The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-15

went to ask about it. This last Greek
| outrage was too much, heard; war was
declared, and the Marshal Pasha would
advance in force tomorrow all along the
line. l jumped on the Beetle, turned
round the tired horse, not yet unladen
OF his baggage, and started full scramble
back to headquarters The fight I left to
crackle out il it liked A war CORE
spondent's place is not with the firing
line, but behind the general staff, and if
eter have any narrowing adventures in
that romantic position I will tell you.
But there was NO doubt about it, War,
long promised, long delayed-war, which,
in my letter posted the night before, /
had solemnly declared not to be coming
war was on us at last As I rode along
the valley path the sound I rife fire kept
pace as it ran like a train of gunpowder
along the sheer heights above. For the
second half of the journey the road
Climbs by this time the sun had gone
down, and under the shadow of the
mountain side even the white baggage
horse was no more than patch of ghost
ly gray But at the top we came out
into the moonlight-full moon, as bright
as a London winter sun-and there was
no doubt about it. On the heights blazed
signal fires and the plain replied to them.
On the horizon, near Milouna blazed
b1ockhouse-where it was impossible to
say. And the ripple of musketry all
round the Influenced plain of Elassona
was deepened more and more often by the
voice of cannon. 1t was war all along
the line, and it was war in force. To-
morrow we should fight over fifty miles
of frontier, with over $4,000 men.
| Today came l woke in my breeches,
and was out before daybreak. Not for
one moment in the night--so was told
the peoples and the booms ceased. Now
the sun had come out clear in the blue
Easter Sunday sky; Olympus had even
taken his cloud-cap off for the great day.
1 rode off, childishly happy, to find the
Marshal and his staff; was I not going
to see the biggest fight since Plevnaa
The marshal was just moving down to
the 'front.' With him were the long line
of red fezzes and white, black uniforms
and dancing rifles OF five Albanian bat
tallions-the reserve, the best men in the
army, perhaps almost the best soldiers in
the world They roared with deep bass
of delight, and a little ferocity as they
swung down little hill and across the
fallows and the field of young corn.
Some way behind a black centipede
wound over the plain--the cavalry COM
ing up from their quarters five miles in
the rear With the Marshal went the staff,
bearded veterans of the Servian, Monte
negrin and Russian wars, and spruce
young aids-de-camp from the Yildiz.
We marched toward the thick line of
choking smoke that lay at the foot OF the
hills. We marched until we drew up on
the road to the col Of EIiIouna-a name
by now immortalized by many corre-
spondents. Then we drew up in face
of row of low but steep and bare hills;
three bIoclxhouses, their chimney peaked
impudently into the sky line, marked
equal intervals along the summit; lofty
heights at each side marked the limits of
the field of the main fight. On either
side Of us stood fields of the same green
barley. but in them three batteries Of six
guns apiece thrust out their grinly i'm
pertinent nozzles, shifting at the wreaths
of smoke on the hills. The teams to
work them squatted round in the atti-
tude of humble alteration proper to the
artillerynlan in the presence of his gun;
the red fezzes only appeared like peoples
above the green. Here all dismounted
and set themselves to watch the battle of
Milouna.
And the battle. 1t was the battle of
Karya over again on larger scale. I
will give a strategical and tactical exposi-
ton of it some other day, when I am not
so sleepy, and have learned something
about strategy and tactics. At the be-
ginning it was exciting. The reserve
battali ons moved slowly, but with an in
fnitely logged resolution in the set of
the mems bodies, toward the firing line.
Up above the bugles were singing out
the advance. Below, the guns began
deafening bang, the whiz of rocket,
scream as the shrapnel passed between
the IcVSIDcItttlliS uSlSuto I'll CHILL Sieic, d
crack, flash and belch Of dirty smoke
as the shrapnel burst every time in the
right spot-two miles and "a half away
But presently, if may say SO, the bat
tie of Milouna became a bore. 1t began
with the time when Charley gave His
Excellency Field Marshal Edham Pasha
my horse rug to sit down on. Villagers
came out and lined the roadside as if a
battle were d jubilee procession. Some
gray bearded sons of the Prophet went so
far as to put up sunshades. The fighting
became Oriental or Balkan-no attempt
to gain ground and break the enemy; but
logged firing behind cover till man
dropped 1t became kind of picnic bat
tle-a thing you might invite few
friends to and take them in to Elassona
and give them afternoon tea when they
got tired of it.
In the end our side took all the Greek
block houses and Entertainments at the
1