fter this I was told
that they were all well-known brigands from our State, and there was one
specially notorious person, Djer Doucha, who in 1912 was converted to
Christianity and was made a gendarme at the court of King Nicholas; in
1915, after the Austrian invasion, he was reconverted to Islam and
became a sergeant of _gendarmerie_. In that position he killed fifty or
sixty Serbs and Montenegrins, to say nothing of his other acts of
violence. In 1918, for instance, he murdered seven school-children whom
he met on the road.

"I had some urgent business at Plav," continued Ra[vc]i['c], "and there
all these people were brought before me. In addition to the thirty-nine
Albanians there were three men in British uniforms. I was acquainted
with one of them, a certain Perola, a Catholic of Pe['c], a former
Austrian agent who had committed many crimes against the Serbs and had
lately escaped from the prison at Pe['c]. One of the other two said that
he was Captain Brodie, whom the London Government had sent as their
delegate for Albania and Montenegro. I suppose the third man was his
British orderly; I never heard him speak. But Brodie said many things.
One of them (which was quite true) was that his Government had not yet
recognized the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He demanded the
instant release of his companions. 'Do you know who they are?' said I.
'That is no concern of yours,' said he. 'Well,' said I, 'they are
criminals, and it is for the judges to say whether or not they are to be
liberated.' 'I protest,' he exclaimed, 'in the name of England, against
their arrest!' 'And I thank you,' said I, 'in the name of the Serbian
police, for having brought them here.' 'You are a savage, a barbarous
nation!' said he, 'and you don't deserve to be free and independent.'
'Sir,' said I, 'if you are an Englishman you should know that we are
your allies, that you and we have shed our blood for the common cause.
We love England very much, and I am very surprised to hear a British
officer speak in this way.' Again he demanded to be set free, he and all
his people, so that he could continue his mission; but I told him that
after what I had heard from him and what I had seen of his escort, I
could not permit him to go on to other villages unless he could show me
an authorization from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Belgrade. 'I do
not recognize the Belgrade Government,' said he. 'Whom, then,' I asked,
'do you regard as the legi