. Congress has long
recognized
LO 4-4. Determine that income-shifting
the effect techniques
on after-tax cash flows oflose revenue
deferral of afor thecost.
tax Treasury. Many effective
content and alert students techniques that were once widely used by related parties have been abolished by legisla-
LO 4-5. Discusstion;
whyinthe jurisdiction in which a business operates affects after-tax cash restrictions
to the important concepts subsequent chapters, we will consider a number of powerful statutory
flows. on income shifting. The IRS is vigilant in policing related party transactions involving
to be mastered. These beneficial
LO 4-6. Contrast the tax income shifts.
character If a transaction
of ordinary serves
income, no genuine
capital purpose
gain, and besides tax avoidance,
tax-exempt
objectives appear again the IRS may disallow the tax consequences intended by the parties.
income.
as marginal notations Assignment
LO 4-7. Distinguish betweenofan
Income
explicitDoctrine
tax and an implicit tax.
marking the place in LO 4-3 The federal courts have consistently held that our income tax system cannot tolerate artifi-
LO 4-8. Summarize the four tax planning maxims.
Explain how the cial shifts of income from one taxpayer to another. Over 80 years ago, the Supreme Court
the chapter where each assignmentLOof4-9.
income decided
Describe thatdoctrines
the legal income must
thatbe
thetaxed to thetoperson
IRS uses who tax
challenge earns it, even strategies.
planning if another person has a
doctrine constrains
learning objective is income-shifting
legal right to the wealth represented by the income.5 Thus, a business owner who receives
strategies. a $10,000 check in payment for services rendered to a client can’t avoid reporting $10,000
addressed. income by simply endorsing the check over to his daughter. Confirming In the picturesque Pageslanguage of
In Chapter 3, wethe learned
Court,that
the the concept
tax law mustof net present
disregard value (NPV)
arrangements “byplays
whicha thekeyfruits
role in arethe
attributed to a
business decision-making
different tree process
from thatandon that the computation
which they grew.” of NPV incorporates tax costs
as cash outflows and Thetax savingsCourt
Supreme as cash inflows.on
elaborated With
thisthese
themelessons in mind,
in the case we begin
of a father whothis detached nego-
chapter by defining tiabletax planning
interest coupons as the
fromstructuring
corporateof transactions
bonds and gavetothe reduce
coupons tax tocostshis or
son as a gift.6
increase tax savings Whentothe maximize
couponsthe NPV ofthe
matured, thesontransaction.
collected the interest and reported it as income on
Why does thehisstructure
own taxof a transaction
return. The Court matter in the that
concluded tax planning 4 process?
the interest incomeofSpecifically,
was taxable to the father
Examples
Chapter Maxims Income Tax Planning 85
what are the variables
becausethat determinetothe
he continued taxthe
own outcome
underlyingof the transaction?
asset (the bonds)These questions
that created the right to the
are addressed ininterestthe first section The
payments. of the chapter.
holdings in Our
thesestudy of thehave
two cases variables
melded leads
into the
Confirming to Pages
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assignment of

and Cases Conflicting developmentFirm

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income
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atingtechniques
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as two
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a transaction respect
Income
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separate
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generate income
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cash inWe
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0 and
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analyze
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inhas
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owns the
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transactions.
transaction, by
Weincome
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willidentify
correspond the to but potent,
limitations
cash flow on doctrine.
(i.e., Entity
M will report $25,000 and $60,000 taxable income in years 0 and 1). If Entity N undertakes
The chapters contain their use in the planning process. In the final section of the chapter, we will consider how
THE TIME managersPERIODusethe
thetransaction,
maxims toitdevelop
VARIABLE
must report the entire for
tax strategies $85,000
their taxable
firms and income
why inmanagers
year 0. Entity mustM has a
numerous examples 30 percent marginal tax rate while Entity N has a 25 percent marginal tax rate. Firm MN uses
be cognizant of how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) mayChapter react to4 theirMaximsstrategies.
of Income Tax Planning 81
a 5 percent discount rate to compute NPV.
and cases illustrating or LO 4-4 Because both federal and state income taxes are imposed annually, the tax costs 73 or savings
Determine the effect on from VARIABLE
a transaction depend on the year in Entity which M the transaction occurs.
demonstrating the topic THE JURISDICTION Entity In N Chapter 3, we
after-tax cash flows of learned that these costs and savings are a function of the firm’s marginal tax rate. If that
under discussion. deferral of a tax cost. Yearchanges
rate
Every
0:
domesticcashfrom
businessone year to the next, the tax costs of and savings fluctuate accordingly.
LO 4-5 Before-tax flow is subject to the tax jurisdiction $25,000 the federal government. $25,000 There-
Discuss why the We’ve thealso
fore,Taxable discussed the fact that the technical
geographic within thedetailsUnitedofStates
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$85,000 factor in the
jurisdiction in which a systems change
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(1930).
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(.952 discount factor) 39,984 57,120
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legislative proposals, or Case in point:
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jon72420_ch04_073-096.indd 77
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innovative transactions channels the profits On the basis of anFederal

NPV taxable income
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the transaction through
earned across the Federal
Entity N. This strategy tax cost
adheres to the tax planning maxim that cash flows increase when
with interesting tax 28-nation European (Taxable income × 39%) (1,872) (1,755)
income is generated by an entity with a low tax rate. However, the strategy accelerates the
implications reported in
Union through After-tax into
cash year $2,928
flow 0, thus violating
its Luxembourg entire tax on the transaction the maxim$2,745
that calls for tax deferral.
the business press. subsidiary.
Additional Strategic Considerations
A comparison of these after-tax cash flows gives us our third income tax planning
The four tax planning maxims offer general guidance to the tax planning process. Like all
maxim: Tax costs decrease (and cash flows increase) when income is generated in a juris-
generalizations, each one is subject to conditions, limitations, and exceptions depending on
diction with a low tax rate.
the specific tax strategy under consideration. Even though the maxims focus on the reduc-
The comparison between the after-tax cash flows of Firms Y and Z would be more com-
tion of tax costs, managers should remember that their strategic goal is not tax minimiza-
plex if these firms operate in any foreign country that taxes business income. Clearly,
xviiman-
tion per se but NPV maximization. Consequently, they must consider factors other than tax
agers must be aware of the income tax laws of every locality in which their firm operates or
costs in formulating a winning strategy. One obvious factor is the expense of implementing
plans to operate in the future. Managers should appreciate that they can often minimize the
the strategy. Firms may require professional advice in designing, executing, and monitor-
total tax burden by conducting business in jurisdictions with favorable tax climates. The
ing a sophisticated tax plan, and the cost of the advice must be weighed against the poten-
intricacies of tax planning in a multijurisdictional setting are the subject of Chapter 13.
tial tax savings from the strategy.
 152 Part Three The Measurement of Taxable Income

Sources of Permanent Temporary

Book/Tax ∙ Interest on state and local bonds ∙ Prepaid income
∙ Key-person life insurance proceeds and ∙ Bad debts
Differences premiums ∙ Accrued expenses failing the
∙ Fines and penalties all-events test
∙ Political contributions and lobbying ∙ Compensation accrualsConfirming Pages
expense ∙ Related party accruals
∙ Meals and entertainment expense ∙ NOL carryforwards
∙ Domestic production activities
deduction

Key Terms 152Key

Part Terms
Three The Measurement of Taxable
accrual methodIncome
of economic NOL carryforward 148
accounting 137 performance 143 payment liabilities 143
all-events test 142 fiscal year 127 permanent difference 138
Key terms are indicated in boldface Sources of Permanent Temporary
Book/Tax ∙ allowance
Interest onmethod
state and 146 generally accepted
local bonds ∙ Prepaid incomepersonal service
in the text. A list of key terms is also ∙ annualized
Key-personincome 129 proceeds
life insurance accounting
and ∙principles
Bad debts corporation 137
supplied at the end of the chapter Differences calendar
premiums year 127 (GAAP) 137 ∙ Accrued expenses prepaid income
failing the 141
∙ cash
Finesmethod of
and penalties gross income 126 all-events test realization 137
with page references for easy review. accounting
∙ Political 133
contributions hybrid method
and lobbying ∙ ofCompensation recognition 130
accruals Confirming Pages
Definitions of key terms from all the constructive
expense receipt 134 accounting ∙ 136 recurringConfirming
Related party accruals item Pages
chapters are compiled in a Glossary ∙ deferred
Meals and taxentertainment
asset 140 expense key-person life
∙ insurance
NOL carryforwards exception 144
∙ deferred
Domestictax liability activities
production 140 policies 132 short-period return 128
for the text. direct write-off
deduction method of accounting 130 tax benefit rule 147
method 146 net operating loss taxable income 126
Key
152 Terms domestic
accrual ofproduction
method
Part Three The Measurement of Income
Taxable (NOL) 147
economic NOLtemporary
carryforward 148
90 Part Two Fundamentals of Tax Planning
activities deduction
accounting 137 NOL carryback
133 performance 143 148 differences
payment liabilities139143
Sources of Book/ Sources ofLO 4-4 all-events
Permanent
Questions
allowance
test 142
8. Firmmethod
∙ Interest
A expects
on
and
state
to receive
146
and
fiscal year 127 Temporary permanent difference 138
Problems
local
a $25,000for
generally itemDiscussion
bondsTheaccepted
of income in August
∙ Prepaid
andservice
personal
income
a second $25,000
Book/TaxLO 6-1 annualized
Tax Differences
item income
of income129 in December.
accountingfirm could
principlesdelay the receipt of both137
corporation items until
∙ 1.Key-person
Firm LK bought
January. As
a warehouse
life insurance of used
proceeds furniture
andpayment
∙ Bad to debts
equip several of its clerical offices.
Differences calendar Anyear 127a result,
employee
premiums
it would defer the
discovered a(GAAP) 137 coins
cache of gold
of tax onprepaid
$50,000 income for
drawer. income
in a deskexpenses
∙ Accrued A
one full
141
local the
failing court declared
year. Firm A decides to receive the August payment this year (and pay current tax on
cash
∙ method
Firmand
Fines of penalties
LK the rightful owner grossofincome
the coins,126 which have a realization
$72,000 FMV. 137Does Firm LK
$25,000 income) but delay the receipt of the all-events December test payment. Can you offer an
Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 15 accounting
recognize
∙ Political 133 income
contributions
explanation for this decision?because
and hybrid
of method
this
lobbying lucky of
event?
∙ Compensation recognition
accruals 130
LO constructive
2. expense
Discuss receipt
the choice 134 of a taxableaccountingyear 136
for“athe ∙ following recurring
Relatedisparty accruals
businesses: item
provide a list of the sources of book/tax LO 6-2
4-4 9. Tax planners often tell their clients that tax delayed a tax not paid.” Can you pro-
deferred
∙ Meals tax and
assetentertainment
140 key-person
expense life insurance exception 144
a. Retail
vide plant
aliability
more formaland explanation
garden center.of this132 bit of∙ wisdom?
NOL carryforwards
differences introduced in the chapter. deferred tax
∙ Domestic
b. French
10. write-off
Assume
production
thatbakery.
140 policies
activities
Congress amends
short-period return 128
LO 4-6 direct
deduction methodthe oftax law to provide
accounting 130 fortax a maximum
benefit rule 18 percent
147 rate
method on rental
c. Chimney
146 income generated
cleaning business. by single-family
net operating loss residences. What effect might
taxable income 126 this prefer-
domesticential rate have
Moving
d. production and on the market
transport value of
business.
(NOL) 147this category of real estate?
temporary
Key Terms accrual
LO 4-8 activities method
11. Identify
of
the reasons
economic NOL carryforward 148
deduction
e. Software
accounting 137 133whybusiness.
consulting managers
NOL carryback
performance
should 148 evaluate the flexibility
143 differences of a 139
tax planning
payment liabilities 143
strategy before implementing the strategy.
Questions and 3. Corporation
LO 6-3 all-events
12. In
LO 4-8 Questions
different
allowance
test 142
June, Congress
and 146
overall
method
DB operates three
Problems
method
effective for the next calendar year.
fiscaldifferent
enactsoflegislation
year 127
that
foraccepted
accounting
generally
lines of business.permanent
forincreases
each line income
Discussion or must
Can the corporation
tax
the rates
personal
differenceelect
for all entities
corporation
service adopt one
138a

