h a dog, should be called
after him, so Sir Ralph arranged that of the two other puppies one
should be called after him and the other after Mr. Hardinge his
secretary. Thus the man Seemitch's dignity was restored.

At the station, to our great joy, we met two American doctors from
Zaichar. One we had mourned for dead and were astonished to see him,
shadow-like, stiff-kneed, and sitting uncomfortably on a chair in the
middle of the platform. Months before he had pricked himself with a
needle while operating on a gangrenous case, and had since lain
unconscious with blood-poisoning.

While we were cheering over his recovery, a little Frenchman slipped
into our reserved compartment, which was only a coupe, and had seized
the window seat. Jan found him lubricating his mouth, already full of
dinner, with wine from a bottle. As he showed no signs of seeing reason
from the male, Jo tried feminine indignation. "That seat is mine," she
snapped to his back-tilted head.

"Good. I exact nothing," he said, wiping his moustache upwards. She
suggested that if any exacting was to be done she possessed the
exclusive rights.

"Quel pays," he answered. Jo thought he was casting aspersions on
England and on her as the nearest representative, and the air became
distinctly peppery. The Frenchman hurriedly explained that he was
alluding to Serbia, so they buried the hatchet and became acquaintances.

* * * * *

Uskub, or Skoplje, and one hour to wait. All about the great plains the
mountains were just growing ruddy with the dawn, and we gulped boiling
coffee at the station restaurant.

One of the American doctors seemed restless. Some one had told him it
was advisable to keep an eye on the luggage. They began to shunt the
train, and soon he was stumbling about the sidings in a resolute attempt
not to lose sight of the luggage van. We sympathetically wished him good
luck and walked past into the Turkish quarter, adopted by two dogs which
followed us all the way. We had a hurried glimpse of queer-shaped,
many-coloured houses, trousered women, and a general Turkishness.

We returned to find our American friend furious, full of the superior
methods of luggage registration in the States.

We had beer with him at the frontier, delicious cool stuff with a
mollifying influence. He told us he held the record for one month's
hernia operations in Serbia. We were later to meet his rival, a Canadian
doctor, in Mont