y struggled to the shore--in
a broad street leading down to the harbour a brigade of Skoplje
recruits plunged through the Austrians with their knives. But in the
end, on October 10--and in spite of heroic work on the part of some
French and British naval detachments--Belgrade fell. On October 12 the
Bulgars attacked. "The European War is drawing to its close," said
Ferdinand's proclamation. "The victorious armies of the Central Powers
are in Serbia and are rapidly advancing." They advanced less rapidly
than they had planned, thanks to the wonderful exploits of the Serbian
army, which was heavily encumbered by the growing stream of fugitives.
The Austro-Germans failed to encircle the Serbian troops--slowly and
keeping in touch with those who were on the Bulgarian frontier, the
Serbs retired to the south and west.

ATTEMPT TO BUY OFF THE SERBS

The Government and the diplomatic corps had been for some time at
Ni[vs], the second largest town, whose Turkish character is
disappearing. But the population in the direst Turkish times were less
exposed to epidemics than the thousands of unwilling residents who
thronged the little, painted houses and the wide, cobbled streets in
1915. It was at Ni[vs] that the negotiations were conducted with
Bulgaria, and in July an aged gentleman from Budapest came with the
offer of a separate peace. This gentleman, a stockbroker of Slav
origin, was imbued with patriotic motives, for he was assured that
Germany would win the War. It was an undertaking in those days for a
man in his seventy-sixth year to travel, by way of Roumania and
Bulgaria, to Ni[vs]; but as he had connections in Serbia he was
resolved to see them, and he travelled at his own expense, although
the German Consul-General at Buda-Pest, acting apparently for the
Deutsche Bank, had spoken of 18 million crowns for distribution among
the politicians at Ni[vs] and five millions for the old stockbroker
himself. His suggestion was that Serbia should make certain small
modifications in the Bucharest Treaty in favour of the Bulgars, that
Albania should be hers up to and including Durazzo, that she should be
joined to Montenegro, and that her debts to the Entente should be
shouldered by Germany, which would likewise give a considerable loan,
and requested merely the permission to send German troops down the
Danube. "My dear boy," said a Minister, an old friend of his, "go back
at once, or they'll lock you up in a mad-house." And when