Problems for LO 6-1 overall

1.annualized
Firm method?
income
LK bought a warehouse
129 accounting
of used furniture principles
to equip several corporation
of its clerical 137 offices.
a. Why might 127such legislation result in137 an increase in federal tax income
revenues for this
LO 6-3 calendarAnLester
4. year
employeeInc. discovered
owns 55 percenta cache (GAAP)
ofofthegold coins in astock
outstanding desk of prepaid
drawer.
Marvin A local court declared
Corporation. The two
141
year?
cash
Firm method
LK theofrightful
corporations engage owner ofgross
in numerous income
the coins, which
intercompany 126have realization
a $72,000
transactions FMV.
that mustDoes beFirm
137 LK
accounted
Discussion LO 6-2
forIn
b.
Discuss
on what
accounting
recognize
maxims?
2.constructive
in which
income
both waybecause
their
133
thereceipt
the
choice IRSof
would of
financial
might
134
thisthislegislation
hybrid lucky
statements
accounting
challenge
a taxable year for
method
the the
and create
event?
method
of tax
their a returns.
conflict
136of accounting
following
betweenthetax
recognition
Discuss
recurring
businesses:used to record
130planning
circumstances
item these inter-
LO 4-8 13. Mr. Ttax
deferred is considering
asset a strategy to defer $10,000
key-person income for five
life insurance years with144
exception no signifi-
a. company
Retail plant transactions.
and140 garden center.
Challenge students to think critically LO 6-4 deferred
5.
cant opportunity
For tax liability
many
French
b. assumptions: years, Mr.
bakery.
cost.
140 Discusspolicies
the strategic
K, the president of132
implications of the
KJ Inc., took the corporation’s
following return
short-period independent 128
most important
about conceptual and technical direct write-off
clients to lunch at Al’s Steak method
Houseofseveralaccounting times a130 week.tax benefit rule
However, after the147tax law
Chimney
c. a.
method Mr. T146 iscleaning
age 24. He business.
graduated from lawloss
net operating school last month and accepted
taxable income a position
126
issues covered in the chapter. These d. Moving
domestic with a and transport
prominent
production firm business.
of attorneys.
(NOL) 147 temporary
problems tend to be open-ended activities
Mr. T
Software
e. b. deduction
isconsulting
age 63. He 133 plansNOL
business. carryback
to retire from business 148 at the enddifferences
of this year and 139devote
his timeDB
3. Corporation to volunteer
operates threework and sailing.
different lines of business. Can the corporation elect a
and are designed to engage students LO 6-3
LO 4-1 14. Questions
Assumeoverall
different that and the U.S.
method Problems
Congress
of accounting replacesfor Discussion
for the
each current
line orindividual and corporate
must the corporation income
adopt one
in debate. Many problems require LO 6-1 tax
overall
1. Firm rate
LKstructures
method? bought awith a proportionate
warehouse rate that to
of used furniture applies
equip to both types
several of its of taxpayers.
clerical offices.
DiscussInc.the effect55 of this change the in ofthe federal law
in aonoftax strategies Abased on:The
students to integrate material from LO 6-3
jon72420_ch06_123-164.indd 152
4. Lester
An employee owns percent
discovered aofcache outstanding
gold coins stock Marvin
desk drawer. Corporation.
local court two
declared
02/03/16 11:56 AM
a.
FirmTheLK
corporations entity
the variable.
engage in numerous
rightful owner of the intercompany
coins, which transactions
have a $72,000that must
FMV.beDoes accounted
Firm LK
previous chapters in formulating their forb.onTheboth
recognize time
their period
income variable.
financial
because statements
of this lucky and their
event? tax returns. Discuss the circumstances
responses. LO 6-2 in which
2. c. The the
Discuss IRS
jurisdiction
the might
choice ofchallenge
a taxable the
variable. yearmethod
for theof accounting
following used to record these inter-
businesses:
company
a. The
d. Retailtransactions.
character
plant and variable.
garden center.
LO 6-4 5. Forb.many years, Mr. K, the president of KJ Inc., took the corporation’s most important
Application
French bakery.
Allclients to lunch
applicable at Al’s Steak
Application House are
Problems several times with
available a week. However, after the tax law
Connect.
c. Chimney cleaning business.
d. Moving and transport business.
Problems Application
e. Software consulting Problems business.
LO 6-3
LO 4-2 1.
3. Refer to the corporate
Corporation DB operates rate schedule
three differentin Appendix
lines ofC.business. Can the corporation elect a
What are
different the tax
overall liability,
method the marginal
of accounting fortaxeachrate,
lineandorthe
mustaverage tax rate foradopt
the corporation a cor-one
Give students practice in applying a.
poration with $48,300 taxable income?
overall method?
the technical material covered in the LO 6-3 4. b. WhatInc.
Lester areownsthe tax 55liability,
percent the of themarginal tax rate,
outstanding andof
stock theMarvin
averageCorporation.
tax rate for aThe cor-two
jon72420_ch06_123-164.indd 152 02/03/16 11:56 AM
chapter. Most of the problems are poration with
corporations $615,800
engage taxable income?
in numerous intercompany transactions that must be accounted
forWhat
c. on both are their
the tax liability,statements
financial the marginal andtax theirrate,
taxand the average
returns. Discuss taxtherate for a cor-
circumstances
quantitative and require calculations to poration
in which thewithIRS$16,010,000
might challenge taxable theincome?
method of accounting used to record these inter-
derive a numeric solution. company
d. What are transactions.
the tax liability, the marginal tax rate, and the average tax rate for a cor-
LO 6-4 5. Forporation
many years, with $39,253,000
Mr. K, the presidenttaxable income?
of KJ Inc., took the corporation’s most important
xviii clients to lunch at Al’s Steak House several times a week. However, after the tax law
 Confirming Pages

Issue Recognition
Problems
Chapter 4 Maxims of Income Tax Planning 95

Issue Recognition Problems

Develop students’ ability to recognize Identify the tax issue or issues suggested by the following situations, and state each issue
the tax issues suggested by a set of facts in the form of a question.

and to state those issues as questions. LO 4-1 1. Dr. P is a physician with his own medical practice. For the last several years, his mar-
ginal income tax rate has been 39.6 percent. Dr. P’s daughter, who is a college student,
The technical issues buried in these has no taxable income. During the last two months of the year, Dr. P instructs his
problems typically are not discussed patients to remit their payments for his services directly to his daughter.
2. Mr. and Mrs. K own rental property that generates $4,000 monthly revenue. The couple is
in the chapter. Consequently, students LO 4-1
in the highest marginal tax bracket. For Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. K give the uncashed rent
must rely on their understanding of checks for October, November, and December to their 19-year-old grandson as a gift.
basic principles to analyze the problem, LO 4-4 3. Mrs. Y owns 1,800 shares of Acme common stock, which she purchased for $10 per
share in 2002. In October, she decides to sell her Acme stock for the market price of
spot the tax concern or opportunity, and $27 per share, the highest price at which the stock has traded in the last 22 months. A
formulate the question to be resolved. friend advises her to hold the Acme stock until next January so that her gain from the
sale will be taxed next year rather than this year. Confirming Pages
In short, students must take the first LO 4-5 4. Company QP must decide whether to build a new manufacturing plant in Country B
steps in the tax research process. or Country C. Country B has no income tax. However, its political regime is unstable
and its currency has been devalued four times in three years. Country C has both a
20 percent income tax and a stable democratic government.

Research Problems
LO 4-7 5. Mr. and Mrs. TR own an investment Chapteryielding
6 Taxablea Income
4.25 from
percent after-tax
Business Operationsreturn.
163 Their
friend Ms. K is encouraging them to sell this investment and invest the proceeds in her
business, Problems
Research which takes advantage of several favorable tax preferences. Consequently,
Ms. K’s after-tax return from this business is 7 percent.
Provide further opportunity for LO 6-1, 6-6 1. Bontaine Publications, an accrual basis, calendar year corporation, publishes and
6. sells
Firmweekly
Z is considering implementing
LO 4-8 and monthly magazines to aretail
long-term
bookstorestax strategy to accelerate
and newsstands. the deduc-
The sales
students to develop their analytic tion of certain
agreement provides business expenses.
that the retailers mayThereturnstrategy
any unsold hasmagazines
an opportunity
during thecost
one-because
it decreases
period before-tax cashBontaine
flows, butwill the taxone-half
savingsoffrom the strategypriceshould be
skills. These problems consist of short month
greater
each returned
after purchase.
than magazine.
this opportunity cost. The 2016,
During December
refund
strategy is aggressive,
Bontaine
the purchase
and the IRS
recorded $919,400
of
might dis-
of mag-
scenarios that suggest one or more allowsales.
azine the intended tax outcome
During January if it audits
2017, Bontaine Firm Z’s
refunded tax returns.
$82,717 to retailers that returned

tax issues. The scenarios conclude LO 4-9 7. magazines

Ms. LG plans purchased during December.
to structure a transaction Can asBontaine
a legalreduce
sale of itsproperty,
2016 income evenbythough
the the
refund
economic paid?substance of the transaction is a lease of the property. In her current posi-
with explicit research questions for LO 6-1, 6-6 2. CheapTrade,
tion, the tax an accrual basis,ofcalendar
consequences yearmuch
a sale are corporation, operates athan
more favorable discount
thosesecurities
of a lease. Ms.
brokerage business.
that ifCheapTrade
her positionaccepts orders to changes
buy or sell somarketable securities for a lease
the students to answer. To find the LG believes
its
unexpectedly that she would prefer
to a sale, she can ignore the legal formalities and report the transaction as ainlease.
customers and charges them a commission fee for effecting the transaction a
answers, they need access to either a LO 4-9
timely, low-cost manner. CheapTrade executes an order on the “trade” date, but title
8. to
Firm HR is about to implement an aggressive long-term strategy consisting of three
the securities is not legally transferred and payment to or from the customer is not
traditional or an electronic tax library. phases. First Pages
due untilItthe
is “settlement
crucial to the success
date.” In theofnormal
the strategy
five-day that the IRS
interval accepts
between theFirm
trade HR’s
and inter-
pretation ofdates,
settlement the tax consequences
CheapTrade of each
performs distinct phase.
administrative and The firm could
accounting implement
functions to the
first phase
record in November
the transaction. 2016
During the and the second
last week of 2016,phase in August
CheapTrade 2017.
effected Alternatively,
over 18,000 it
could delaywith
transactions the second
a trading phase
date until
in 2016January 2018.
but a settlement date in 2017. CheapTrade’s
LO 4-9 9. commission
In November, from these transactions
Corporation was $1,712,400.
Q negotiated to sell a tractInofwhich
land year
to anshould Cheap-
unrelated buyer. The
Trade
buyer recognize
refused tothis income?
close the sale until February. Corporation Q wanted to close the sale by
LO 6-6 year-endanso
3. Moleri, that the
accrual basisgain would bewith
corporation taxed at itstaxable
a fiscal currentyear Chapter
25 ending 9
percentonrate.
JulyCorporation
31, owns
Nontaxable Q’s 277
Exchanges
real
rate estate
for nexton which it pays
year will beannual property
39 percent. In tax to Madison
December, County, Texas.
Corporation The the
Q sold county
land to its
Tax Planning Cases Tax
assesses
wholly owned
lienPlanning
the taxsubsidiary.
for the upcoming
on the property asCases
calendar
In February, theyear on January
subsidiary sold1,the
of the assessment date. Property owners have until March 31 to
and thetotax
land thebecomes
unrelated a buyer.

pay the tax without penalty. Moleri paid its 2016 property tax of $29,820 on March 11,
1. Firm NS Problems
owns 90 percent of Corporation T’s outstanding stock. NS also owns busi-
LO 9-8
Research
2016. How much of this tax payment is deductible on Moleri’s tax return for the fiscal
Give students an opportunity to integrate nessending
1. year
Using
realtyJuly
that T needs for use in its business. The FMV of the realty is $4 million,
31, 2016? such as Checkpoint, CCH Internet Tax Research NetWork,
an electronic
adjustedlibrary
LO 4-1
and NS’s basis is $5.6 million. Both NS and T are in the 35 percent marginal
their tax knowledge into a business LO 6-6, 6-9 or LexisNexis,
4. Jetex, an accrual find
basis,a calendar
federal tax
yearcase in whichengages
corporation, the taxpayer is foundofguilty
in the business long- of tax
tax bracket. Discuss the tax implications of each of the following courses of action,
distance freight hauling. Every year, Jetex is required to purchase several hundred
planning framework. Most cases involve and decide
permits which course
and licenses youand
from state would
localrecommend
governments to in NS.
order to legally operate
taxpayers who must decide whether its NS could
a. fleet exchange
of trucks. Duringthe realty
2016, thefor newly
cost issued
of these shares
permits of licenses
and T stock totaled
worth $4 million.
$1,119,200. Even
sellthough none to
of the permits and licenses
cash. was valid for more than
to undertake a certain transaction or b. NS could the realty T for $4 million
12 months, a substantial number of them didn’t expire until sometime in 2017.
NS Jetex
Inc.fact, couldcalculated
lease thethat
realty to T for
of its
theannual fairincurred
rental value of actually
$600,000.
who must choose between alternative $612,000 total cost in 2016
LO 9-5 2. benefited
Firm K,the a noncorporate
company in 2017. taxpayer, has owned
For financial statementinvestment
purposes, land
Jetex with a $600,000 basis
capitalized
transactions. Students must assume the jon72420_ch04_073-096.indd 95 this
for amount as anTwo
four years. assetunrelated
and expensed onlywant
parties the $507,200
to acquire remainder
the landonfrom
its 02/03/16
2016
K. Party
11:58 AMA has
income statement. As an accrual basis taxpayer, is Jetex limited to a $507,200
role of tax adviser by recommending a offered $770,000 cash, and Party B has offered another tract of land with a $725,000
deduction in 2016?
FMV. If K accepts Party B’s offer, it would hold the new land for no more than two
course of action to maximize the after- years before selling it. The FMV of this land should appreciate 10 percent annu-
tax value of the transaction. ally. K’s tax rate on capital gain is 15 percent, and it uses a 7 percent discount
TaxratePlanning Cases
to compute NPV. Which offer should K accept to maximize the NPV of the
LO 6-5 1. Company Y began business in February 2016. By the end of the calendar year, it had
transaction? xix
billed its clients for $3.5 million of services and had incurred $800,000 of operating
LO 9-2, 9-5 3. expenses.
This year, Corporation
As of December 31,EFit decides to replace
had collected old, ofoutmoded
$2.9 million its billings business
and had equipment
(adjusted
paid $670,000 basis
of its$50,000)
expenses.with new,toimproved
It expects collect theequipment. The corporation
remaining outstanding bills has two
options:
and pay the remaining expenses by March 2017. Company Y adopted a calendar year
for
∙ federal
Sell thetax old
purposes. It may use
equipment for either the cash
$120,000 method
cash or thethe
and use accrual
cash method of
to purchase the new
equipment. This option has no transaction cost.
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important skills. Connect provides the following
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In short, Connect offers students powerful tools
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Use SmartBook’s real-time reports to quickly
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xx
 How Can Technology Help Improve Student Success? xxi

Tax Form Simulations

The auto-graded tax form simulation, assign-
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improved student experience when solving the
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lation allows students to apply tax concepts by
completing the actual tax forms online with
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Online Assignments
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they need it. Connect grades homework automatically and gives immediate feedback on any questions students may
have missed. Our assignable, gradable end-of-chapter content includes a general journal application that looks and
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Student Resource Library

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xxii How Can Technology Help Improve Student Success?

