The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20
H. ". Searighi
M. F. McCarty

stout oars followed the sinuous course of the channel. After this we einerseo
 from the shelter afforded by the tall reeus and lay in the middle of the lake uhder
 a hot sun. The steamer was not 3et III
 sight so the truculent- looking personase
 who officiated as captain, having col- Iected the fares for the trip, eraWled
 beneath tarpaulim and went to sleep The remainder of the crew amused them-
 selves by some impromptu target prac- tice, to the great terror Of the Alpahlah
 baby who had not yet become accus- toned to the playful ways of the country
 men. No better mark offering, they ,ired at the tallest of the reeds. Apart from
 these they had no opportunity of show ing their skill in craftsmanship. Ihe crack of the rifles resounded inter-
 mittlngly to the accompaniment Of the dlseordant notes of the bullfrogs in the
 vicinity, whose siesta was being so rud2ly disturbed on this hot afternoon.
 Presently we were aroused from our lethargy by the thud-thud of an anti
 duated stern-wheel steamer. IL swung into view round a bend in the reed
 studded lake. Our boat, now quarter Full
 of water, was soon alongside We clam
 bered on board, and the places we had vacated were taken by half dozen
 Albanians bound for Tuzi There were
 no cabins and no decking on the steamef
 
 down into a kind of hole, where few
 narrow forms of the penitent type
 were ranged longltudinally. At -the last moment we were joined by three men In unmistakable Albanian dress. By way of arms each man carried a rifle and revolver: this latter was stuck in the broad brightly -colored sash encirclng their waists Our wheezy vessel turned her head round towards Scutari, and im-
 medately there was a perfect fnsilade of
 farewell shots exchanged between our selves and the shoreward- bound tra- velers In the "londra." The depleted magazines were recharged. and the firing of feu-de-joie with ball cartridge con- tlnued Naturally, the gentlemen in the
 boat were just as courteous as the | Albanians of our ships company. and
 they replied with such downright good | will that soon lthe air few feet above | oilr unprotected heads fairly hummed | with the zip-zip of Mauser bullets. Some | times it happens that in the excitement
 of the moment the saluting muzzles are not pointed sufficiently high, in which
 case a bullet finds an unlooked-for billet.
 A Revolutionary Trio
 The trio of last comers' turned out to
 be members of one of the local revolu- | tionary bands. Latterly. they had not
 bothered much about their hereditary enemy, the Turk. By way of variation | of occupation they had gone on the war path in quest of Montenegrin scalps. | Indeed they made no secret of the nature | of their late expendition. The leader it l turned out. had been fin America, and in
 somewhat halting English, interspcrsed | with rich, racy Americanlsms, fe de- i clared that he hau workeO as q black smiths helper in Chicago In the case 1 of one of his comrades. he explained that it was not pure love of staying that sent 1, him forth in quest of human victims II was a question of "ghak'-i C.. blood | vendetta. The comrades brother, so 1
 learned, had been killed a week pre- yiously in a frontier foray shot dead by q Montenegrin. and so his relative had sworn a vendetta against all Monte
 negrins, and had spent four days in the vicinity of the frontier picking off any
 who happened to come within range of his rifle. The man who was out for 'sghak' was curious psychological study. He was blue-eyed, with an irregular fringe of fair hair showing from
 beneath his comcal head covering. By and by, succumbing to fatigue. he handed his rifle to his trusty comrade-the man | from America Then curling himself up | on the bare floor of the steamers hold.
 he slept the peaceful sleep of an innocent | child whose hands were gliiltless of blood.
 And so we passed on to Scutari. that
 centre of discontent and revolution, 1 ever fin n state of ferment This Is the J city which the Albanians fercently hope I, will one day be the capital of their re- suscftated country. But in the opinion | of the Turkish overlord much water will | flow down the Drin into the Adriatic 1 before that happens.