I share henceforth the lot of the Blue Mountaineers; and
not Turkey, nor Greece, nor Austria, nor Italy, nor Russia--no, not
France nor Germany either; not man nor God nor Devil shall drive me from
my purpose. With these patriots I throw in my lot! My only difficulty
seemed at first to be with the men themselves. They are so proud that at
the beginning I feared they would not even accord me the honour of being
one of them! However, things always move on somehow, no matter what
difficulties there be at the beginning. Never mind! When one looks back
at an accomplished fact the beginning is not to be seen--and if it were
it would not matter. It is not of any account, anyhow. I heard that there was going to be a great meeting near here yesterday
afternoon, and I attended it. I think it was a success. If such is any
proof, I felt elated as well as satisfied when I came away. Aunt Janet's
Second Sight on the subject was comforting, though grim, and in a measure
disconcerting. When I was saying good-night she asked me to bend down my
head. As I did so, she laid her hands on it and passed them all over it. I heard her say to herself:

"Strange! There's nothing there; yet I could have sworn I saw it!" I
asked her to explain, but she would not. For once she was a little
obstinate, and refused point blank to even talk of the subject. She was
not worried nor unhappy; so I had no cause for concern. I said nothing,
but I shall wait and see. Most mysteries become plain or disappear
altogether in time. But about the meeting--lest I forget! When I joined the mountaineers who had assembled, I really think they
were glad to see me; though some of them seemed adverse, and others did
not seem over well satisfied. However, absolute unity is very seldom to
be found. Indeed, it is almost impossible; and in a free community is
not altogether to be desired. When it is apparent, the gathering lacks
that sense of individual feeling which makes for the real consensus of
opinion--which is the real unity of purpose. The meeting was at first,
therefore, a little cold and distant. But presently it began to thaw,
and after some fiery harangues I was asked to speak. Happily, I had
begun to learn the Balkan language as soon as ever Uncle Roger's wishes
had been made known to me, and as I have some facility of tongues and a
great deal of experience, I soon began to know something of it. Indeed,
when I had been here a few weeks, with opportunity of speaking daily with
the people themselves, and learned to understand the intonations and
vocal inflexions, I felt quite easy in speaking it. I understood every
word which had up to then been spoken at the meeting, and when I spoke
myself I felt that they understood. That is an experience which every
speaker has in a certain way and up to a certain point. He knows by some
kind of instinct if his hearers are with him; if they respond, they must
certainly have understood. Last night this was marked. I felt it every
instant I was talking and when I came to realize that the men were in
strict accord with my general views, I took them into confidence with
regard to my own personal purpose. It was the beginning of a mutual
trust; so for peroration I told them that I had come to the conclusion
that what they wanted most for their own protection and the security and
consolidation of their nation was arms--arms of the very latest pattern. Here they interrupted me with wild cheers, which so strung me up that I
went farther than I intended, and made a daring venture. "Ay," I
repeated, "the security and consolidation of your country--of _our_
country, for I have come to live amongst you. Here is my home whilst I
live. I am with you heart and soul. I shall live with you, fight
shoulder to shoulder with you, and, if need be, shall die with you!" Here the shouting was terrific, and the younger men raised their guns to
fire a salute in Blue Mountain fashion. But on the instant the Vladika
{1} held up his hands and motioned them to desist. In the immediate
silence he spoke, sharply at first, but later ascending to a high pitch
of single-minded, lofty eloquence. His words rang in my ears long after
the meeting was over and other thoughts had come between them and the
present. "Silence!" he thundered. "Make no echoes in the forest or through the
hills at this dire time of stress and threatened danger to our land. Bethink ye of this meeting, held here and in secret, in order that no
whisper of it may be heard afar. Have ye all, brave men of the Blue
Mountains, come hither through the forest like shadows that some of you,
thoughtless, may enlighten your enemies as to our secret purpose? The
thunder of your guns would doubtless sound well in the ears of those who
wish us ill and try to work us wrong. Fellow-countrymen, know ye not
that the Turk is awake once more for our harming? The Bureau of Spies
has risen from the torpor which came on it when the purpose against our
Teuta roused our mountains to such anger that the frontiers blazed with
passion, and were swept with fire and sword. Moreover, there is a
traitor somewhere in the land, or else incautious carelessness has served
the same base purpose. Something of our needs--our doing, whose secret
we have tried to hide, has gone out. The myrmidons of the Turk are close
on our borders, and it may be that some of them have passed our guards
and are amidst us unknown. So it behoves us doubly to be discreet. Believe me that I share with you, my brothers, our love for the gallant
Englishman who has come amongst us to share our sorrows and
ambitions--and I trust it may be our joys. We are all united in the wish
to do him honour--though not in the way by which danger might be carried
on the wings of love. My brothers, our newest brother comes to us from
the Great Nation which amongst the nations has been our only friend, and
which has ere now helped us in our direst need--that mighty Britain whose
hand has ever been raised in the cause of freedom. We of the Blue
Mountains know her best as she stands with sword in hand face to face
with our foes. And this, her son and now our brother, brings further to
our need the hand of a giant and the heart of a lion. Later on, when
danger does not ring us round, when silence is no longer our outer guard;
we shall bid him welcome in true fashion of our land. But till then he
will believe--for he is great-hearted--that our love and thanks and
welcome are not to be measured by sound. When the time comes, then shall
be sound in his honour--not of rifles alone, but bells and cannon and the
mighty voice of a free people shouting as one. But now we must be wise
and silent, for the Turk is once again at our gates. Alas! the cause of
his former coming may not be, for she whose beauty and nobility and whose
place in our nation and in our hearts tempted him to fraud and violence
is not with us to share even our anxiety."