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 How Can Technology Help Improve Student Success? xxiii

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 Another Random Document on
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man, whanged him on the head with the butt end, and was evidently intending to shoot. It was a
horrible moment, but the man pleaded, others intervened, and the man was led away. Everyone's
nerves were overwrought, and suffering and discomfort were so universal, that I don't believe that
one death, more or less, would have seemed a great thing to those who were watching.
But once across the bridge, and on the tramp, all was again silent, except for the monotonous and
automatic cries of the drivers to their oxen: "Terrai! Chovai! Ide! Napred!" The route all day was
roadless, through sloughs of mud, and unbroken scrub, and over boulders, and everywhere it was
strewn with the dead bodies of oxen and of horses.
At dusk we outspanned for the night, in the snow, at the top of a hill, near an Arnaut village. We had
now, presumably, made up for the time lost at Prishtina, and rest for the animals was imperative.
Captain W. supped with us.
We were away again by 6 o'clock next morning (Saturday, November 27th). We ate mealie porridge
at 5.30, as it was impossible to stop for food during the day, and it was good to have some physical
basis of energy. This meant an hour's less rest for me and for the cook (now, in the temporary
absence of Mrs. Dawn, Demetrius, the soldier man). But it was worth the effort. We trekked, this
day, first through an Arnaut village; the houses were one-storied, mostly of stone, as protection from
enemies and from Serbian vendettas, and, indeed, they were so substantially built that only cannons
could have dislodged the inhabitants; and then we came into a vortex of columns converging on all
sides from their various encampments.
One officer (a doctor) told me that he had been blocked with his column at that spot during two
days, and it was now seven days since he had left Prishtina. We got into line behind the guns, which
soon, however, got ahead of us, as they were horse-drawn, and at a narrow bridge we were again
blocked for hours. Thenceforward there were no roads, only tracks over fields and through scrub of
Turkey oak, and mud incredible; and another of our riding horses collapsed.
The view, as we neared the snow-covered mountains, of which Petch was at the base, was
magnificent. We encamped at dusk, on the slope of a hill, in the valley. Captain W. had supper with
us. During the day, to my relief, Vooitch reappeared; he had left the motor party safely ensconced at
Petch, and I was thankful to have his help again and to know that the others had arrived.
At 6 a.m. Sunday, November 28th (Advent Sunday), we were on the march. As usual now, there
were no roads; we scrambled and stumbled over ploughed fields and every variety of rough country,
but there was less block, because, as there was no road, we could choose our track. Hard frost, too,
helped to make swamps more manageable. We had to abandon another wagon, because the oxen
were growing weaker, and the kitchen wagon needed extra help.
The worst block of that day, after the start, occurred at the end of the day. I had scrambled through
a hedge, in advance of the blocked column, and, with Vooitch, had chosen as camping site a grass
space, partially sheltered from the icy wind by the wall of an Arnaut village. When we returned to
the hedge we found that the Bakers' Column had intercepted ours, and refused to let our wagons
pass. They said this was in revenge for their having been forced, by another officer, to let us pass
them earlier in the day. When our men eventually got through, they were so angry at having been
kept for an additional hour from fire and supper, that when they got through the hedge, they placed
their wagons close under the hedge, instead of coming across to the other side of the enclosure,
where I was awaiting them and keeping the ground from other columns. So, with fierce eye flaming,
I stalked across to them, through intervening convoys, and told them to come at once. They said
that they had already outspanned their oxen and lighted their fires. Full of wrath, I kicked their fires
out, with my impellent boots, and gave the order to inspan and to follow me at once. They came
meekly, and were soon glad of the shelter of the wall. How could I help loving these men? For they
never sulked or bore malice when they had to do things they didn't like; perhaps they remembered
that we, also, were doing things which we didn't like, for their sakes.
That evening I had the good fortune to be able to buy, for 90 dinars, a pony to replace my horse,
which was exhausted. We took the latter with us to Scutari, but it was never again ridden on trek.
In the evening a rumour came that the town crier at Petch, was crying that the Russians had been
victorious in Galicia, and that the Germans were leaving Serbia. It was also rumoured that we might
be ordered back to Mitrovitza. And much as the men wanted to return to Serbia, they all shouted in
chorus, "Never again along that Prishtina road."
J. G. and Mr. Little and I slept in the wagons that night. We were up at five next morning (Monday,
November 29th), and when we were starting, the local Prefect came up and said he had only just
heard that we were here, or he would have invited us to his house for the night. He made a
charming speech of appreciation of our work, and asked me to come and drink a glass of new milk
at his house. I had not time to dismount, but I shall never forget that drink of milk. It was half
cream, and the daughter of the house warmed it. I had not realised, till I found myself gulping like a
greedy puppy, that we had lately not been overfed. I called the other two, and they also had a gulp.
The cold was horrible all day, and the route was worse than ever: over hedges, ditches, rivers, bogs,
ploughed fields and slippery ice, all the way to Petch, which we reached at 4 p.m. Major A. and his
column, with hundreds of others, were encamped on the bare, frozen marshes outside the town,
and he suggested that we, too, had better stop on this side of the town. But it was a bad place for a
camp, no wood for fires, or shelter from the icy wind, and the ground was a swamp. Our cars were
on the other side of the town, near a monastery, and that sounded very hopeful and peaceful. I was
told that we should not be allowed to go through the town, but we risked it and got through. I found
that the doctors and nurses and their cars were inside the monastery walls; the other cars, with the
remainder of the staff, were outside, beside a stream. On the other side of the stream we placed the
column. There was no wood available, in or around Petch. A Serbian soldier would sell his soul for
firewood, as our Tommies would for a long drink, and I had to consent that one of our wagons, the
most dilapidated, should be cut up, in order that the men might make their magic fire circles, and,
whilst sitting round them, dream of past and future, and forget the present. The continuous strain
and lack of food were exhausting the oxen. Every day now loads had to be readjusted, and if there
was one wagon less, the men would be helped.
It was pleasant to be welcomed "home" again by the staff after a separation of six days. We took up
quarters near the wagons outside the monastery. Doctor May and the unit from Kragujevatz, who
had all been obliged to evacuate the Stobart Hospital, by order of the military authorities, were now,
I heard, in the town on their way to England, so I went to see them, and I found that Doctor Curcin,
who had at Kragujevatz been officially responsible for the welfare of foreign units, was in charge of
the party, and that all arrangements had been made for their journey with ponies to the coast. They
were returning to England as quickly as possible, and it was now decided that the two doctors of our
Serbian-English Field Hospital, two nurses and three chauffeurs should go home with the Curcin
party. I could not guarantee that I should return to London immediately. I was pledged to the Army
and to the column as long as my services were needed, and I could not yet foresee what might be
required of me, and it seemed wise that those who wished to make sure of being in London before
Christmas, should take the opportunity of Doctor Curcin's escort. We helped them to buy ponies, and
they left Petch on December 1st, for Andreavitza and Podgoritza.
 CHAPTER XXXIV
The cold that first night at Petch was intense, and in the morning we couldn't put on our boots till
we had unfrozen them at the fires. In the morning (Tuesday, November 30th) I went into the old
Turkish town, picturesque with mosques and narrow streets, to get orders, on the telephone, from
the P.M.O. I was told to do whatever was done by the Fourth Field Hospital. They were out on the
frozen swamp, so I sent an orderly and told him to report their movements. In the meantime, as my
hands when I was riding were generally frozen, I tried to buy some warm gloves, for though shops
were all shuttered, and their owners had for the most part gone, it was possible here and there still
to buy a few odds and ends, if you knew where to go. But there were no gloves to be had, so I
bought a pair of short white woollen socks to wear as gloves. A clumsy, but on the whole a useful
contrivance.
On Wednesday, December 1st, we had received no order to move. I went into the town to see the
Kragujevatz party start on their long mountain walk, and I took possession of a couple of rooms
vacated by them, for kitchen and for dining and sleeping-room. The only available site for the
column was in an old Turkish graveyard, close to the house. This house, which was near the
headquarters of the Montenegrin police, belonged to a Montenegrin man, who was not at home
when we arrived. I wanted to take down his fence at the back of the house, as it enclosed a grass
space convenient for the cars, and I asked the police if I might do this. They said perhaps I had
better wait till the owner returned in the afternoon. About three o'clock, a tall, dark, heavily-built
man, looking like the villain in penny novelettes, appeared; he had been in America, and spoke a
very little and very bad English. Serbians in America pick up marvellously little English. We met many
who, though they had been years in the United States, could not make themselves intelligible in our
tongue. Our friend said he was sorry to be late, but that he had only this minute come out of gaol.
"Ah, yes," I said, as though that was the place from which one naturally expected one's friends to be
arriving, "and what business took you there?" "Oh!" carelessly, "I just killed a nozzer fellow here,"
and he pointed to his own doorstep. It seemed that his wife and the "nozzer" fellow had been on too
familiar terms, and our Montenegrin giant had taken the law into his own hands, and had promptly
rid himself of the enemy. He had not yet been tried, though he had been in prison for ten months
and three days. But now, as Petch was being evacuated, all prisoners were set free, to escape as
best they could. He gave us permission to destroy his fence. As the moral fence around his home
had already been destroyed, the wooden fence must have seemed of small importance; besides, his
house would soon be in the hands of the Germans, and nothing could have seemed of much
consequence now except his freedom. He was lame, he had no money, and his horse was too small
to carry him, so he asked if we would let him go with us over the mountains to the coast, and if we
would let him ride our biggest horse in exchange for his pony. He must, otherwise, he said, be
captured by the enemy. We couldn't let him be taken prisoner again, and as he said he knew all the
Montenegrin roads and might be useful, we let him come with us. He came, but he didn't know the
tracks, and if ever I asked his judgment as to direction, he was invariably wrong. But he was kindly
and harmless, and we took him as far as Podgoritza.
In the street at Petch, I met our P.M.O., who was on his way to see me. He gave me the cheerful
information that henceforth the roads would not be good. With remembrance of the road between
Prishtina and Petch, still in my mind, I laughed. The P.M.O. smiled grimly, and said, yes, the roads
would be even worse now, and I must at once cut our four-wheeled wagons in half, and make of
them two-wheeled carts; I had better see how the Fourth Field Hospital were doing this, and do the
same. Then he told me that he and Headquarters were very pleased with us, that we had done well
in difficult circumstances, and he referred, with congratulations, to the fact that we had had no
deserters, a trouble which had befallen other columns. He was glad, he said, that having come
through so much, we were still sticking to the work. His kind words cheered me very much, for
having had no previous experience of this kind of work, I didn't know if I had been doing all that
was expected of me.
We were now, he said, to start to-night, or at daybreak to-morrow, with our two-wheeled carts, for
Scutari, near the coast of Albania. The route was to be via Roshai, Berani, Andreavitza, and
Podgoritza.
Thursday, December 2nd, was a busy day; the first job was to cut the wagons in half; the back
portion would be left behind, and we should carry on with the front portion. It was difficult to
procure saws, especially as some of the wagons belonged to the drivers, and they were not anxious
to cut them up. "Nema" and "ne moshe" ("There is none" and "not possible") lurked ominously
amongst the tomb-stones, but fierce-eye prevailed. Then came the sad business of sorting hospital
material, for, as half a wagon is only half as large as a whole wagon, half the hospital material must
be left behind, (we gave it to a hospital in Petch), also most of the equipment, and the tents, except
one bell tent, to which we clung in case of desperate weather at night.
We guessed that it might be possible that even the two-wheeled carts would not be able to continue
to Scutari, so we set to work to buy ponies, upon which to pack food and kit, in case the carts must
be abandoned. Jordan, Colson, and Vooitch cleverly managed to find a dozen ponies, in various
stages of decay; these were subsequently our salvation. But they must be rough-shod, or they would
be useless in the ice and snow, and there were no blacksmiths left in Petch. Nearly everyone had
now gone, and the town was deserted except by the passing soldiers and fugitives. But this difficulty,
too, was overcome by the triumvirate. It was also important to procure a store of food. We tried in
vain to find tinned foods, and we only had a few Serbian meats left; but we luckily found some of
our precious mealie meal, also a little rice and a few beans, and we carried these in sacks, and these
three things ultimately saved us from starvation.
At dusk, when I went again to the cemetery to superintend the packing of the two-wheeled carts, I
found a murky atmosphere. A Turkish graveyard is, under any circumstances, a melancholy place.
The ground is uncultivated, and rough, cuneiform stones, a couple of feet in height, are strewn pell-
mell to mark the graves. In this cemetery every yard of ground was covered with disembowelled
animals, dung, broken carts, and refuse from past encampments. The night was, as usual, pitchy
dark, and it was raining heavily as I stumbled over graves, and carcases, and horrors of all kinds, to
find the men, guided only by their camp fires.
I arrived at a moment of excitement. One of our drivers had just let off his rifle, whether accidentally
or not, I never discovered, and he had nearly killed an officer who was passing. The officer was a
little upset, and was now in a loud voice threatening to punish our man. But I invented an
explanation for the incident, and expressed regret, and the officer, who was luckily otherwise
preoccupied, agreed to forgive the driver.
But our men were in sulky mood. Was it a wonder? For they were now face to face with the
mountains of Montenegro, which would henceforth lie between them and all they loved on earth.
And now this man said he couldn't take more than one package in his cart, and another couldn't
take anything: "Nema, ne moshe; nema, ne moshe" met me at every turn. The situation must be
tackled; so I called the men together, round one of the camp fires, that I might see their faces. I told
them how much I sympathised with them in having now to leave their country behind, and to make
this journey over the mountains, into a strange land; the situation was bad, but they wouldn't make
it better by bad behaviour; two "bads" did not make a "good." Prudence, as well as patriotism,
required that they should go forward. If they attempted now to return to their homes, they would be
imprisoned, or starved, or shot. It was only the spirit of Serbia which could some day reconquer
Serbia, and they, the Serbian Army, were the guardians of that spirit. Up to now they had a splendid
record of behaviour; would they not keep it unsullied to the end? Then the personal touch. Was my
task an easy one? Did they wish to make it more difficult? Had I not come from afar to help their
country, and would they be less patriotic than the stranger from another land? Had I not shared with
them—Before I could say more, my voice was drowned in a chorus of "Ja! Ja! Maika! Ja! Ja! And
don't you know that ours is the only column that has lost no men from desertion? Ja! Ja! Maika! It is
hard, but we won't grumble."
And content was restored. I told them all to bring tins, or paper, for some extra rations of tea and
coffee, for the trek, and the naughty mood of these impressionable, child-like, affectionate peasant
soldiers was put away.
 CHAPTER XXXV
We were up at 3.30 the next morning, Friday, December 3rd, to pack the ponies and get ready to
start at daybreak. We must now leave our much-loved and faithful cars behind; we gave them to the
Prefect, with instructions that he must burn them if the enemy arrived. We should badly miss their
sleeping accommodation, but for me personally it was one anxiety the less. Possessions are at the
root of all anxiety.
At 6.30 a.m. our reduced column, with its deformed carts, set out through the narrow streets of
Petch, to be swallowed up in the great mountains; these already seemed ashamed of what they had
in store for us, and were hiding behind thick mists of cloud and rain. Nothing was visible except the
endless stream of two-wheeled carts, oxen, horses and soldiers, behind us and ahead of us. The
road that day was not worse than usual, and we encamped at dark in a tiny but dry field, behind a
farmhouse in which Headquarters Staff were spending the night. The P.M.O. came and had a talk
with us, and said we were to move on at one next morning. That was the last time we saw or heard
of Headquarters Staff till we reached Scutari.
We departed soon after 1 a.m., December 4th, and in a quarter of an hour, we arrived at a block,
which, in the darkness, seemed to be composed of all the carts and oxen and soldiers of the
universe—apparently on an open plain. It was too dark to see what lay ahead, blocking progress,
and no one knew anything, except that movement was impossible. So we lit fires and sat around
them till daylight at 6.30, when we had coffee, and moved with the multitude, a few hundred yards.
But we were at once again hopelessly blocked. Then suddenly appeared, for a few minutes, our old
friend, the cheery Artillery Major, who had just performed the heartrending task of destroying his
three batteries. What were our little discomforts, in comparison with the grief which this keen officer
and patriot must have suffered, in the destruction of his beloved guns—the last defences of his
country?
We took advantage of the halt to send the drivers for hay for the oxen and horses, and we
outspanned for two hours. The snow was now melting under a hot sun, and making a miry slush,
which was not warming for the feet; but by the time we had procured hay, it was daylight, and as
we could then see that there was no road, there seemed to be no object in waiting, so we wriggled
