The cavalry were sent out to reconnoitre in the direc-
tion of the town. In an hour we were told that the place
had surrendered ; and forming up with flying colours and
bands playing we marched out across the plain. At the
very outset peasants, men and women, from the neigh-
bouring Bulgarian village of Derekioi came to meet us.
All were rejoicing to see the Bulgarian troops, and tears
ran down their careworn faces. A peasant told me that
they were not quite sure that we would come down from
the mountains, but that they had made up their minds to
go, at the peril of their lives, to meet the Bulgarian troops,
whom they had been expecting for a week. Many of
them marched beside us as far as Gumuldzina with bare
heads, having thrown away the fez.
