Perhaps Montenegro had to wait for Bulgaria.

Cetinje also expected war, and asked me to collect funds for the
wounded. The King begged me to prevent the Maltsors rising yet,
which showed me he again intended to make a tool of them. Kol
Mirashi, one of the pluckiest of the Maltsor patriots, told me they
all knew this, and meant to rise at once to show Europe they were
fighting for independence, and not for Montenegro.

I said: "Why not keep quiet and develop autonomy?" He replied:
"Impossible. The Montenegrin-Austrian plan is now complete, and will
soon be in motion. We must act independently. King Nikola went to
Russia for help. They refused him. So he has joined with Austria."

The Russian visit had been a fiasco. Lazar Mioushkovitch, who, with
Dushan Gregovitch, had accompanied the King, told me: "It was
terrible." Dushan Gregovitch--good looking, and remarkable rather
for high stakes at bridge than common-sense--rashly allowed himself
to be interviewed. Montenegro's grandiose schemes for conquest
appeared next day in the papers. "The Tsar was furious. He
threatened us even with annihilation! The King told him Dushan was
known to be a liar, but it was of no use. It is finished! We have no
more to expect from Russia!"

But war preparations hurried on. And some of the Bank employees told
me that the King had raised a loan in Vienna "in order to start an
Agricultural Bank!" They smiled.

Montenegro now tried to force the Turks to declare war by provoking
two bad frontier fights near Kolashin and Andrijevitza, each time
burning several Turkish blockhouses, and going far over the
frontier. The Powers ordered the recall of the Montenegrin troops on
August 5th, or they would have occupied the whole Berani district. I
went to Andrijevitza on August 27th and stayed there a month. The
big guns had already been taken up and were on the frontier, and
ammunition was widely distributed, not only to Montenegrins, but
also to the Serbs from Turkish territory, who came over the border
at night. General Yanko Vukotitch was in command. There was a
hospital full of wounded, and Andrijevitza was furious with the
Government for having broken faith. They had been promised
assistance, and had expected this fight to be followed at once by
war. The whole district was strongly anti-Petrovitch, and in close
touch with Serbia. Veshovitch, the frontier commandant, even said--
when I suggested that a declaration of war might be followed by