out of the chaos of other columns, and took a track of our own—an awful track over rocks, and
scrub, and amazing mud, but in the right direction; and at night we bivouacked on the slopes of a
wood, overlooking plains and mountains which lay in the direction of Macedonia.
We could see the shrapnel fire, and hear the mountain guns close to us all the evening. In deep
ravines in the track in front of us, lay dead horses and oxen and broken carts. At daybreak I took an
excursion, on foot, with Vooitch, to inspect the route ahead of us, and it seemed impossible that
carts could travel on it; the spaces between the maze of ravines, twelve feet deep, were, in places,
only two or three feet broad. And, indeed, no carts were now visible, only pack ponies, and oxen
with blankets strapped upon them. I was wondering what was to happen; but I had determined to
make the start with carts, as I had received no order to leave them behind, when a message came
from an officer in charge of the way, to say that we were to abandon wheels, and continue as best
we could, with any ponies we might have had the prevision to buy at Petch. How thankful we were
that we had bought some; we could otherwise have carried no food or blankets. Our oxen were now
reduced to thirty-two. They could carry nothing, but they must, of course, go with us, and be saved
if possible.
There was no time for sentiment; we were obliged to harden our hearts, and burn or otherwise
destroy the carts.
The abandonment of carts, meant the abandonment of our beautiful hospital material and camp
equipment; all our treasures must be left upon the ground. But I determined to save the
instruments, and to carry them with us at whatever trouble they might cost us; they were valuable
and belonged to the Serbian equipment. But, to my horror, the man in charge of them, had taken
upon himself to loot the box, and had already begun distributing the knives, and other useful
implements, amongst his friends. I was just in time to save them. I wrathfully made the man return
the instruments. I then took them out of their box, which was heavy, and placed them in my own
brown canvas rug bag, to be carried with my personal goods, instead of something else, which I left
behind. But, notwithstanding this precaution, they were, to my great disappointment, stolen on the
way.
We were now about to start upon a more difficult and uncomfortable phase of the journey, and the
men would need heartening. At daybreak I called them together, and as I stood on a tree stump, at
the edge of the wood, facing the plain and the mountains of Macedonia, the men came up and
grouped themselves, in the grey light, in a half circle. "Dobrdan!" ("Good morning!") "Maika,
dobrdan, dobrdan!" The sun rose blood-red over the mountains as I spoke. We must now, I said, be
prepared to meet discomforts and difficulties; but though we were abandoning much, we could, and
we must, take with us, goodwill and a courageous spirit; these would be of more use to Serbia, than
the ointments and bandages which we were leaving behind. And now, if any man wanted to turn
homewards, and risk being shot by the Germans, the Austrians, the Bulgars, or the Arnauts, he had
better go now, at once, and save us from the trouble of feeding him over the mountains. Those who
wanted to stay, and be loyal to their column, their Army, and their nation, could put up their hands.
And every hand went up, with a shout of loyalty, and determination to keep together to the end.
Our British chauffeurs, William and Jordan, also the Serbian Ilia, and Vooitch, now adapted
themselves finely to the new task of packing loads for the ponies' packs. We had only been able to
procure one pack saddle, and all the other loads, containing food and blankets, we tied to the
horses' backs, with string and cord, which we had brought with us. At 11.30 a.m. we turned our
backs on the ruins of our column—burnt and broken carts, beds, tents, personal clothes, and, worst
of all, surgical boxes and hospital equipment. Our bivouac looked as though burglars had been
interrupted in looting operations, and in their flight, had left the ground strewn with the spoils.
Good-bye to our hospitable field-kitchen and all its useful appurtenances; good-bye to tents and
beds and the last relics of comfort; good-bye to all hope of hospital work; and, worst of all, good-
bye to all hope of rescue for Serbia.
For now, all hope of help from the Allies had vanished, and the intensity of the tragedy to the
Serbian nation was revealed. The journey which we were then about to take—on foot—over the
mountains of Montenegro, and Albania, to the coast, is now, for thousands of human beings, a
memory of mental and physical suffering, which will cause life henceforth to be seen through
darkened spectacles.
 CHAPTER XXXVI
Into the land of Montenegro, the land of the Black Mountains, which already threatened precipitously
to bar our way, we must now force an entrance. Our first path, about two feet wide, ran through a
thick wood; I went first, and led my horse, for, though there were plenty of men to lead it, I guessed
that I should better be able to sympathise with the difficulties of the road, if I had to overcome them
first myself; and I wished to choose the route. Colson, Jordan, Vooitch, George, and Ilia also each
led a pony, and the Serbian men led the others, and the oxen. Our skeleton column was followed by
other skeleton columns, and during all that day we tramped and splashed, and slipped, and
scrambled, over rocks, and through scrub, in mud, and over slopes of ice and snow—a route
impossible for carts.
Roads had now ceased, and even the tracks were only those which had been trampled by the
multitudes in front of us; over passes 5,000 feet high; between mountains 8,000 feet high; through
snow, ice, boulders, unbroken forest, mud-holes, bridgeless rivers. And always those pitiless
mountains glaring at the tragedy; mountains with steep, snow-covered slopes, or mountains of grey,
bare rock, precipitous, shutting out, for thousands, all hope of return to home and nationhood.
It would be impossible now to trek at night, and at dusk, I noticed ahead of us, a mountain slope
covered with trees, which would give us partial shelter from the cold wind. Only another half hour's
scramble, down a steep incline, in a thick wood, and rest, and fire, and supper would reward us. The
last 100 yards of descent were precipitous, and at the top, my horse and I slipped on the ice, and
we rolled together to the bottom. We picked ourselves up, shook ourselves, looked at each other—I
was still holding the reins—and walked on. There was no one to say "Poor dear, are you hurt?" so it
wasn't worth while to be hurt. Men who were passing, passed; they took no notice. Why should
they? A broken leg, even a broken neck, more or less, of what consequence would such trifles be in
the general havoc? During war, new values—are they better values?—are found for many things.
We were now in a narrow valley, with steep mountains close upon either side of us. We scrambled a
little way up the slope on our left, and found that the whole mountain side was becamped, and we
secured a small level space for our fires, with difficulty. We scraped away the snow and made a fire,
with wood, of which there was, fortunately, plenty, collected some clean snow for tea water, warmed
some tinned food, and had supper. Except from snow, there was no water available during the next
three days. No hay was procurable for the animals, and all we could give them to eat was dead
beech leaves, which we unburied from the snow. We slept round the fire, and prevented ourselves
from slipping down the mountain side, by logs of wood placed at our feet. The men, with their fires,
and the horses and the oxen, were close to us. And then I noticed that not only was our own hillside
ablaze with camp fires, but that the lights amongst the trees upon the mountain opposite, from
which we were only divided by two hundred yards of valley, were also camp fires, and not, as I had
fancied, stars. Where did camp fires end and stars begin? Were there still such things as stars? Or
was heaven quite shut out by earth? There was only a small piece of sky visible between the
towering and overhanging mountains, and, in the darkness, heaven and earth seemed merged in a
huge amphitheatre which was outlined by myriads of flickering lights. During the precious moments
just before sleep—the only moments, in these times, available for thought—stars and camp fires,
earth and heaven, became hopelessly mixed. I couldn't sort them, and I went to sleep, convinced
that stars were the camp fires of the heavenly host, which is now out in mortal combat against the
hosts of evil on our earth.
It took us, at first, a long time to pack the ponies, but we were away by dawn (Monday, December
6th), climbing up the mountain, through the fir trees, over slippery ice, and rocks which were half
hidden in snow. There was no longer a defined way; the whole earth was now an untrodden track,
from or to perdition. Whichever way you looked, oxen, horses, and human beings were struggling,
and rolling, and stumbling, all day long, in ice and snow. Soon after we started, I saw a long column
ascending a steep hillside; near the top, a horse slipped, and knocked down the man who was
leading it; they both fell, and as they rolled down the slope, they knocked down all the other men
and horses in the line, and these all fell like ninepins, one after the other, all the way down the
mountain side.
As the physical difficulties of the route increased, the difficulty, for all the columns, of securing bread
for men, and hay for oxen, and for horses, increased also, with the result that the track became
more and more thickly lined, with the dead bodies of oxen, and of horses, and worse still—of men.
Men by the hundred lay dead: dead from cold and hunger by the roadside, their eyes staring at the
irresponsive sky; and no one could stop to bury them. But, worse still, men lay dying by the
roadside, dying from cold and hunger, and no one could stay to tend them. The whole scene was a
combination of mental and physical misery, difficult to describe in words. No one knows, or will ever
know accurately, how many people perished, but it is believed that not less than 10,000 human
beings lie sepulchred in those mountains. The route of escape, which led through Monastir to
Durazzo, was even more disastrous. From amongst the army reserve of 30,000, composed of boys
below, and of men above military age, 10,000 only reached Durazzo.
Many of the fugitive women, when they saw the mountains, and were faced with death from cold,
fatigue, and starvation for themselves and children, went back to their Germanised villages in Serbia.
Poor souls! They were between the devil and the deep sea, and they chose—the devil! The wife and
two children—two boys—of one of our drivers, who had trekked with us, in one of our wagons, since
Palanka, also turned back when we came to the mountains, and for their sakes I was thankful.
Except from time to time, the congestion this day was not so great, because the mass of columns
was now outspread over the mountains, and the commanders chose their own tracks; but this was
in some ways worse, for it meant that the responsibility for route lay now with me. Gaolbird had no
sense of topography, and it was all he could do to drag his poor lame leg along; he was too heavy, in
every sense, to be of use. A false track might lead to disaster, and we only vaguely knew the
direction of our goal. But why should anyone fear responsibilities that come in the course of work?
We can only act according to our lights. Life is a sequence of choices during every moment of
existence. Even if we choose not to choose, that is equally a choice; and I risked prompt decisions to
scale or descend this, that, or the other height, with audacious confidence. Progress was slow, the
ponies often fell, and their loads had to be readjusted. My horse and I had many a stumble, but that
served as useful warning to the others behind. I shall never cease to wonder at the pluck and
endurance of our British staff, none of them accustomed to work of this sort. Specially, perhaps, was
it wonderful how the two nurses, and the cook, and the honorary secretary, held out, for physically
they were not as strong as the rest of us. They did not lead ponies, but they were always at hand, to
help with the packs or to prepare food, light fires, and make others generally as comfortable as
possible. If they had grumbled, or grown weary, they could have made unpleasant, conditions which
were only difficult.
As the day wore on, the way became steeper, and more and more slippery, both up and down the
mountain sides. In the afternoon, when we were half-way up a steep hill, which was covered with
snow—a foot, and sometimes two or three feet deep—we reached a space which was a solid block
of oxen, men and horses, all jumbled together in chaotic confusion. Evidently there was only a
narrow outlet into the thick forest of pines and beeches, which covered the valley to which we must
descend. To avoid the block, some columns were climbing higher up the mountain, in order to make
the descent at a farther point. The majority were trying to join a track which entered the wood on
the south side, and, like sheep through a gate, they were all tumbling over each other, in the
scramble for places in the narrow line. We had not heard close-range guns of late, and we were now
surprised to hear again loud, continuous, and near firing. We were soon told, in explanation, that a
party of Arnauts, or Albanians, had entrapped, for loot, some convoys which were close behind us, in
a narrow gorge, and that they were now murdering the members of the convoy. I have since heard
that the wife and eight children of the Commissariat Major, including the two boys in uniform, who
had walked with me one night, were all murdered that day, with many others, by these Arnauts.
We should have had to wait for hours, perhaps all night, before our turn came to get into the main
line of entrance to the wood, therefore, as the further climb up the mountain, must be avoided if
possible, an alternative route into the wood must be found. "Vooitch! come here." "Yes, madame."
"How deep is that snow? Try it with your stick." "Two feet, madame." "Oh! That's all right. Tell the
others to follow at once." And we plunged down the snow slope, on a track of our own, and forced
an entrance of our own into the wood.
But the wood was as bad as anything we had yet met—steep, slippery, with rocks, and stones, tree
trunks across the track, and low branches overhead hitting you in the face. It was enough to make
even a woman swear, and no woman would have been human if she had not said, just now and
then, a quiet "damn." The wood was interminable, and it seemed as if we should never reach the
end, and touch the valley bottom, but we must get out of it before night. Besides, we could not
stop; we were in the narrow line of columns. To my surprise, just before dusk, the sergeant, who
always stayed with the oxen party, as there was less work to do, came up and asked if he should
lead my horse for a while. It was nice of him, and, in order not to discourage him, I gave him the
reins and walked ahead, selecting, as usual, the route to be followed by the others. Soon we came
to a point from which the descent, for a couple of hundred yards, was sheer, and slippery with snow
and ice, to the end of the track and of the valley, and the temporary end, as we believed, of trouble.
For though no road was visible, and the hill rose abruptly on the other side of a small river-bed, now
dry, we heard that the river-bed ended in a road, a little further on to the left. The sergeant, during
his brief spell of work, was troubled by the constant slipping of the saddle, and this with other
difficulties at the end of an exhausting day, was too much for his temper. When he saw this steep
descent in front of us, he stopped; on our right there was a precipice. "Come along, Narednik"
(sergeant), "only another two hundred yards, and our troubles are over for the day." But he refused
to move, and he was holding up the rest of our column, and all the thousands who were pressing on
our heels. He said the ponies couldn't do it. "But they must; they can't fly. Look! Only that tiny
distance. Quick! We can't spend the rest of our lives here, and remember the Arnauts; give me the
pony." I took the reins. To my horror, the man gave the pony a shove, and it fell on the edge of the
precipice. I dragged at the reins, and saved the pony from falling over. I have never felt so angry,
and "Damn!" saved me from bursting. I needed no interpreter. I swore, the one word I knew, and
was not ashamed. I repeated it in loud tones all the way down the hill, and it took me and the pony
safely to the bottom. If I had not been so angry, I couldn't have done so well. The sergeant was
afterwards penitent, but I never let him lead the pony again.
It was now dark, and we must wait for stragglers who had got cut off in the wood. I stood on a
rock, blowing the whistle continuously. But it was more dangerous waiting than moving. I heard a
shout from one of our men, and I jumped aside, as two oxen and a horse, rolled down the hill on to
the spot where I had stood. I sent some of the party a few yards up the river gully, to light a fire and
make tea, whilst Vooitch and I waited for those who had been cut off. Then, when these had
collected, we went on another two or three miles up the river-bed of mud and rocks, which opened
into a narrow road of mud, with a thick wood on either side. With thousands of others, we
bivouacked for the night, at eleven o'clock, sleeping on the ground, round a fire, amongst the trees,
near the road. The snow was deep, and the ground sloping. I left my overcoat for a minute in the
place where I had been sitting at supper, and when I came back, I found that it had rolled into the
fire, and was making a cheerful blaze, but we fished it out, and, though full of holes, it was still
wearable.
RESCUING FALLEN PACK PONY IN BRIDGELESS RIVER NEAR JABUKA
ALBANIAN MOUNTAIN TRACK OF ROCKS AND MUD HOLES
Dead Horse in foreground
 CHAPTER XXXVII
Next morning at daybreak, we were about to sit round the fire, for breakfast, when old Marco, the
gaolbird, strolled into camp. He had lost himself yesterday, and we had been anxious about him, for
he had with him the strongest horse, which was carrying, amongst other things, our precious tea-
pail and our frying-pan, the only kitchen implements now left, also some much-prized foodstuffs. We
were welcoming him, when an excited officer rushed up and shouted to us to get away at once, as
the Arnauts were close behind us. No one grumbled at having to go without breakfast: nobody
minds going without necessaries; we only grumble when we are deprived of luxuries; and it was not
necessary to hustle the few preparations for departure, and indeed these grew fewer every day. As
we moved off, daylight revealed dead men, unnoticed last night, lying close beside our camp, and as
we plunged into the muddy road, we saw that dead horses, and oxen, by the hundred, were lying on
the track.
We welcomed mud as an improvement on the slippery ice and snow of previous days. We now
realised that if worse weather had befallen, the larger portion of the Army must have perished in the
snows. There was truly much cause for thankfulness.
This day the travelling was comparatively easy. At one place where there were two tracks, the road
was even being controlled by officers, who, to hasten the escape from the Arnauts, and the pursuing
enemies, divided horse from oxen convoys, and sent horses up the higher, and oxen along the lower
mountain road. The roads joined a little later, but our convoy was allowed to keep together along the
lower road.
Under normal circumstances we should have thought ourselves lucky to see such scenery—of snow,
mountains, and pine woods; now we felt our luck lay in leaving it, yard by yard, behind us. But this
day we stumbled upon a flowing river of real water! This was indeed lucky; the first drink, except
from snow, that we, or our poor animals had enjoyed for three days. We had hoped to reach Roshai
and, perhaps, house-shelter that night; but darkness came, and with it a recrudescence of track
