d Gjuro all arrived.
On the night of the 8th all sang: "Let me see Prizren!"

There was wild excitement. No one mentioned the Serbs. I asked,
"What is the Serb army like?" They roared with laughter. "Oni
chuvahjuf svinje Gospodjitza!" (They are swineherds, lady!) Next
morning at 8 a.m. Prince Petar fired a gun into a Turkish camp
across the frontier.

The tale of the war has already been told. Here only a few
significant facts need telling.

Montenegro expected by rushing the first into war to occupy all the
coveted districts, including Prizren, before Serbia was ready.
Bulgaria would beat back the Turks, and Ferdinand and Nikita share
the bulk of the peninsula. The Montenegrins recked nothing of the
Serbs, but they miserably miscalculated. The Serbs reached Prizren
before they did.

It is possible that Bulgaria and Montenegro, in fact, forced on the
war. Both knew they would gain nothing by waiting for Russia. And if
two of the Balkan States insisted on war the other two were bound to
come in.

Montenegro's plan failed. Her first startling successes were due to
the fact that the Maltsor risings had largely cleared the way for
her. But as the Montenegrins began at once to treat Albanian
territory as their own, and even loot Catholic Albanian houses,
tension between the Maltsors and Montenegrins arose and increased.
The Maltsors flung away the Montenegrin caps dealt out to them,
withdrew in numbers, and soon consulted me as to whether they should
attack the Montenegrins in the rear and cut them off. I begged them
not to, as I then believed in the honesty of the Powers, and thought
Albania would get justice. I regret it now.

South Albania also perceived that the self-styled "liberators" who
poured in from Greece were but brigands intent on gain and murder,
and on November 28, 1912, Ismail Kemal, who was in Constantinople
when war broke out, managed with difficulty to return to his native
town Valona, where he hoisted the National flag, proclaimed the
independence of Albania, and formed a provisional government. It was
hoped that by thus showing that Albania wanted freedom, and detached
herself completely from the Turks, she would be respected by Europe.
For the Balkan Allies had stated they were at war only with the
Turks.

Official notification of Albania's resolve was sent to the Powers,
and the Albanians hoped for sympathy, for it was they who in fact
had aimed the first blow at Young Turk tyranny. The Gree