urks be
defeated, Bulgaria was to take the whole of the territory south and
east of the Rhodope Mountains and the Struma River, while Serbia was
to take that north of the Shar Mountains, including Old Serbia and
Kossovo. The rest, comprising all of Macedonia, was to be
established as an independent state. Should this, for any reason, be
impossible, a line was to be drawn from the point at which the
Bulgarian, Serbian, and Turkish frontiers met, a little northwest of
Kustendil, to Struga at the north end of Lake Ochrida, leaving
Kratovo, Veles, Monastir, and Ochrida to Bulgaria, all purely Slav
districts, while the Czar of Russia was to act as arbitrator with
regard to the rest of the region, including Kumanovo, Uskub,
Krushevo, and Dibra. To this was added a clause by which Bulgaria
agreed to send 200,000 men to the support of Serbia should Austria
threaten her.

The agreement with Greece did not definitely provide for her share,
but it was understood she should have Epirus in southern Albania,
Crete, what islands in the Aegean her naval forces might capture, and
a slice of the Aegean seacoast where the population was mostly Greek.
Montenegro was to have what she could take from the Turkish forces
in her vicinity. Albania was not mentioned, but it was understood
that Serbia was to obtain her outlet on the Adriatic.

The clause in the agreement between Serbia and Bulgaria, providing
for an independent Macedonia, is especially significant. It was
inserted for the special consideration of Sandanski and the other
Macedonian committee leaders.

Shortly after the committee had made common cause with the Young
Turks, an attempt had been made to assassinate Sandanski in
Saloniki. And although it did not succeed, the attempt did not serve
to warm the hearts of the Macedonians toward King Ferdinand. None
but he could have had any interest in Sandanski's death at that
time.

But by the summer of 1912 the Macedonians were pretty well
disillusioned regarding a constitutional Turkey. Many of the old
leaders had taken to the hills again, determined to take up the old
fight where they had left off. Even that fight seemed more hopeless
than ever, for the Turkish army was now being speedily reorganized
and rendered more effective, which meant that the pursuit of the
guerrilla bands would be more deadly than it had ever been under the
old regime.

How the knowledge of the clause providing for an independent
Macedonia was conveyed