atrocities, boulders and holes, and mud above our knees. We had no more oil for our hurricane
lamps, and it was unprocurable. At seven p.m. I saw that further progress, till daylight, was
impossible, and the animals were exhausted. We turned aside, and with no light but the camp fires,
we bivouacked in a dryish field above the town.
Every day the numbers of our oxen and of our horses were reduced, and for the last two days the
poor beasts had starved on dead beech leaves; but now we were near a town, and we hoped for
hay. But Sandford and Merton came back complacently with their dreadful "Nema" (there is none).
There is something inexpressibly exasperating about this word "Nema." It doesn't mean, in a polite,
apologetic way, "Very sorry, but there is none to be had," or "Very sorry, but I have done the best I
could, and failed." It means, "Can't; shan't; won't; couldn't if I would; wouldn't if I could"; it
epitomises all the obstructive negatives capable of expression in any language. It is the obverse of
"Dobro," which means "All right, I will do what I can." "Nema" means "There was difficulty, and I
gave it up." You can't fight against "nema"; it hits you below the belt; it represents inaction, inanity,
indolence and indifference; a fourfold disease, for which there is no remedy. And "Nema nishta
Bogami" ("There is none, by God"), the Montenegrin form of "Nema," was even worse; it invoked
deific corroboration for assertions that you knew to be untrue.
Sandford could get no hay, so Vooitch and I must waste much precious time by searching for it. In
the morning early we all trekked into the town. In ordinary times this picturesque place would have
been a delight to us: the houses were of wood with grey shingle roofs; wooden ladders led from
outside to the living rooms; under the living rooms were the stables in which the cattle lived. But
now the houses were all shuttered and deserted; all shops were evacuated. There were no
foodstuffs; nothing was obtainable. "Nema nishta Bogami" stalked triumphant, up and down the
street. But hay we must have, or our animals could go no farther. The column waited in a yard,
whilst Vooitch and I explored. Some regiments were quartered in the town; they had horses, and
these, presumably, must be fed. We ascertained the names of the regiments, but it was not easy to
find the address of their headquarters, as everyone was a stranger in the place, and no one knew
anything except that he himself was looking for food and hay, and was not keen for others to find it
first. Eventually we ran a regiment to earth, but the officer in command, who was in a room upstairs,
must, I think, have seen me, and afraid, no doubt, that he might be asked to yield something which
he could not spare, he sent word that he was not there; and in his supposed absence, the under-
officer said he could do nothing. We found a mill, and gained entrance. Mealies were there, but not
for us. We tried everything and everybody—in vain. Were we after all to be beaten by that beastly
"Nema"? It was time now for the miracle, and at that moment two officers came riding down the
street. I boldly stopped them, and found that we knew each other. We had met on the trek. They
said that no hay was procurable anywhere, but that they had more than they needed, and they
would—bless them!—give us twenty kilos—enough for a feed, to take us on to the next military
station. We returned to the convoy, the hay was fetched, and the horses and oxen were fed. We had
lost a pony, which had strayed during the night, and the others might drop down any moment, and
we were lucky therefore to be able to buy two ponies, each still with four legs.
It was noon when we started; prospects were now wonderfully cheerful; the mountains by which we
were surrounded, looked less forbidding, and we crossed the swiftly flowing river by a bridge. We
outspanned at dusk at 4.30, a short day for once, and, for a wonder, we were offered, by an Arnaut,
shelter in two rooms of his house (against payment). This was, in normal times, a roadside inn, near
what was called the village of Kalatchi, though, as usual, no village was visible. The eagerness with
which the offer of house shelter was accepted by our British staff surprised me; it was a fine night;
the views were glorious, and I didn't want to miss seeing the dawn break over the mountains. Also, I
would rather have slept out, than risk the dirt. But the desire to enjoy the comfort of having a roof
overhead, was understandable, and, in case our Albanian host was not dependable, we must keep
together. We had bought a sheep in Roshai, and we pretended to enjoy mightily, the toughest
mutton ever chewed, as we sat round the fire in the big open chimney-place. Our host came and
stared at us, and we made friends, and gave him some tea, which he much appreciated. He was not
an Arnaut proper, but a Serbian Mohammedan; he was very tall and handsome; his dress, stagelike;
a white turban, a short black and yellow striped coat, over a soft white shirt, tucked into white frieze
trousers, which had a stripe of black braid down the leg—the dress of the Albanians, and very
beautiful. But I was much worried by the trousers, for, instead of fastening nice and safely, like
Christian trousers, round the waist, these fastened below the hip. This fashion was not peculiar to
our friend: it was common to all Albanian "nuts," and until I learned from experience that my fears
were groundless, the trousers of the Albanian gentlemen gave me much anxiety. I was possessed by
a shy curiosity, which was never gratified, to know how they kept up; but an accident never occurred
in my presence.
Our host, as he watched us eating, was equally surprised at our customs, and, finally, he could not
restrain his curiosity. "Why on earth," he asked at last, "are you all eating separately?" (instead of all
together out of a common bowl) and no one knew the answer.
We were up next morning at five (Thursday, December 9th). I saw the dawn break, and I saw the
sun rise, ushered over the mountains by the usual proclamation, in pink and mauve, that here was
another day, another chance of discovering some of the great truths, which we ignore, as we crawl,
cramped, within our three dimensions. Everything in Nature points to the sky except man, who
keeps his eyes upon the ground. I stood for a precious moment of uplifting, then I returned to crawl,
and creep, and stumble, during that day, in mud worse than any yet encountered. But I wanted to
take a photograph of the starting of the column. The group of men, women, and pack ponies, all in
flight—emblems of this transient life—outlined, in the frail light, against the dark mountains—
emblems of eternity. I placed my whip, and gloves, upon the ground whilst I took the photo. In the
meantime, a passing soldier picked them up, and walked off with them. One of our men saw this,
and shouted threateningly, and the soldier, in response, aimed his rifle at us. Hunger, fatigue, and
misery, made men short-tempered and desperate in these days. The soldier's thumb was already on
the trigger, and, quick, as lightning, one of our men put up his gun; both were on the point of firing,
in "self-defence." The thunder of Austrian guns, rapidly approaching, was in our ears, so I walked
briskly up to the soldier, beckoning with one hand, behind my back, to our men to keep quiet, and,
as I pointed to the mountains in the north, I said, in my best Serbian, "Plenty of shooting going on
over there; not wanted here; gloves and whip mine; no use to you, Molim (please)." I held out my
hand for them; he gave them to me, and walked off quietly.
The loud firing near us all day, and news that a stiff battle was pending, put spurs into weary feet.
The strain and effort of wading through mud, sometimes above the knees, during hour after hour of
a twelve-hour day, made such a spur sometimes useful for safety. Along, and up, and down,
mountain sides, and in woods, through mud lanes which never saw the sun, we scrambled till dusk.
Then we outspanned on a grass slope, at the edge of a wood of firs and beech trees.
During the night, all the stars of heaven, especially Orion, and the Pleiades, blinked at us, with
superior unconcern; but I told them, as I fell asleep, that it was easy for them to look pure and
bright; they hadn't been wading, knee deep, all day in Balkan mud. It put me in my place, as an
earthworm, that they took no notice of our troubles, but I excused them, for, if the sun, moon, stars,
and all the furniture of heaven, had tumbled, in sympathy, at our feet, they would only have been
buried in the mud.
 CHAPTER XXXVIII
On Friday, December 10th, we were up at dawn as usual, and we trekked along a better road to
Berani. When we were outside the town, halting for a few minutes, I found the men talking
excitedly, and I discovered that they were very angry with Sandford and Merton. This couple, on the
pretext of going on ahead, to procure bread and hay, had left us on the morning of the Arnaut scare,
had taken with them the Government money, and had not returned. We had elected another
commissaire, and J. G. was acting as treasurer, and using our own money. The men knew that many
soldiers from other columns had deserted. To avoid evils of which they knew—hunger, weariness,
discomfort and home-sickness—they had flown to others of which they knew nothing, and I guessed
that our men might argue, that if now the superior Sandford and Merton had also thought it wise to
desert——. But I reminded them that there would be no Serbian homes to go to, unless the Serbian
Army was preserved. The longest way round was the shortest way home. "For the sake of your own
people, and your own land, you must," I told them, "march bravely forward now." "Your own people,
your own land!" The words came glibly enough, though I knew that they would hack, like a sword
with jagged edges, at the hearts of those dead living men. But it was my duty to keep them with us
to the end, wherever and whatever that end might be.
And then, by a coincidence, Sandford and Merton at that moment reappeared. I asked them sternly
where they had been, and they replied with a naïve frankness which disarmed me: "We were afraid
of the Arnauts, and we ran away, to get quickly to Berani; we thought we should be safer there."
Comment was useless: we are not all born heroes. But had they, I asked, at least, during their time
in Berani, secured bread and hay for men and cattle? I braced myself for the inevitable answer, but
when the poisonous words exuded, dropping soft and pulpy into the mud in which the men stood,
"Hleba nema" (bread, none), "Ceno nema" (hay, none), "Y Berani, nema nishta" (in Berani, nothing
at all), I wished I had been born in Whitechapel. Piety was out of place. But I was pious, and I told
them to go back to the town and try again; Vooitch and I should also go there to secure what they
would try for.
The column waited for Vooitch and me on the far side of the town. A few shops were still open, and
maize bread, at exorbitant prices, was being carried by triumphant buyers through the streets. This
made our mouths water, and presently gaolbird met a Montenegrin friend (from the United States)
who had an official position in the town, and he generously made us a present of a huge loaf of corn
bread, and sent a gens-d'arme with us across the bridge (over the river Leem) to the other side of
the town, to direct us to the houses of the Prefect and of the Governor, from whom I hoped to get
bread rations, now very much overdue. I felt sure from the look of things that we should get them.
But I was told that the Governor was ill in bed. All the better, I thought; he won't be able to get
away from me. Starving people don't stand on ceremony. I went to his bedroom, knocked at the
door, for form's sake, and walked in. He didn't seem very ill. Perhaps the shock of seeing me revived
him. I expressed sympathy with his illness at such an inopportune moment. Could we help him in
any way? No? Very well, but he could help us. Military rations were overdue, and somewhat difficult
to get. Would he very kindly write a note for us to the Prefect? This was done. The Prefect was away
lunching, but after a little trouble we unearthed him, and we obtained 25 kilos of bread for the men
and for ourselves. Thanks to a little searching-eye business, short-weight of loaves was discovered,
and finally the glad-eye business secured an extra couple of loaves. We also obtained the hay for the
cattle. I hoped that Sandford and Merton would be ashamed, but they were not.
It was three o'clock before we rejoined the others, and were able to give the ponies and the oxen
food. Roshai was already in the hands of the Schwabes, and we must not dally, so we trekked till
dark, bivouacked partly in a paddock, and partly in two rooms of a house belonging to an Arnaut
and his wife. The latter could not read, and had never been beyond her village of Vootsche.
On Saturday, December 11th, the usual routine. Over mountains, and through mud which had been
churned into jelly, by countless hoofs of oxen and horses. Towards the end of the day we were in a
narrow lane, which was bounded on one side by a high hill, and on the other by a deep precipice
over the river. The mud was three feet deep, and when I looked round to see if all were following, I
saw one of our ponies lying, half-drowned, in the mud, and our indomitable cook was sitting on its
head, to prevent the pony rolling over the edge, whilst one of the men was loosening the pack.
We were now near Andreavitza; our road led near to, but not through the town, and we cherished
hopes of oil, and candles, meat and bread. We arrived at 4 (dusk) at the cross-roads, and placed the
column in a convenient field, amongst trees, on the eastern side of the bridge. A blustering sergeant
came up and ordered us to move; no one was allowed, he said, to camp on this side of the bridge;
the officer on the bridge had given this order. I didn't believe it; our sergeant wanted to give in and
meekly to move on, but as there was no other good site near, I rode on to the bridge, and saw the
officer, who, of course, allowed us to stay. I would have given much that evening not to have been
obliged to sally forth to look for bread and hay, but if I had not gone, the result would have been
"nema nishta." The shopping party set forth full of high hopes for the town. "Buy me this, that, and
the other thing," cried optimistically those who were left in camp, as if we were in Piccadilly.
But, as usual, in the town it was "Nema! nema!" everywhere. The only triumph was a tiny bunch of
tallow candles, and a promise from the Prefect of bread for to-morrow. Always bread to-morrow;
never bread to-day. But we met an officer who knew us, and he kindly insisted on treating us to
cups of coffee, at a café which had open doors for the last time. No food was procurable. We were
on our way back to camp, when in the street, a man came towards us carrying—we couldn't believe
our eyes—three shining silver fish upon a string. They were not trout, but memories of happy fishing
days in Norway, Sweden, Finland, gave this fish an added glory. We stopped him and asked if he
would sell them. The sight of them made us fastidious towards thoughts of bully beef awaiting us in
camp, and we would have given almost anything he asked. He would not sell them, but to our
surprise he said: "I will give you this as a present," and he put the largest fish into my hands, and at
that moment I thought Andreavitza, with its mountain setting, and its picturesque church, the most
lovely townlet in the world. In camp we slept round the fire as usual, under the espionage of the
highest mountains of Montenegro.
Next morning, Sunday December 12th, we were late in starting, as we had to wait for the return of
the men sent to fetch the bread from the military station in Andreavitza. When the sergeant saw the
fifty loaves (25 kilos), he brought with him to the distribution, an admonitory rod, to ensure that no
man should take more than his due share. As long as bread was procurable, the men need not
starve, as trek ox could always be sacrificed, and I frequently had the melancholy task of deciding
that the weariness of death was coming over such and such an ox; he had been lovely and pleasant
in his life, and now in his death, he must be divided. And for ourselves, our supply of mealie meal,
and rice, and beans, still held out. We saw too much of the inward ways of oxen, along the road, to
be keen to eat the roast beef of Montenegro. We had said good-bye to butter, jam, milk, sugar, and
biscuits, long ago, but we were, of course, in luxury compared with many thousands, and we had
long outgrown the absurd habit of thinking that it is necessary to take nourishment every two or
three hours.
And now, on this Sunday, to our surprise, we found ourselves upon a road which was more like a
Corsican, than a Montenegrin road. Steep, very steep, all day long, but with excellent surface and
excellently graded. We were grateful, as it allowed us to be more polite than we had been of late, to
the wondrous scenery. But even now, only in a distant fashion. The beauty of Nature depends, for
each one of us, upon what the mind reads into it, and the mountains of Montenegro, reflected from
every stone, the hungry hearts of an exiled people.
By the evening we were amongst the hill-tops; the mountains of Montenegro and Albania were all
around us, naked, precipitious, and inhospitable rocks, with occasional gloomy forests of beech, and
fir trees, interspersed. Majestic, magnificent, and the magnitude of outlook, wonderful, no doubt,
but my heart refused to praise this sarcophagus of hope. How could mountains be beautiful which
enclosed such sorrow? How could their air invigorate, when it carried, not the scent of flowers, or
the breath of the sea, but the stench of the unburied dead? As empty shells, upon the hills, reveal
the presence in the past, of the waters of the sea, so the bones of men upon these mountains, will,
in the future, betray the wave of human life, which flowed westwards to the coast.
The river at Andreavitza had been, when we saw it, green, of a colour which no painter could ever
hope to mix; but I found myself comparing it to a green satin ribbon, which is a detestable thing.
The river fell in fine cascades, and should, to a sympathetic ear, have sounded the arpeggio of the
common chord of Nature; but I only heard the thumping of a child's fists upon the piano. And now
the sunset hues amongst the hill-tops were, to me, the funeral colours of the dying sun, and the
crimson gleam slowly spreading over the dead white snow, was bloodstain which would never melt.
Moist clouds, and mist, came down from heaven to try and veil the harshness of the mountains, in
gossamers of mauve and purple, dragged from the setting sun, but they could not veil the memory
of the suffering they enclosed; suffering of battle-fields and suffering worse than that of battle-fields.
We turned our eyes impatiently again to the road scenes. We were much interested in trying to
induce a pony, which had been abandoned on the road, and was now recovering, to come with us:
we needed all the four-legged help we could get. Colson and Jordan cheered it on with bundles of
hay, and a touch of stick, and brought it into our night's camp. This latter was in a thick beech wood.
The ground was our bed, and the dead beech leaves were our mattresses. During the night we had
a scare of Arnauts, when a number of men rushed past us, shouting excitedly, but they were only in
pursuit of a thief. If he was caught, he would be shot; if he was not caught, he would die of
starvation. Death! Death! everywhere. Always Life fleeing from Death, and always Life overtaken in
the end.
 CHAPTER XXXIX
Next morning, Monday, December 13th, we were off early, and after half an hour's further climb, we
began, to our joy, to descend. The road was tolerable, but it rained all day, and our adventures were
with swift and bridgeless rivers. Ponies, with their packs, stumbled in mid-stream, and everyone, wet
to the waist, must go to the rescue. We were now carrying the minimum of food and blankets, and
