d the man,
fingering his trigger lovingly.

On looking I saw an Albanian about six hundred yards away, half hidden
behind a boulder. The idea of shooting a man in this way did not seem
quite sporting, and Dr. S. agreed with me. The men were extremely
disappointed at our refusal to allow them to shoot. "He will follow us
till we reach the wood," they said, "and then we shall repent it." The
Albanian shortly afterwards disappeared, and we proceeded with our
packing.

About eight o'clock we left Carina, and had rather an unique
experience in riding across several large snow fields which were quite
hard, though the horses decidedly disliked the experiment. About an
hour's ride brought us to a tiny church, solidly built of stone and
standing on a ridge overlooking the whole country. It is used by the
shepherds who migrate annually to the pasturages in this district.
Only a few months ago the Albanians had broken into it and utterly
dismantled it. On the iron door and on the shutters huge dents and
even bullet splashes were plainly visible. Our Albanian we found here
awaiting us, which was a plucky thing to do. Our guards hailed him
with the cry of "Albanian or Montenegrin?" But he answered, "Friend."
I think that our men showed him our rifles rather ostentatiously, and,
as we were all armed with magazines and had plenty of ammunition, he
must have thought that we should scarcely afford the desired sport. We
did not see him again, though he took the same path which we were
going to take. This incident put us very much on our guard, and we
made preparations for the further journey with mixed feelings. Before
us lay the dense wood of Vucipotok, which is the most ill-famed spot
in Montenegro. It stretches unbrokenly down to Gusinje, and the bridle
path which traverses it is the border line between the two countries.

It was then settled that a guard and myself should climb a small hill
overlooking the wood and its approach. However, we saw nothing, and
soon rejoined our party. Before entering the wood, in the open, were
two or three stones erected to murdered men--it is customary in
Montenegro to put up either a pile of stones or a slab of rock where
the body has been found. Inscriptions on the stones are very rare, the
Vucipotok is too dangerous to waste much time in it, but wherever
these stones are seen, a dead man, as often as not headless, has been
found. Such memorial stones are to be found all over the country, but
no