insisted on our taking an additional escort (besides
Dr. S., and Stephan our servant, we had engaged another man, named
Milan, in Andrijevica) of at least two men, as the country was just
now in a very dangerous condition. The necessary guard was soon found,
and after a long halt owing to a heavy shower, we were able to proceed
on our way, first carefully loading our rifles and overhauling our
revolvers. Our two men were quite celebrated for a famous raid into
Gusinje, in which they had played an active part a short time ago.
They had killed several Albanians, and captured two hundred sheep. As
the Albanians would shoot them at sight, they seemed hardly fitted to
act as an escort; but then every man from that part is engaged, more
or less, in a blood feud across the border.

We commenced climbing almost directly, and the ascent lasted for the
rest of the day. The scenery was grand. On our right the majestic Kom,
still covered with snow; falling away precipitously to the left was
the deep ravine of Terpetlis, through which a mountain torrent dashed;
and rising high on the other side, and forming the boundary between
Montenegro and Albania, was a magnificent rocky ridge. We dismounted
at one point to breathe our horses, and made our midday meal off wild
strawberries.

Further on we passed from the Vasovic into the Kuc. These two, the
most warlike clans of Montenegro, were formerly under Turkish rule,
and bitter foes. But when war broke out, they forgot their old enmity
and joined hand-in-hand with Montenegro to drive out the still more
hated Turk. Since then they have lived together in peace and harmony.

On nearing our camping-ground for the night, our two guards ran on to
draw the fire from any concealed Albanians, while we followed more
leisurely. The scenery was wild in the extreme, though differing very
slightly from that which we had experienced during the last few weeks.
Great woods stretched half-way down the mountain to the torrent, and
up again on the further side. Immense boulders, with an occasional
tree growing out of a crevice, and every here and there clumps of
firs, every yard affording excellent cover for a hidden enemy.

Our destination was Carina, a collection of stone huts on an open
green slope, which reaches up to the rocky sides of the Kom. It is the
highest point inhabited in Montenegro by the shepherds in the summer,
and lies over five thousand feet above the sea-level. During this
period of