could not afford further losses. But the ponies were so weak that, if they fell, it was unlikely that
they would rise again, and then both pony and pack must be abandoned.
We wanted to reach Yabuka that night, as there was, we were told, a military station there, and
bread might be obtainable. It was dark when we arrived, and rain was falling in torrents. We couldn't
find the military station, for the good reason that it had already been evacuated: therefore, no
bread. There were only three cottages in the place, and they were packed with soldiers and
prisoners. Before turning them out into the wet, I went with Vooitch another mile, as we saw a long
wooden shed ahead of us, and hoped that it might be available; the column halted by the cottages.
The shed was inhabited by some officers, who said that half a mile further on there was—an hotel!
and that the landlord would be sure to make room for us; some officers also were there, and if I
addressed myself to them they would make things easy, etc. I was a little incredulous about the
hotel, and the readiness to welcome us, but Vooitch and I rode on, only to find "nema nishta
Bogami." The so-called hotel was crammed, there was not standing room; the officer of whom we
had been told, was in a house opposite. We went to this, and found that one tiny room had been
given to him and to his wife and family for the night. I asked him if my family might share the room
with his family. He began demurring, but I suggested that it was not an ideal night for picnicking
outside. He shrugged his shoulders, then pointed to the corner of the room farthest from his family;
in this many soldiers, and odds and ends were crouched, and sleeping, but at the first shrug, I sent
Vooitch off to fetch the others. We boldly brought in, not only ourselves, but our packs. After eating
our supper, we lay down on the dirty floor on our rugs, luxuriating in having a roof over our heads.
The soldiers found shelter in sheds and stables.
Amongst the fellow-inhabitants of our room, was a priest. In the game of musical chairs, for
possession of the only chair in the room, he had triumphed, and he sat tight on this chair, all through
the evening, and all night long. He was evidently particular about proprieties, and liked things to be
done in order. Bedtime was bedtime, wherever you met it, and it must be scrupulously regarded. At
ten o'clock he looked at his watch, replaced it, then, with the calm deliberation of a man who, in a
well-appointed bedroom, performs the same act in the same way regularly every night of the 365
nights of the year, he removed his trousers. For a moment I was in trepidation; what was coming
next? I looked round to see if the girls were asleep. Their eyes were shut. I couldn't take mine off
the priest; he never looked round, he took no notice of anyone, and when the trousers were off, he
sat down again on the precious chair, folded his trousers, placed them on his lap, went to sleep,
sitting bolt upright, and snored vigorously all night long. I understood the trouser action; the
removal was a danger signal, to keep off talkative people, or people who might want his chair. By
this simple act, he established all around that chair, a Brunhilde ring of fire, through which no one
dared to break. It was original and effective, and I was so grateful to him for giving me something to
laugh at, that I could have—but the trousers prevented me.
Next day, Tuesday, December 14th, the weather gave us a variety. Rain, and hail, and sleet, and
bitter cold all day. We had found hay for the animals last night, but none for the morning's feed, and
we were still fifty-four kilometres—a two days' journey—distant from Podgoritza. No wonder that
animals were lying dead in hundreds by the roadside. Bread, too, became more and more difficult to
get. We had to-day seen a woman coming out of a cottage, with a loaf of corn bread in her hand.
We flew at her and bought it for thirty dinars (18s.). Was it a wonder that men also were lying dead,
and dying, in hundreds by the roadside? But I never grew callous to the things I saw. On the
contrary, my heart grew softer, and I became more and more angry at a system of world
government which permits those second-class angels to bluff mankind, and keep him from the Tree
of Life, by the flourishing of a flaming sword.
After trekking for three hours, we heard that there was hay to be bought some way up a mountain
on our left. So we halted at a cottage by the roadside, while the men climbed the hill to fetch the
hay. Some of the drivers at first wanted to shirk the climb; I did not blame them, though I told them
they must go; but one of our Englishmen commented scornfully on the laziness of the Serbian
soldier, so I reminded him that yesterday, when he was in trouble with his pony, owing to mud and
rain, he had lost his temper for a moment, and I now asked him if he would like his character to be
judged by his behaviour at that time of only a slight trouble? The Serbian soldier, in addition to such
slight troubles, was suffering from troubles which we British islanders can scarcely imagine. The
Englishman had for the moment forgotten all this, and he agreed with me that the behaviour of the
Serbian soldiers was, under all the circumstances, marvellous.
The road ran in hairpin curves between huge mountains of grey, bare, rugged rock. You might as
well expect milk from stones, as food amongst such mountains. It was a terrible land, and I felt, as I
trudged through it, that I should never want to see another mountain. But at dusk (4 p.m.) we
reached the military station of Levorcka. Would this also be deserted? I sent gaolbird on to try and
find rooms. He found one room and a kitchen in which we could cook food, in the house of an
Arnaut woman. When I went into the living room to ask her to let us boil a kettle on her fire, a
pretty little girl of eight was fastening the dress of her little sister, six years old. I said something
about the children in my best Serbian, and the woman who was, at first, very curt with us, told me
that she had no children; these were two lost refugees; an officer had picked them up on the road,
and had left them here. The woman was very kind to them, and had grown to love them. She said
that it was possible that the mother might come past this way. But the elder girl was already useful,
and I wondered if the childless woman would keep a very vigorous look-out for that lost mother?
After much trouble we housed the ponies in cattle stables, and the men slept with them to prevent
their being stolen. We had lost two more ponies to-day; left on the road too weak to rise, and it was
doubtful whether my horse could go much further. But the men found a fine strong pony on the
mountains, when they went for hay, and this was a great help.
We were, alas, too late to get bread that evening, but we were told to come again in the morning.
That looked hopeful; but when, on the morning of Wednesday, December 15th, we arrived at the
military station, the officer said that no bread had come, and that he had just received a telegram
saying that all bread, when it came, was to be sent to the soldiers at the front—an effective silencer.
On that day we saw epitomised, the barbarous beauty of the land of Montenegro. Our route lay in
narrow valleys between steep mountains of grey rock; bare of vegetation, bare of life, bare of
everything but inhospitable jagged peaks which dared you to come near them. The rocks were grey,
the sky was grey, and yet, suddenly, at a sharp turn of the grey road, a grey precipice pointed grimly
all the way down, three thousand feet, to a tiny ribbon of the most brilliant green water that ever
flowed in fairyland. In such drab surroundings, where did it get that colour? Prosaic people would
say "melted snow water," but Hans Andersen would have known better than that. And so did I. But
as it (the river) was quite inaccessible, it was, like everything else in the country, a forbidding sight.
But there was that day another moment of stolen joy, when, before beginning the descent towards
the plain in which lay Podgoritza, the grey prison walls slid open, and revealed vast stretches of open
country, distant mountains, valleys, and, in the middle of a grey mist of mountain ranges, glinting in
the midday sun, a line of gold—could it be—yes, it was the Lake of Scutari. Ah! that was beautiful
indeed! We had never seen anything so refreshing as that.
Old gaolbird and Sandford and Merton went on to try and get rooms, and bread and hay, in the
village of Vilatz. After winding round and round the mountain side, on a narrow road, we arrived,
and found Sandford and Merton sitting calmly on a rock this side of the village, "nema nishta"
written in capitals all over their faces. So Vooitch and I went on into the village, and the first man to
whom we spoke said, "Oh, yes," he could give us hay, and bread, and a house in which to spend the
night. It was too good to be true, but we told him to wait while we went on to see the officer at the
military station, to ask for bread for the men. But the officer said "nema nishta" to bread and to
everything, so we went out to see what our first friend could do for us. We found the local Prefect
standing outside; a tall, fine-looking man, dressed in dark blue uniform, with a revolver hanging
conspicuously from his waist-belt. To our surprise, he accosted us aggressively, and said we must not
buy hay or bread from the man who had offered it. The man remonstrated, and said it was his hay
and his bread, and he could do what he liked with it. I was inclined to agree with him, but the
Prefect then stormed and shouted, and brought out his revolver, and threatened to shoot the man if
we went with him. He did not realise who we were, and that, though I was in woman's dress, I had
majorly authority. We mentioned this. Then I took his name and told him that I should tell the
English newspapers how a Montenegrin Prefect treated his English allies. That was a great success.
At once it appeared that we had misunderstood him. He had only spoken for our good, fearing that
we might be disappointed of the promised hay and bread; but, by all means, if we wished to go to
the man's house, we could go. But I now guessed that, as food was scarce in the village, our friend
might get into trouble if we took his stuff. The house was out of our way, so I expressed cold thanks
for the permission, and we trekked to the next village (Klopot), which was said to contain hay.
The village consisted of half a dozen one-storied houses, amongst the barren rocks. Only here and
there, like plums in a school pudding, were patches of green winter corn, amongst the grey
boulders. To carry on the usual farce, Sandford and Merton had gone on ahead to procure hay, and
we found them sitting comfortably in a cottage. "Hullo! Here you are! How much hay have you
found?" "Nema nishta." "How much bread?" "Nema nishta." This form having been gone through,
Vooitch and I went, as usual, to search. At the end of a long trek, I sometimes wished I was not
obliged to start out to do the work of another man who had nothing else to do. But I always
remembered that I was not enduring the misery of leaving my country in enemies' hands; I must not
judge them till I had been similarly tried. These men were probably jewels at their own jobs in
normal times. Sandford had been employed in a bank and had perhaps there learned to say "nema
nishta" to his customers. The other man's job had been commercial.
But it was a little unlucky for them that on this occasion, the first man in the street whom Vooitch
and I approached for hay, replied promptly, "Oh, yes," he could sell us a thousand kilos; and it was
still more unlucky for them that, when we followed this man to his house, to complete the bargain,
he took us straight to the house in which Sandford and Merton were at that moment comfortably
settled; a proof that they had not even troubled to ask for hay. We did not want a thousand kilos,
and at first our friend said we must buy all or nothing; but that was only a preamble, and he gave us
200 kilos at half a dinar a kilo. At the last village they had asked two grosch.[1] Our poor tired pony-
and oxen-leaders now had a two-miles' climb over boulders, and up steep hills, to fetch hay. No
bread or food for the men had been obtained or sought, and as Sandford and Merton were now
quite helpless and did nothing for the men, I decided that the latter should, in future, be given
money wherewith to procure food for themselves. This was at first resisted by S. and M., but I
insisted, and forced them to make a list of the men's names, and to start giving the money
immediately. And the men were well content, and I knew now that if there was food to be had, they
would find it.
[1] A grosch equals about three half-pence.
We were in luck's way that night, for it was bitterly cold, with sleet and snow, and a Montenegrin
policeman allowed us to sleep on the mud floor of his room. Going to bed was, in these days, a
delightfully simple operation. Men one end of the room, women the other. No undressing, no
washing; one rag on the ground to lie on, and another to cover you, and you had gone to bed, and
were generally asleep in a few minutes. The unshaved men looked like elongated hedgehogs, and I
was humbly thankful that Nature hadn't given me cheeks that were liable to sprout with stiff and
bristly hairs at the slightest provocation.
The ponies and oxen found shelter under some rocks in a field next to our house. Our host had
some rakiya, and, for a wonder, he sold us a little, so we called in the pony leaders and gave them
each a small glassful. They expressed themselves, both then and on other occasions, freely,
concerning the Montenegrins. They were all, of course, desperately keen to get back to Serbia one
day, but never, they said, vehemently, through Montenegro. "Nema nishta Bogami" had been too
severe a trial for their overstrung nerves.
The Montenegrin people seemed, to our men, selfish and unfriendly, and almost, like their country,
hostile. But I reminded our soldiers that Montenegro was a poor and barren land; there was
probably not more than enough food for the Montenegrin people, and now the Serbian Army and a
portion of the Serbian nation had been billeted on them, and they could not afford to be generous.
But, in my heart, I sympathised with our men's sentiments. I gathered, during my passage through
the country, the impression that Montenegro desires above all an extension of commerce; that good
roads are of first importance for this, and that Montenegrin hearts would warm most to the nation
which was most likely to give them the best roads.
I was not surprised that a stouter resistance was not offered to the Austrian enemy.
 CHAPTER XL
Thursday, December 16th, the last day in the mountains of Montenegro, consummated the
impressions that had been stamped upon our minds of the gaunt, desolate nature of this country.
Rain fell all day, as we trekked through valleys which were only wide enough for the narrow road,
and for that bright green ribbon river which, below us, ran between mountains of bare, precipitous
rock. Occasionally there was an interlude of basaltic formation. That was a relief, for it spoke of
kinship with our Giant's Causeway, and the Caves of Staffa. By a further stretch of the imagination, it
was just possible sometimes, when relenting boulders hung less threateningly over the river bank, to
be reminded of the cliffs of Cornwall, but, as a rule, nothing reminded you of anything you had ever
seen, or ever wished to see again.
On all sides grey prison walls, and mist and rain, shutting out earth and heaven; only the track
visible, and on the track, dead oxen, inside out, surrounded by their entrails (I never knew before
how multitudinous and how disgusting the internal arrangements of a simple ox could be); hungry
men, slashing with knives, the still warm carcases, and marching off with hunks of bleeding flesh in
their bloody hands; dead horses; dying horses who understood, and forebore to harass you with the
appealing eye; and now, too, dead men at every turn—men dead from hunger, cold, fatigue and
sorrow. With the dead men the pathos lay, not in their deadness—we shall all be dead some day—
but in the thought that these simple, ignorant, peasant soldiers had, in these desolate mountains,
laid down their lives, away from military glory and renown, for an idea which must, for many, have
been blurred and indistinct, almost sub-conscious. The idea was the same as that for which Serbian
soldiers had laid down their lives at Kossovo, an idea which had nothing in it of vulgar conquest or
aggression, the idea that the soul of Serbia must be free, to work out its own salvation. Home,
family, even country, count for nothing, if the soul of Serbia is not free. Home, family, even country
must be sacrificed, if needs be, to ensure that the soul of Serbia shall be free.
At two o'clock that day we could scarcely believe our eyes. In front of us, was a break in the
imprisoning rocks, and we saw an open plain, and on the far side of the plain, a town—the town of
Podgoritza. Could we dare to think, for the first time, of rest from cold and hunger, treks and
columns? Could we dare to think of home, and of those we loved, from whom, during three long
months, we had had no tidings? No! No! Not yet.
We descended, and emerged into the open country. Our backs were now turned to the mountains;
and whatever might happen in the future—and we had a notion, alas! mistaken, that the road from
Podgoritza to Scutari would be more normal—whatever might be before us, the mountains of
Montenegro were behind us, and we uttered a Sbogom (good-bye) of intense relief.
The mountains ended with characteristic harshness, abruptly on the plain, and soon, along a good
road, we outdistanced them; but between their folds, the octopus of death was still busy, clutching
with tentacles of hunger, cold, and sorrow, victims who had escaped the battlefield. I wanted to
forget the past, and I would not at first look back on Sodom and Gomorrah—I remembered Lot's
wife. But I had prayed, often enough, in vigorous determination, for strength to bring the column
through; should I not now look back, with equally vigorous prayer and thankfulness for their
deliverance? I looked back; the high mountains were closing ranks behind us, as though to guard
their horrors; there was now no sign of passage-way. Yes, I looked back, and I saw a vision which
would, in olden days, have been called supernatural. For, across the black mountains, from peak to
base, a rainbow shone, and hid the hideousness of bare rocks, beneath its lustrous colours. It
spanned earth and sky, and formed a highway from heaven, even to this cruel land. And in it I saw
the token of the Covenant, which, of old, God made between Him and all flesh, that He would not
destroy the living creatures that are on the earth. I saw and understood. God's Covenant still holds
good. Hope guarded the entrance even to that purgatory. Therefore, we must not forget the past
that was enshrined in these mountains; the memory of that past must be carried with us as a fire,
wherefrom to kindle counter-fire, against the flaming sword which now destroys the living creatures
which are on the earth, and keeps them from the Tree of Life.
We were soon in Podgoritza. Leaving the column in a side-street, V. and I went, according to
custom, first to the military station, to ask for bread and hay. The captain in command was
extremely genial and kind. But he said that no bread was available till to-morrow. I knew it was not
his fault, and I said "Thank you," and was leaving; but he then broke into a eulogy of our nation; he
seemed pleased because we had not grumbled at not getting bread, and he compared us with some
other nations, who were not, he said, so adaptable to circumstances. Then he tried to persuade me
to go to Scutari, more or less comfortably, by boat, across the lake, and to leave the soldiers to
come by themselves, with the ponies and the remaining oxen by road—only ten oxen were now left.
The road was, he said, execrable, and we couldn't make the journey in less than three days. But as
long as there was one man and one ox left, I couldn't desert the column: I must carry on.

MORNING MIST ABOVE THE BRIGHT GREEN RIVER IN MONTENEGRO

 TRACKLESS MOUNTAINS IN MONTENEGRO, BEYOND ROSHAI
There seemed no reason, however, why the British staff should not take advantage of the offer; they
could meet me at the other end of the lake, and save themselves from days of discomfort; the
Captain would make all arrangements for them. But the suggestion was met with scorn. Having gone
through so much together, they loyally insisted on sharing with their chief, the fate of the column.
I then asked the officer if he could help us to find rooms, as we should be glad to get out of the rain,
and he gave us an address; but every room in the town was occupied a hundred times over, and I
decided that we must commandeer a room in the big school building. There must be a few spare
corners left there. But "nema nishta" greeted us in every room, and no one would let us share their
corner. One big class-room was being guarded by an officer's servant, for his master alone. We
couldn't let that be, and eventually, as the result of a combination of fierce-eye and melting-eye
business, we British staff all shared that room with the Major and his servant.
And then a charming incident occurred, typical of Serbian chivalry. The floor was filthy, but I was
about to go to bed upon it, like the rest of the unit, when the Major very politely came up to me,
and invited me to share the tiny platform on which his mattress was laid; the floor was there less
dirty than elsewhere, as it was raised, and away from the traffic; there was just room for two people
if they lay quietly. Serbian majors don't snore, so I accepted, and, raised regally above the others,
the Major and I slept side by side; but it all seemed so natural that we didn't even smile. I should
like to meet that Major again. We could laugh at it now. The soldiers were housed in a room
downstairs, with many others, and when night came, the stairs, and the landing, were blocked with
snoring soldiers.
In Serbia, sanitary arrangements had been a little difficult, but in Montenegro they gave no trouble,
for they were non-existent. It was not the custom to include lavatories in the building scheme, and
in that huge school-house there were none.
The town was, as usual, on the point of being evacuated, and no stores of any kind could be
bought; we were told that no restaurants were open, and that no food was obtainable, but we
discovered one restaurant which was that evening serving the last meal before evacuating, and we
partook of that meal with some zest.
We parted here from gaolbird. He wanted to come to London with us, and I thought that the nearer
we were to the coast, the more difficult it would be to prevent his coming on board, so we gave him
enough money to enable him to communicate with his well-to-do friends in America, and parted.
Next morning, Friday, December 17th, we did not leave till noon, as we had to wait for the bread,
and for the shoeing of some ponies. Fifty-four loaves came, and these had to last us and our sixty
men, till we reached the next military station, wherever that might be. We only had four loaves for
ourselves.
 CHAPTER XLI
The first few miles of the road were passable, over an uncultivated plain, but as the mountains of
Montenegro closed sulkily behind us, the mountains of Albania opened threateningly before us. The
grass plain became a swamp, and soon we were playing the same old game, wading and splashing
through mud and water, no road traceable. The Albanian mountains were evidently twin brothers to
the Montenegrin fiends, and after we had crossed a river, with a bridge broken off at both ends, our
route lay across an expanse of basaltic rock, which looked impossible for horses and oxen.
By that time it was dark, and it seemed wise to wait till daylight to attack the new enemy, so we
bivouacked in a tiny grass enclosure, near an old ruined chapel. The field belonged to an Albanian,
who promptly told us to be off, but the sight of money, five dinars, and a promise of five dinars for
wood, mollified him, and he became friendly, and he even said he would sell us a sheep for the
men's supper. The time went on, and the sheep never arrived. I kept asking Sandford and Merton
about it, and they kept saying it would come soon. Then, finally, they confessed that they had not
bought it because it was too expensive. Of course, it was more expensive than it would have been in
normal times, but if it kept men from starving, it was cheap at any price, and I insisted that it should
be fetched. They went away as though to buy it, and came back saying that the Albanian owner had
gone to bed, and couldn't bring the sheep in from the hills in the dark. Flaming-eye business; I
would not be defeated, so I discovered where the Albanian lived, and went with Vooitch to his
house, over stone walls and boulders and through the usual bogs.
It was a one-roomed cabin built of stone, and without windows. We knocked at the door, opened it
and walked in, before there was time for anyone to deny us entrance, and in the dark, we stumbled
over—the sheep! This made V. and me laugh so much, we couldn't talk for a minute. We couldn't see
if the Albanian had been in bed, but he came quickly to us. We told him that we had come to fetch
the sheep for supper. "But would we pay for it?" "Why, of course. How much did he want?" "20
dinars" (about 11s. 8d.). "All right. Here's the money. Now please help us to carry the sheep to the
camp." It was a tiny creature, and he and V. carried it, bleating, in their arms. When we had climbed
the last stone wall, and the men, who were sitting round their empty fires, saw the sheep, they
shouted with joy and excitement, "Dobro, Maika; dobro, dobro." In a marvellously few minutes that
poor little beast was in joints, cooking on the various fires, round which the different little groups of
men sat, and, later, slept. Were Sandford and Merton really so unadaptable that they couldn't bring
their consciences to pay 20 dinars for an article which, in normal times should only have cost 12? Or
was there another alternative? I later reported my suspicions at Headquarters, and, in the
meantime, I watched that the men did not suffer.
On Saturday, December 18th, we saw at once that it was good-bye to our hopes of a better road
between Podgoritza and Scutari. Our route this day was, if possible, worse than anything we had yet
encountered. Huge boulders, with deep mud-holes between, dead oxen, dead horses, dead men,
every few yards. Sometimes thick scrub, with spiky thorn bushes, and with slippery foothold, was
interlarded with the mud and boulders; then came basaltic rocks, superimposed in fantastic fashion,
and mountainous boulders, with beech scrub, and berberis, and juniper between; but always,
whatever else there might or might not be, there was mud, two and sometimes three feet deep. To-
day this was of a rich red colour.
In one wood there were many dead men. In a patch of grass near one poor fellow, who was lying,
where he had fallen, in the snow, green buds of young snowdrops were bravely peeping through the
dead leaves, as though to adorn his grave. Beside him was his tin mug, from which he had been
drinking his last drink of melted snow. For him no roll of honour; for his family no news of "killed in
action." But when the war is over, and other men return, his place in the home, and the places of
thousands of his comrades, will be empty. We picked bunches of snowdrops in that wood whilst
waiting, during moments of a congestion of oxen, men and horses, which was now worse than ever.
In another wood a long halt had to be made, whilst convoys ahead of us, took precedence at the
narrow exit. One convoy which said it had been waiting there for two days, had with it hundreds of
oxen, and was on the point of pushing past us, but, at the critical moment, a friendly officer came to
the rescue, claiming that our horses should have precedence of oxen, and he shouted and insisted
and bluffed and pushed, both our column and his own, which was even smaller now than ours, into
the line. He came with us, and we bivouacked together for the night, in a tiny walled paddock, a
couple of miles (over rocks and mud) above the end of the Lake of Scutari, and outside the hut of an
Albanian.
The latter, as usual, at first refused us the hospitality even of his field, but he eventually yielded to
the money bribe. The captain and his lieutenant supped with us. We gave them hashed and warmed
tinned Serbian meats, of which we still had a few, with white beans, and a second course of boiled
rice, which was one of our mainstays. We were a quaint-looking group as we sat round the fire, all
smothered to the waists in thick red mud. We were obliged to let it dry upon us, as there was no
water to wash it off. We had no change of clothes; we had left the last relics of such superfluities
behind, when the carts were burned.
We could see, from the convergence of columns from all directions, that we should have trouble to-
morrow in getting into the line of the narrow track along which we must travel. So we were up at
4.30 on Sunday, December 19th, and as the result of combined tactics, our two columns eventually
pushed into the narrow track of mud and rock.
Some distance below us, was the north end of the Lake of Scutari, and it was cheering to see the
beginning of the lake upon which stood—at the other end—Scutari, our goal. We hoped that our
route would be beside the lake, as that would at least mean certainty of water, but we never
touched it at any point.
After standing blocked during four hours in the mud, we advanced four yards. There was evidently
some extra bad place causing the crush ahead of us; the horses had had no food, either last night or
this morning, except from nibblings on the nearly bare paddock, and the delay might prevent us
from reaching hay to-day. A slow move, a yard at a time, brought us eventually to a wood, and we
understood the cause of the delay. I think nothing but the knowledge that the enemy—four enemies
—were close behind, could have heartened the thousands of weary, hungry, dispirited soldiers, to
urge their skeleton animals forward over the difficulties and obstructions which now met us.
Owing to the size, and number of the trees, there was only one narrow track, and progress was only
possible in single file; the descent to the level of the lake, was steep and slippery, over a jumble of
huge boulders, half-covered with melting snow, and ice, fallen tree trunks, deep mud-holes, and
dead bodies. In one hole, we had to trample over the bodies of three horses, one on the top of the
other, the top one not yet dead. Bodies of men who were dead were lifted to the side of the track;
the oxen and horses had to be left where they fell.
But bad and treacherous as the track was, there was never time for hesitation; thousands of
animals, and of soldiers, were pushing into you from behind, and if, leading your pony, you fell, you
would be trampled on, and your pony would never rise again.
The most imaginative dreamer, after a supper of lobster and port wine, could scarcely dream a more
complete nightmare. But our staff came through, as usual, with flying colours, smothered from head
to foot with the aggressive red mud, but without loss of an ox or pony.
After some hours of horrors in this wood, we eventually emerged on to a narrow lane which was a
sea of gelatinous and slippery mud; two steps forward, and one back. In places it was so deeply
sticky that Vooitch had to haul my legs out, one after the other, as if they were things apart from
me, whilst I looked on. This was refreshing, as it made us laugh at Vooitch's opportunity of pulling
the chief's leg. We must continue till we reached the military station, or some place where hay could
be found. Sandford and Merton had been sent on to find hay and bread, and they greeted us with
the familiar "Nema." But our captain of last night had also gone ahead, and to our joy, in the
evening, when it was dark, and there were symptoms of fatigue amongst the staff, and rain was
falling, as it had fallen, in heavy showers all day, he appeared on the road, and said that he had
found some kukurus, both for his, and for our animals, and a good camping-place for us near him.
In return we gave him some of his favourite rice for supper, and porridge of mealie meal, before we
started in the morning.
It was his "Slava" day, and in celebration of the event, he killed an ox, and gave us some beef, which
we cooked almost before it was dead; we were very hungry, and we tried to pretend that it wasn't
tough. But in the meantime another column, which was camping near us, also had a "Slava" day,
and they celebrated it by killing one of our oxen. Our man, to whom the ox belonged, hadn't a sense
of humour, so I had to see the officer in command of the offending column and get compensation.
We had been in luck's way here, with plenty of wood, and that, to a Serbian, is almost of as much
importance as bread. I think that perhaps one of the reasons why Serbian soldiers disliked
Montenegro, was the universal lack of firewood. War brings men back to primitive ideas, or lack of
ideas, about things. For those engaged in war, a tree is never an oak, a beech, a willow, a fir, the
marvellous result of growth and decay, birth and death, in mysterious process, during hundreds of
years—a thing of beauty to be admired—it is firewood. Likewise, man, the evolutionary keystone in a
process of marvels which we can only dimly divine, is not a human body, the shrine of an immortal
soul: he is a soldier, reared like a pheasant, to be shot. And yet the Churches, which should lead the
evolutionary movement of progress, adopt the attitude of the lamb before the shearers, and raise no
protest. The human race flatters itself that it is advancing in civilisation: it mistakes the movement of
the merry-go-round for progress.
 CHAPTER XLII
We were early on the move on Monday, December 20th, and hoped to reach the military station
within an hour or two. The route began with its usual ferocity of mud, and the continuous effort,
during hour after hour, of dragging the feet out at every step, was wearisome; leg-pulling that
morning became a common form of entertainment, and rain fell in torrents all day.
We reached the military station at Ritzik at 11 o'clock a.m. The office was in an old monastery, and
we waited for our turn to be served with bread, in an upper room. There our hosts were two
Albanian (Franciscan) monks. The ponies and oxen had to wait in the pelting rain. There was, after
all, no bread, but mealies were given instead, both for the men and for ourselves. We were
disappointed, but made no comment, and, as we were leaving, the officer in charge whispered to
me to say nothing about it, but he gave me quietly two large corn loaves of his own, in addition to
the mealies, so we gave the extra mealies to the men.
The weather grew worse all day, and at dusk a heavy thunderstorm, with drenching rain, made
shelter desirable. We had fortunately reached a village, and we went up to a house and knocked at
the door. The occupants were women (Albanians), and we asked for shelter; this was refused, and
we tried two other houses, with the same result. But the first house had a large shed which was only
open on two sides, so I insisted on putting the ponies, and men, and ourselves, under the partial
shelter during the storm, but it was already crowded with soldiers, and there was not standing room
for us all. The women of the house came out, and we pleaded with them, asking them to allow us to
go into one of their rooms, but in reply they burst into tears. This turned the tables on us; we could
not all cry, and they had thought of it first. So we had to comfort them; a horrid waste of time in the
deluging rain. They said that their neighbour's house had been pillaged by soldiers, and they were
afraid of our soldiers. Finally, when we dried their eyes with money, they said that they would take in
the women, but that all the men must move on at once. We would not, of course, agree to this, and
as we were already wet to the skin, we thought we had better get warm by walking, and try and
reach the next military station, which was, we were told, only two hours distant.
The night was now pitch dark, though there should have been a moon, and as we moved away from
the slight shelter of some haystacks, into the road, the heavens shook, and thunder, lightning, wind,
and hailstones, hurled themselves in unrestrained fury on us from the folds of night, and progress on
the invisible road, which was full of mud-holes, was difficult. After we had been walking for an hour,
a flash of lightning suddenly revealed that the road had disappeared, and that we were on the edge
of a broad expanse of lake. Had we missed the road in the dark, and were we about to stumble into
the Lake of Scutari? Another lightning flash showed us that there was no way round the water,
unless we climbed steep hedges, impossible for the pack ponies. But it could not be Scutari Lake; it
must be flood, and there was nothing to be done but to plunge into the water.
It was, of course, my job to go first; so I jumped on my pony, and told the others to wait and see
what happened. There was nothing to guide you as to the depth of the water, and you couldn't see a
yard ahead, except when the lightning flashed capriciously; but the worst that could happen would
be a ducking. I plunged; the water was up to the saddle girths, and there were holes and boulders
every few yards; but we all crossed safely. We were now doubly wet, from rain above and from
water below, but this was a useful encouragement to everyone to continue in spite of fatigue.
And at this point we decided that we would be bold, and push on to Scutari, as no earlier military
station seemed likely. A hot drink might save some of them from catching cold, but we couldn't light
fires, or stop in the pouring rain, and we had no brandy or whisky, so I concentrated thoughts on
obtaining some refreshment. The miracle always happens, if you will it to happen, and look out for
it. We were trudging along silently, no sign of life anywhere. All the other columns had mysteriously
disappeared, and we had the dark road to ourselves, when I noticed a house, a hundred yards back
from the road, on our right. I told Vooitch to go up to it, and knock, and to ask the inhabitants to
give us something hot to drink; he said the house was uninhabited. "Never mind; do as I ask you."
He went and knocked, and, behold, the door was promptly but charily opened. I rode quickly up,
and went in, before they could shut the door, and I saw that the house had been a wine and spirit
shop. Round the walls were shelves on which stood bottles. A fire was lighted in the middle of the
floor, and three or four men were seated round it, on the floor, smoking and drinking. The owner
said he had no wine and no rakiya in the place. He had closed his shop and had sent away his
wares. But he couldn't get away from the fact that the men round the fire were drinking cognac.
"Yes; very well." He would give us what he had, but he was nervous lest we should let it be known
to others that his shop was open. We reassured him on this point, and within a few minutes, we
were all inside that room, drinking cognac out of tiny glasses, and every man and woman of the
column had his or her share. We then divided amongst us all, the two cornbread loaves given us in
the morning, and we all felt much refreshed.
And at 10 p.m. we reached Scutari—Military Headquarters. It seemed too good to be true. We had
reached our goal, and the human portion of the column was intact. Nunc dimittis. The town was
deserted for the night; the streets were empty; everyone in bed. The column halted in a side street,
while V. and I went to find quarters. It was too late to bother the Commandant at Headquarters. I
came to the conclusion that he would not have expected men to arouse him out of his slumber, and
we mustn't take advantage of sex. But we must wake somebody. People are impersonal till you know
them, and you can be callous with impersonals; so I fixed on the Prefect.
He was guarded by a sentry, who was clothed in impenetrable armour of stupidity, obstinacy, and
ignorance; but before he closed the door in our faces, he suggested that we should go to the
headquarters of the gens-d'armerie.
We went. And after various adventures in a huge rabbit-warren building, an officer who was on duty,
sent a man to take us to our own Commandant, who would, he said, probably have made
arrangements for us. For an hour, whilst the others were waiting in the rain, we wandered up and
down the streets with this soldier, who pretended he couldn't find the Commandant's house. Finally,
when I grew fiercely angry, the man at last discovered the house, and we went in, only to find that
the soldier on guard would not awaken the Commandant. I told him how angry the Colonel would be
when he learned how we had been treated, and that the Commandant need not even turn in his
bed, to tell the soldier where we were to go; and, in truth, as I heard next day, rooms and a good
dinner had been prepared for us. But I was then desperate, and decided to go boldly to the British
Consulate. We had found quarters for the men and ponies in the barracks. We, V. and I, marched to
the big door in the high walls which enclosed the British Consul's house, and rang the bell. An old
Italian servitor answered it. I asked him, as it was now too late to see the Consul, to let us have the
use, for the night, of the Consul's kitchen, in which to dry our clothes. He said, "No; impossible." But
another, older man, appeared and he was softer hearted, and said we might have a room; not the
kitchen, but an empty room next to the kitchen, which was, at this time, kept for tramps. I
completed the heart-softening process, with a little palm oil, and Vooitch went back to fetch the
staff.
When they arrived, at 1 a.m., I was able to usher them proudly into a room which contained—a rare
luxury in Scutari—a fireplace. The grate was tiny, but wood—very scarce in this town—soon made a
hospitable blaze, and we crowded round that tiny fireplace, trying to dry wet clothes. Our old Italian
friend brought us a kettle of boiling water for some tea, dragged out some mattresses from a corner
of the room, and we laid ourselves down to sleep. We could have cried for joy at being inside a
friendly house once more.
Next morning, Tuesday, December 21st, no early trek! Breakfast at the grotesquely late hour of eight
o'clock; almost the first time that I had been up later than 4.30 since we left London. I was up in
time to write a line to the Consul, for him to receive with his seven o'clock cup of tea, telling him of
the increase of his family during the night. We didn't know that though the British Consul lived here,
the owner of the house was Major Paget, an old inhabitant of Scutari. The Major came to see us at
eight o'clock, and most hospitably said we might stay as long as we were in Scutari, and he told his
man, Parkes, to make tea for us and to do all that he could to make us comfortable. Parkes did not
need to be told twice. He was an Englishman and glad to see other English people, and he was very
kind to us.
At nine o'clock, Major Paget took me to see the British Consul, Mr. F. W. Monaghan, who was also
very kind. And all day long, the scene at the door of our little ground-floor-back was like a scene in
the last act of a play, in which every sort of unlikely person unexpectedly turns up. We had just
indexed Major Paget, and Mr. Monaghan, when the kindly countenance of Sir Charles Des Graz,
British Minister, whom I had met at Nish, appeared in the doorway. He asked me to have tea with
him, in the afternoon, upstairs; he also was living in the house! After that, we were not surprised
when Colonel Phillips, British Military Attaché, also arrived. He had often dined with us at
Kragujevatz, and he and I had never agreed upon the subject of Balkan politics.
 CHAPTER XLIII
But my main business was to report myself to Colonel Guentchitch, the head of the Army Medical
Service, and at eleven o'clock I went to Headquarters. There, to my great pleasure, I found, not only
Colonel Guentchitch, and our P.M.O. (Major Popovitch), and Colonel Michaelovitch, and various other
old friends, whom it was a joy to see again, but also our beloved Divisional Commandant, Colonel
Terzitch. He had, this morning, been promoted to be Minister of War, and I was proud to be amongst
the first to congratulate him on an appointment which gave everybody great satisfaction. I am not a
military expert, but I cannot help believing that the retreat of our Division, as well as that of the
whole Army, had been, from beginning to end, marvellously handled. To retreat, during nearly three
months, fighting rearguard actions all the time, under circumstances which could scarcely have been
more difficult, and to have saved the Army and its morale, was a great performance.
The new War Minister was, as he always had been, very kind to me, and he said things about the
work which we had done which made me very happy. He, and our P.M.O. and Colonel Guentchitch
all seemed especially pleased with us, because ours was, they said, the only column which had come
in intact, without deserters, after a trek which, from first to last, had totalled a distance of about
eight hundred miles. They did not, I was humbly thankful to find, regret the experiment of having
given to a woman, the command of a Field Hospital Column with the active Army. I felt happy to
think that we had, in an infinitesimal way, been able to give proof of British sympathy with the brave
Serbian people, in the cause of freedom and idealism; and I was also glad to think that we had
perhaps shown that women need not be excluded from taking a recognised share in national
defence, on account of supposed inability to suffer hardships incidental to campaigns.
But credit for any success which may have been achieved, is, of course, mostly due to the loyalty
and excellence of the staff who worked under my command. The doctors and the nurses never
spared themselves, night or day, during times of stress of work, and adapted themselves admirably
to unusual and difficult conditions. If the army had been advancing instead of retreating, they—the
doctors and nurses—would have had more patients, but their work was of great value, when, and
where, it was much needed. The cook was a marvel of good temper and adaptability. There was no
need of a Daylight Saving Bill with her. It was never too late, or too early, for her to prepare food,
when there was any to prepare, or to go without it cheerfully, when there was none.
The chauffeurs (five men and one woman) performed miracles with the cars, and showed pluck and
endurance such as is not often exacted from ambulance drivers. To have brought those Ford cars
over those unique roads, from Barchinatz, in the north of Serbia, to Petch, near the Montenegrin
frontier, with only one accident to one car, was a wonderful feat, and their work of evacuating
wounded from our own, and from other field hospitals, was of inestimable value.
The interpreter, George, did his best, but for practical purposes he knew no language but his own,
and he could only read that in Croat characters.
But Vooitch, a young Bosnian Serb, spoke French, German, English, and Italian, besides his own
Serbian. His position was, for various reasons, not an easy one, but I never saw him out of temper,
and by unfailing service to me, night and day, he did much to strengthen weak places elsewhere in
the Serbian staff. He was invaluable.
Our secretary, John Greenhalgh, had, owing to the circumstances of our prolonged retreat, not much
secretarial work to do; but he acted as honorary treasurer to the British members of the unit, and, in
a thousand ways, he was of service to us all. His hobby, in ordinary life, is to help others; in our field
hospital he was, therefore, in his element, helping both the wounded and the staff, with kindly,
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